LOVE, LOSS, AND THE PULSE OF PARIS
San Francisco Opera’s most beloved production is back, and it’s as heartbreakingly beautiful as ever. La Bohème, Puccini’s timeless tale of love, art, and inevitable loss, holds a special place in the city’s heart—it’s the company’s most performed opera, first staged here in 1923, just one year after the company’s founding. On June 13, I witnessed the extraordinary second cast.
Set in 1830s Paris and based on Henri Murger’s Scènes de la vie de bohème, the story follows a group of struggling young artists living hand-to-mouth in a cramped flat. Among them: Rodolfo (Evan LeRoy Johnson), a passionate poet, and his friends Marcello the painter (Lucas Meachem), Colline the philosopher (Bogdan Talos), and Schaunard the musician (Samuel Kidd). They are penniless but rich in friendship and youthful bravado.
Their lives take a tender turn when Mimi, a seamstress (Nicole Car), quite literally knocks on Rodolfo’s door, and the two fall instantly, impossibly in love. But as Puccini’s soaring score reminds us, love is rarely simple and never without cost.
Director John Caird’s production is visually sumptuous, with lovingly detailed sets that transport us from the cluttered charm of the bohemian loft to the bustling Parisian streets and taverns. The Act Two café scene practically bursts off the stage with its lively townsfolk and full-throated ensemble singing. It’s here we meet the vivacious Musetta (Brittany Renee), Marcello’s fiery on-again, off-again lover, who knows how to command a room—and her wealthy suitors—with a well-placed note and a glimmer in her eye.
The snowy, holiday city streets of nighttime Paris give us all the usual: bustling crowds, rustic houses, cherubic children, paper lanterns, and a strikingly lush-voiced chorus (directed by John Keene)–clustered together with shining faces, tamped down by drab woolens (costumes by Kristi Johnson). I loved this atmospheric, straight-out-of-Dickens portrayal, and David Farley‘s production design is sumptuous.
As the seasons change, so do fortunes and hearts. By Act Three, love has soured. Rodolfo’s jealousy and Mimi’s declining health cast long shadows over their romance. In the final act, friends reunite, but the warmth of friendship is no match for fate. Musetta finds a gravely ill Mimi wandering the streets and brings her back to the loft where her journey began. Surrounded by her friends, she slips away in Rodolfo’s arms, and the gut-wrenching simplicity of her death leaves both characters and audience quietly shattered.
San Francisco Opera’s La Bohème is graced by passionate performances across the board. Whether it’s the commanding leads, the warm humor of the supporting players, or the richly sung chorus of townsfolk, there is not a false note in the cast. Performers alternate, and while this cast brought fresh energy, it’s a good bet that no two performances will feel quite the same. Conductor Ramón Tebar guides the masterwork competently with balance and proportion, allowing the alternatingly dark and light score and its ornamental flourishes to shine.
For first-timers and seasoned opera lovers alike, this production reaffirms why La Bohème continues to be San Francisco’s most cherished opera: it captures the urgency of youth, the ache of longing, and the brutal beauty of love that cannot last.
It runs for a limited time this month, and it’s well worth a return visit—or an unforgettable first encounter.
photo © Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera
La Bohème
San Francisco Opera
War Memorial Opera House
sung in Italian with English supertitles
ends on June 21, 2025
for tickets, call 415.864.3330 or visit SF Opera
