Graymatter Nomadic

I took my Grand Terrace box seat early. A German family was my closest company in the world’s largest opera house, as the auditorium slowly filled.

I was there for the renowned Zeffirelli production of La Bohème. Puccini’s opera is the most popular in the world, and none has graced the Met’s stage more often. I had seen this production via The Met’s Live in HD telecasts to movie theaters years earlier in Colorado Springs. It was a cold, cloudy day. When the curtain opened, I was reminded of that sky as the attic garret and Paris skyline filled the stage. The male principals—a poet, painter, musician, and philosopher—may have lacked money, warmth, food, and love, but they certainly had space. Entering this space is the tragic Mimi, who is soon invited to join the group by a smitten Rodolfo.

If the Act I set was about characters in a void, searching for opportunity, Act II was about 19th-century Paris coming to life. The set is on two levels, each in constant motion. There’s a marching band, peddlers, shoppers, marauding children—there’s even a donkey. And of course, there is Cafe Momus, the beating heart of an imagined Bohemian Paris—a place that calls all travelers to make it a home, if only for an evening

Winter images returned to mind as Act III opened. An inn in a snow-filled park, figures moving silently in the predawn light. The story of Mimi and Rodolfo at this point is unknown after their declarations of love at Cafe Momus. In fact, nothing really happens for what seems like a good long time. The dreamlike setting is shattered as we learn that Mimi and Rodolfo have parted—yet remain achingly connected.

Act IV returns to the attic, which now seems less alive, more worn, less open to opportunity. Here, loss provides the organizing design idea as Mimi’s life fades away with the hopes and dreams of those Bohemians.

The new production of ”La Boheme” at the Metropolitan Opera Monday night was a gift for the old guard … This Franco Zeffirelli ”Boheme” … is a production for people who come wanting to applaud the scenery. And applaud it they did, throwing in bravos to boot.”

— The New York Times, 16 December 1981

I go to opera for the music but I stay for the spectacle. Zefferili and The Met provide that and more.

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