This time we are moving in the classic production from 1969 by Otto Schenk, one of the oldest productions still regularly performed in the Munich National Theater. No weapons were aimed at the audience, only in the second act the French military marched across the stage in lockstep – unfortunately not particularly synchronized.
Puccini operas usually make you cry, but if you like that, you should have tissues ready because there are always dramatic death scenes.
Plot
Short form:
- Act they get to know each other.
- Act, they are having fun.
- Act, they argue.
- Act, she dies.
Long form:
We are in Paris in the 19th century, in a student environment. It’s winter, cold, the students live in an attic. They have no money for heating, little to eat and the rent is also outstanding. In a rather silly scene, the neighbor Mimi comes to the students because her candle has gone out and she can’t light it again. Rodolfo lights the candle again, but instead of Mimi leaving, she squanders her key. The candle goes out again and they both crawl around on the floor to look for the key – in the process they fall in love.
In the second act there is a big celebration in the street. Musetta, Marcello’s ex-lover, shows up and flaunts herself as if she were rich. It’s celebrated in Café Momus.
In the third act, still winter, Rodolfo cries to Marcello, Mimi is sick and will die, that’s why he left her. Marcello complains about Musetta and calls her a prostitute. Unfortunately, Mimi overhears the conversation.
In Act 4, Mimi dies in the student room. Musetta still wants to save her and parts with her earrings to pay for a doctor. But unfortunately it is too late for a doctor.
Stage design
The students’ attic chamber in Acts 1 and 4 is furnished in a spartan manner, with a wood-burning stove in the middle, the stove pipe leading through the room. The market square in Act 2 is full of life and the Café Momus is well attended. The third act, in front of the inn where Marcello painted the facade, depicts a cloudy, snowy winter night and in the fourth act Mimi dies again in the attic.
Things got interesting after the final act of the opera:
The conductor put down his baton, laughed heartily at his musicians and even clapped. When he bowed on stage, he shook the prompter’s hand, but only her hand was visible – she herself did not appear on stage. I’ve never experienced anything like that in an opera!
Unfortunately, the opera did not provide a trailer.