My first ever visit to a classical opera. And, based on this one experience, probably my last. So perhaps I am not the best person to be weriting a review!
I'd outline the plot, but... here isn't much of one. Four guys, poverty stricken artists of various kinds, enjoy life as best they can. Two of them fall in love, the affairs are on, then off. Rodolfo's girl, Mimi, returns, in poor health, and dies. Everyone is sad.
Around that there are modern day crowd scenes, with much colour and spectacle. Lots of music and songs, but I couldn't recall a single melody afterwards. And the words, whilst sung and spoken in Italian, are relayed to the audience in English supertitles. This is handy for keeping up with what's supposed to be going on, but also distracting, far more so than subtitles on a film. They also made me laugh at their content sometimes, probably when i wasn't supposed to. "I'll go for my muff" was a memorable moment.
There's also the intensity, which rarely seems to vary. Somebody singing "How's your cough, it seems better than yesterday" is accorded the same level of drama as "She'll be dead in half an hour". Nuanced it is not.
I don't regret going, it was an experience, butI don't think I'll ever be an opera buff...
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