La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini
LA BOHÈME
Opera in 2 acts
Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica
Sung in the original language with Lithuanian surtitles
Premiere: 23 November 2024

Performed by the theatre’s and guest soloists, theatre artists, and pupils of the Kaunas Boys’ Choir School “Varpelis”.

“I put my soul into La Bohème; I loved it deeply, and loved its characters more than I can express,” composer Puccini wrote after the premiere. Audiences were equally moved: after performances, spectators went wild and would not let the performers leave until midnight, deeply touched by the sensitive and tragic love story of Rodolfo and Mimì.

La Bohème was received with great acclaim in European theatres and triumphed in North and South America, Africa and Turkey. Today, it remains one of the most frequently staged masterpieces of operatic literature.

It is commonly thought that the central theme of La Bohème is the moving love story of young people living in poverty in Parisian attics. But the opera’s director, Cholina, reveals the thinking behind her interpretation: all the characters are condemned to live in want and poverty, so their thoughts and feelings are filled only with the constant search for a loved one who might save their souls and bring them peace.

“The lives of these lonely young people consist only of living in the moment, creating for one another an illusion of love in which they sincerely believe, while understanding that the eternal instability of existence will never allow love to be fulfilled,” says Cholina.