Cheap Puccini - La Boheme / Baz Luhrmann, The Australian Opera (2002 Edition) (DVD) (Geoffrey Nottage) Price

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Customer Reviews of Puccini - La Boheme / Baz Luhrmann, The Australian Opera (2002 Edition)

Let's Get Real
Yes, this is one of the most BELIEVABLE Bohemes you can see. Luhrman's direction is full of great details (just look at how Mimi and Rodolopho listen to each other and play off the words). I loved the end of Act III where Rodolpho playfully throws some snow at Mimi!! Tthe updated 1950's production works fine, and the acting is superb. There's not a trace of "standard opera acting" (i.e., stand and sing with an occasional stock hand gesture). The up-close video shots allow (and force) the singers to act with their eyes and faces far more than they could do in a live opera house, where such things would be lost beyond the 10th row.

No, this is not anywhere near the best SUNG Boheme you can find. The Rodolpho and Musetta, particularly, have tight, thin voices, and would have trouble making the finals of the Metropolitan Opera auditions. I was afraid Rodolpho's voice would give out before his high C's in Act I.

For great voices and great VOCAL ACTING, listen to Callas, DiStefano, Tebaldi, Georghiu, Bergonzi, Bjorling, etc. (Avoid Bocelli if you want great tenor singing.)

So buy this DVD, for Chrissakes, and get to know what really happens in the opera and WHY they are singing their hearts out. Then move on to the great singers of the past and present, who are not on this DVD.

David Richie

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La Boheme-- this is the one to have
I have done several productions of La Boheme, and I have seen many more. This is the video version I would recommend. At times, the cast seems to have been picked for soap opera looks rather than for opera voices, but by the end it works, and it works beautifully. The director might miss some opportunities which Puccini obviously provides, but better a few missed opportunities rather than to engage in Zeffirelli excesses.

The small production, the only okay orchestra, the voices which seem to be at times between musical theater and opera-- all of these factors end up not being important because you find yourself believing that these people are les bohemes, much more so than the usually older people who portray them. (After watching this, I found that listening to the so-called classic recording with Freni and Pavarotti seemed like listening to a bunch of middle-aged wannabes with no life in them at all.) Boheme needs a young vibrant cast and vibrant directions, and this is as good as you'll ever find. Rent the other DVDs of Boheme, but buy this one.

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Simply Brilliant
In the hand of the very creative film director Baz Luhrmann, who gathered a cast with young opera singers, updated the story to the 1950s, but rightfully left Puccini's music intact, this Bohème challenged the stereotyped opera form, and yet, came off triumphantly. It is great theatre with drama conveyed by great acting and singing. Who cares whether or not the singers were able, if they ever cared, to make the finals of Metropolitan audition, what they have created is simply brilliant.
You have to watch this Boheme to believe how brilliant it is. It is not average opera production people have in mind...perhaps it is what opera ought to be.