Classic pulses with love and lyricism

LE BOHEME, OPERA NORTH THEATRE ROYAL

- By WILLIAM RUFF

Opera North's La Boheme is updated to the 1950s

(RICHARD H SMITH)

OPERA North's production of La Bohéme may be 32 years old now but it’s still as fresh as the paint which Marcello dribbles onto his canvases in that freezing cold garret, in a Paris updated to an entirely credible 1950s.

If you'd never seen Phyllida Lloyd’s vision of one of opera's most tuneful hits before, you'd never guess that it wasn’t brand new. Each revival not only injects fresh energy but seems to catch the mood of each new audience.