the romantic

Puccini’s La Boheme is a story of young love set in the bohemian culture of 1830s Paris. The bittersweet tragedy centers around an optimistic group of friends surviving on limited means. Rodolfo, a poet, shares a garret with his artist friend. Mimi is a seamstress living in a neighboring apartment. Mimi and Rodolfo meet and fall instantly, madly, in love. But the diva is already desperately ill with tuberculosis and not long for the world.

The libretto, by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, is based on Henri Murger’s novel Scènes de la vie de Bohème and was the inspiration for the Broadway musical Rent.