Puccini’s
La Bohème
REVIVAL
Music by Giacomo Puccini | Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa
Live: Saturday, Nov. 8 at 11:00 a.m.
Encore: Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 3:00 p.m.
There will be a pre-opera talk led by John Steinbrunner one hour before the LIVE performance on Saturday.
Conductor: Keri-Lynn Wilson
CAST: Juliana Grigoryan (Mimì), Heidi Stober (Musetta), Freddie De Tommaso (Rodolfo), Lucas Meachem (Marcello), Sean Michael Plumb (Schaunard), Jongmin Park (Colline), Donald Maxwell (Benoit/Alcindoro)
With its enchanting setting and spellbinding score, the world’s most popular opera is as timeless as it is heartbreaking. Franco Zeffirelli’s picture-perfect production brings 19th-century Paris to the Met stage as Puccini’s young friends and lovers navigate the joy and struggle of bohemian life. Soprano Juliana Grigoryan is the feeble seamstress Mimì, opposite tenor Freddie De Tommaso as the ardent poet Rodolfo. Keri-Lynn Wilson conducts.
ACT I
Paris, the 1830s. The near-destitute painter Marcello and poet Rodolfo live with their roommates, Colline and Schaunard, in a garret in the Latin Quarter. As his friends leave to celebrate Christmas at the Café Momus, Rodolfo stays home to write. He meets his pretty neighbor, Mimì, and the two fall in love at first sight. Arm in arm, they leave to join his friends.
ACT II
At the café, Marcello’s former sweetheart, Musetta, makes a noisy entrance on the arm of her elderly but wealthy lover, Alcindoro, arousing Marcello’s jealousy. Tumult ensues, and Musetta, having sent Alcindoro away, eventually falls into Marcello’s arms.
ACT III
Weeks later, Mimì comes to see Marcello on the outskirts of Paris and tells him of her distress over Rodolfo’s jealousy. She says it is best that they part. Rodolfo, on the other hand, wants to separate from Mimì because he thinks her illness can only grow worse in the poverty they share. Mimì tearfully says goodbye to him, but overcome with emotion, the two decide to remain together until spring.
ACT IV
Now separated from their girlfriends, Rodolfo and Marcello lament their loneliness. Musetta arrives with Mimì, who is mortally ill. Left alone, Mimì and Rodolfo recall their first happy days. The others return, and Mimì dies, leaving Rodolfo heartbroken.
The 2025-2026 Met Live Opera season in Sedona is generously sponsored by Chris Fladlien.