La Bohème

La Bohème (or La bohème) is an opera in four acts, composed by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa,

The original text

Based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. The story is set in Paris around 1830 and shows the Bohemian lifestyle of a poor seamstress and her artist friends.

International translations and adaptations

Rent, the musical by Jonathan Larson, is loosely based on Puccini's opera. See separate entry on Rent.

South African translations and adaptations

Adapted by Hal Shaper in 1997/1998 as La Bohème Noir, set in Soweto.

Adapted as La Bohème in District Six in 2016.

Performance history in South Africa

1990: Presented by CAPAB Opera (10–24 November)

1992: Presented by CAPAB Opera (9–26 June)

1995: Presented by CAPAB Opera (21 September – 7 October)

1997: La Bohème Noir presented by CAPAB Opera (20–30 December)

2001: Presented by Cape Town Opera (30 November – 4 December)

2006: Presented by Cape Town Opera (6–18 May)

2012: Presented by Cape Town Opera (5–16 May)

Sources

Wayne Muller. 2018. A reception history of opera in Cape Town: Tracing the development of a distinctly South African operatic aesthetic (1985–2015). Unpublished PhD thesis.