La Bohème: Royal Opera House (Gardelli) [VHS]

I personally think this is the best all-round DVD recording by a long way of my favourite Puccini opera. I know Pavarotti is amazing on CD but I've never quite been able to reconcile his bulk with a starving Parisian poet, and of the praised fairly recent recordings I' find Angela Gheorghiu a bit too self-conscious to be an ideal Mimi, and the Rodolfos in both the more recent Covent Garden screenings underwhelming. In the film version Villazon is probably as ideal a Rodolfo as you can get, but I really don't like Anna Netrebko's coy/tarty interpretation of Mimi, beautiful though her voice sometimes is, and the film is way too chocolate-boxy. The other recording of Boheme I've seen and really liked was the Met version with Stratas and Carreras - but I'd say this one has the edge on great supporting cast and on acting from the tenor and soprano (Stratas and Carreras can be wonderful but both look a little self-conscious on occasion and Stratas does once or twice pull very odd faces!).Just about everything about the performance is good. John Copley's production is wonderful - a really thoughtful interpretation of the story which deftly balances the comedy and tragedy (even if the bit with the fish in Act IV reminded me of 'Monty Python'!) and which, most importantly, portrays the central love affair as very tender and profound - as Puccini meant it to be. Every movement is carefully plotted, every idea makes sense. Julia Trevelyan Oman may be a tiny bit too fond of colours on the beige and dirty green end of the spectrum (but bearing in mind this is Paris in the 1830s it's probably pretty appropriate!) but transports one into another world through her amazing designs, which is what I remember opera doing a lot when I was a child, and what it doesn't do so often now... you really feel you are in 19th-century Paris with these characters. Act III is particularly impressive, and I love the careful detail with which she's designed the bohemians' living space for Acts I and IV.Musically and dramatically there isn't a weak link. The conductor Gardelli (who I didn't know) does a great job on the score, and the marvellous orchestra are on top form. The comic cameos are great, John Rawlinson is a wonderful livewire as Schaunard, and Gwynne Howell a thoughtful, witty Colline (his coat song, and his slump of despair at the end, are heartbreaking, and his voice is terrific). Marilyn Zschau is a more dramatic soprano than most Musettas, which works very well in Act IV when the character shows her more profound side, but also has the height and flamboyance for Act IV, and her costumes look amazing (those were the days when opera companies didn't rely so much on cheap fabrics and nasty man-made fibres). I loved the way that her character changed through watching Mimi's suffering in Act IV - and that final embrace with Marcello was incredible!As for the three principal singers, they perform in a way that would have made Puccini proud. Neil Shicoff may not be the most dashing Rodolfo ever - that prize goes jointly to Domingo and Carreras - or the gentlest - that prize goes to Rolando Villazon in the 2012 staging at Covent Garden, where his acting in the deathbed scene had me in tears - but he produces one of the most convincing, gentlest and most complex interpretations of the role I've seen. His transformation from the playful young man of the start of Act I to the troubled figure in Act III, and the heartbroken lover of Act IV is totally convincing, and his voice is beautiful. (No one should criticize him for taking the aria down a semi-tone - this was I believe the pitch Puccini initially intended, and better do this than feel uncomfortable. Both Carreras and Villazon have done the same at various times.) Cotrubas is the ideal Mimi, conveying the character's sweetness but also her profundity and her courage, and never acting the diva. You can tell it's a great performance because you think about the character rather than the soprano all the time! Her voice is lovely - sweet and well in tune, and capable of a wide range of emotions. This is one of the most interesting Mimis I've seen. Greatest of all, perhaps, is Thomas Allen's Marcello - a wonderful interpretation, beautifully sung, with every detail of facial expression and gesture carefully worked out but also seeming spontaneous, and an enormous range of moods covered. His fury at Musetta's flirting in Act II and his mad dancing in Act IV had me crying with laughter, while his devastated reaction to Mimi's death had me in tears of pity. Puccini, who had a special affection for Marcello as a character, would have been delighted.

Is John Copley's wonderful production still in the rep at Covent Garden? It should be, for it was simply the best staging of " La Boheme" London has ever seen.....in my opinion, anyway.With sets so realistic you could almost smell the damp in the garret, feel the freezing cold of snowbound Paris, the historically perfect costumes, hairstyles etc made sure this truly was Opera Verismo.This recording from about 1979 had an exceptionally strong cast of singers who could also act. The adorable Romanian soprano Ileana Cortrubas, though rising 40, was perfect as Mimi, the tiny consumptive seamstress, without coughing until the very end. Her final scene is unbearably moving. Somehow she simulates the bright eyed intensity of the terminally ill. Neil Schicoff, Marilyn Zschau, Thomas Allen, Gwynne Howell & John Rawnsley made up the team, each one characterised in depth.Even with between-the-acts curtain calls and a good deal of conductor Lambert Gardelli acknowledging his totally deserved applause from the audience, this "Boheme" came in at just under two hours, reminding me of the anecdote about King George V: asked what was his favourite opera, the monarch replied, "La Boheme....it's the shortest one I know!"

This cannot be surpassed. Sent on as a present and had rave reviews. All exactly as described.Would like to add that this particular production, which succeeded that of Melba, was the best production to date. It has not even been matched.Schicoff and Cortrubas were exceptional actors as well as singers and the emotions were real..

I first got this on VHS tape many years ago. It is a wonderful production with first class singers and it has definitely endured the test of time. Every time I watch it it brings great pleasure and I still shed a tear at the end! I would thoroughly recommend his ROH version above many others available.

Ordered one day - received two working days later. Brilliant but will reserve reviewing DVD as not yet had time to play but looks exactly the same as the ancient VHS I am replacing. Watch this space!

The production was very good and was as I expected.

This may be my favourite version of La Boheme. I haven't seen a more perfect Mimi. Other cast excellent, too

this is the only La Boheme to watch the definative John Copley production