The Enduring Spell of La Boheme

One spring afternoon, maybe 20 years ago, I found myself having lunch with some guys who were all big supporters of Connecticut Opera. They were talking about ways that the company might increase its audience and thereby stabilize its finances. Various strategies were proposed.

Finally one of the guys said, “Look, if we’re really going to make any progress, we should just do ‘La Boheme’ every single season.”

This was a company that did a total of three of four productions a year.

I laughed and congratulated the guy on making a good joke.

He said, “I’m not joking. I’m serious.”

Looking back, the guy may have had a point. Every time the company presented “Boheme” – which in practice was more like every three or four years, it sold out. For the record, whatever alternate strategies were eventually tried, they didn’t work: the company folded in 2009.

I’ve remembered this story (although I’ve forgotten the names of the participants) because it was the first time that I – who came to appreciate opera rather late in my life – began to understand the unique place that this single opera holds in the culture.

I’m thinking about “Boheme” because over the next couple of weeks, Connecticut Lyric Opera, the enterprising company based in New Britain, will present four performances in four different locations around central Connecticut. The first of these will be May 1. For all the dates and locations, visit the opera company’s performance web page.

Read the article at WNPR here: https://www.wnpr.org/post/enduring-spell-la-boheme