La Bohème brings opera to Murwillumbah

OPERA Australia will bring its 70s-inspired production of La Bohème to Murwillumbah Civic Centre on July 22 as part of a national tour.

Directed by Dean Bryant, the production reimagines Puccini’s classic opera in a bohemian Paris of the 1970s and follows a group of young artists navigating love, friendship and loss.

The tour will open in Geelong on July 11 and travel to regional centres across Victoria, Queensland, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and the ACT before finishing in Wangaratta on September 6.

Opera Australia director Dean Bryant said touring the show around the country was personally meaningful.

“This is a story about a group of young artists dealing with all the huge things in life for the first time,” Bryant said.

“Growing up in regional Australia, I had the same passion and urgency to be heard, to fall in love, to live, so it’s particularly exciting for me to be taking this production, set in Paris in the 1970s, across the country.”

Local children’s choirs will join the cast on stage at each stop, providing students with rehearsal experience and a chance to perform in front of an audience.

Opera Australia’s annual regional tour has brought fully staged performances to more than 339,000 people in 139 locations since 1996.

This year’s cast includes Danita Weatherstone and Maia Andrews sharing the role of Mimì, John Longmuir and Nick Kirkup as Rodolfo, Cathy-Di Zhang and Sarah Prestwidge as Musetta, and Andrew Williams and Benjamin Del Borrello as Marcello.

The production will be conducted by Simon Bruckard, with set and costume design by Isabel Hudson and lighting by Damien Cooper.

Tickets and full tour dates are available at opera.org.au.