This lively, engaging production drew us in with little sense of the artificial: Opera North revives Phyllida Lloyd’s 1993 production of Puccini’s La Boheme

Puccini: La Boheme – Opera North (Photo: Richard H Smith)

Puccini: La boheme; Joshua Blue, Isabela Diaz, Katie Bird, Josef Jeongmeen Ahn, Han Kim, Sean Boylan, director: Phyllida Lloyd/James Hurley, conductor Catriona Beveridge; Opera North at Theatre Royal Nottingham
Reviewed 22 November 2025

Still in vibrant health, Phyllida Lloyd’s 1950s Paris-set production eschews artifice for directness and a young cast bring the opera to life in a lively and engaging manner

When Phyllida Lloyd and designer Anthony Ward created their production of Puccini’s La boheme for Opera North in 1993, their setting of Paris in the 1950s was easily within living memory, just 40 years away.  But now, some 32 years after the production’s premier, the time period slips into historical memory. In the programme book for Opera North’s latest revival of the production, Phyllida Lloyd explains that her and Ward’s intention was not to create a 1950s Paris version of the opera but simply to strip down the story to its essentials/

Yet 32 years is a long period in the life of a theatre production. Perhaps its stripped-back nature means that there is space for the cast of each revival to make it their own yet, my-grandfather’s-axe-like, it remains Phyllida Lloyd’s. We caught the final performance of Opera North’s latest revival of the production and certainly it seemed in vibrant health.

We saw Phyllida Lloyd’s production of Puccini’s La boheme at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham on Saturday 22 November 2025. Catriona Beveridge conducted (taking over from Garry Walker who conducted the majority of the 16-date run)/ Sets and costumes were by Anthony Ward, and the revival director was James Hurley. Some roles were double cast and we caught Josef Jeongmeen Ahn as Marcello, Joshua Blue as Rodolfo, Han Kim as Colline, Sean Boylan as Schaunard, Isabela Diaz as Mimi, Katie Bird as Musetta and Jeremy Peaker (who was retiring after 37 years service in the Opera North chorus) as Benoit and Alcindoro.

Puccini: La Boheme – Opera North (Photo: Richard H Smith)

Beyond the 1950s setting, complete with Marcello’s motorbike, the production had several imaginative touches. It was deliberately artful, each act was viewed through a frame as if seeing snapshot. At the end of Act One, for ‘O soave fanciulla’, a black curtain came down, then Joshua Blue and Isabela Diaz sang their duet in front of a projection of the moon. Artful yet practical so at the end of the act the cafe Momus scene flowed immediately. Here there was simply a mobile banquette of seats and much of the atmosphere relied on the chorus, sounding and looking vivid, and the children of the Opera North Youth Company. The banquette reappeared in Act Three for the bar were Marcello and Musetta were working, now a club called ‘Reve’, seen in occasional glimpses through the backdrop.

There was as sense of naturalism to the interactions of the six bohemians, overcoming the problem in the opera of six middle-aged (yet distinguished) singers pretending to be poor students. Here the interaction between the four men was engagingly quicksilver and vivid. 

Isabela Diaz made a poised and stylish Mimi. In the first two acts she felt, perhaps, a little too artful with an awareness she was performing her major arias. But Diaz was certainly poignant in Act Three, leading to an outstanding account of Mimi’s death scene where she fitted superbly into the naturalism around her, with little sense of  ‘performance’.

Joshua Blue is a large man with a voice to match. He was an engagingly bear-like Rodolfo, heart very much on sleeve. Blue’s voice is full and vibrant, going all the way to the top with admirable evenness. Yet he was willing and able to vary and modulate his tone, his quieter moments equally telling and, where needed, touching.

Jsef Jeonmeen Ahn was a thoughtful Marcello, often the lynchpin of the action yet without an element of ‘look at me’ to his performance. There was sly humour too, and when his turn came in the scene with Katie Bird’s Musetta in Act Two, he was well able to hold focus. Han Kim was a thoughtful and deep philosopher Colline, making the role’s few words count, especially in the more manic scenes along with a fine farewell to his overcoat. As a character, Schaunard can often disappear into the background but here Sean Boylan made him a vital part of the bohemian’s circle. And, of course, he got the production’s most photogenic moment when, at the beginning of Act Four, Schaunard enters having been to a party dressed like Marilyn Monroe!

Musetta’s solo in Act Two was definitely a star turn here and Katie Bird certainly made the most of it. Dressed in a series of stylish outfits, Bird looked and sounded fabulous yet interacted with the opera bohemians with charm and sparkle.

The remaining roles were all taken by members of the Opera North chorus. Jeremy Peaker provided characterful support as both Benoit and Alcindoro whilst Kamil Bien was a striking Parpignol. At the opening of Act Three, Simon Grange, Campbell Russell, Richard Mosley Evans, Miranda Bevin, Hazel Croft and Charlie Drummond  had fun in their reinvented roles as bouncer, plum seller/milk man, chef and showgirls.

In the pit Catriona Beveridge created a finely drawn account of the score with Puccini’s large orchestra providing vivid colour without overwhelming. Speeds with always sympathetic; this was a performance that zipped along but never hurried. However, perhaps she was a bit too willing to pause for eager applause after the ‘great’ solo moments.

I forget how many performances of La boheme I have seen; my first was Peter Ebert’s production for Scottish Opera conducted by Alexander Gibson with Dennis O’Neill and Isobel Buchanan in 1979. Truthfully, we attended Opera North’s performance partly because we were in Nottingham to see their production of Handel’s Susanna [see my review]. Yet from the first notes, this lively and engaging production drew us in with little sense of the pretend or the artificial.