I also cannot hold back my tears during Act 4, knowing what is going to happen at the end just has me in floods, and here it did do that.

It is an incredibly lyrical and poignant score, with some of the most breathtakingly beautiful tunes in the history of opera, particularly Mimi's Act 1 aria and the Act 3 duet, both of which bring a lump to my throat always(and it did here too). The photography has some interesting angles that don't jar, while the sets, lighting and costumes are very pleasing to the eye. On its own, it is a very solid performance of a beautiful opera. It's not the best(I remember the 1988 production with Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti with such fondness), but it doesn't try to be.

Other than that, I loved this production of La Boheme. My only complaint was the sound, some of it sounded a bit off and lazy particularly in the middle of Che Glenida Manina, at first I wasn't sure whether it was the sound or whether it was Villazon trying to be even more delicate than he was being- anyone who's seen him before will know he does have quite an eccentric, passionate and exciting presence particularly when he's talking about singing and opera. And I am a huge fan of La Boheme, so I wanted to see this naturally. As some people may know, I am a huge fan of opera and classical music.

La boheme opera story