So The Recs was more than intrigued to see that the King’s Head Theatre was to perform a new interpretation of this opera.
Promising a Queer contemporary reinvention of Puccini’s classic opera, LA BOHÈME, it will add a new English libretto originally conceived by David Eaton and Adam Spreadbury-Maher and reworked by Philip Lee and David Eaton to Puccini’s score. In another reframing, it relocates the loves and lives of struggling artists from the original Paris to London.
The synopsis of this tempting new production reads: “Penniless writer Robin struggles to monetise his online writing but a Grindr hookup with a Liberty perfume salesman- known to his friends as Mimi -leads to unexpected blossoming of romantic passion. Meanwhile Robin’s flatmate, Marcus pursues an on/off relationship with sometime model Marissa who is torn between the idealism of loving an artist and the material possibilities offered by a hedge fund manager. As a year passes from one Christmas to the next, the four friends struggle to reconcile love with artistic aspiration and the need to pay the bills.”
For a musical juggernaut that has been repeatedly refashioned across the years, we’re thrilled that this new take will forsake the grandeur of the gilded opera houses for the up-close, personal and the more economically-challenged charms of the King’s Head.
This La Bohème will star Matthew Kellett as Marcus, Philip Lee as Mimi, Grace Nyandoro as Marissa and Daniel Koek as Robin.