Okay, let’s get the silly jokes out of the way first. Around our house, we’ve been referring to this alternately as Merrily We Bohemians Roll Along, or Emèhob Al. 

“This,” of course, is director Yuval Sharon‘s production of Puccini’s opera, which reconfigures the four acts in reverse order. So, among many other things, there’s no spoiler alert: Mimi is mortally ill from the start.

Sharon’s reordering is surely the boldest and most discussed aspect of his production, and it’s effective. For me and many opera lovers, Bohème is a very familiar work—but seeing it this way sharpened my perceptions of the individual relationships and changing circumstances…

Click here to read the full post at Parterre Box.