La Boheme--Opera Australia stage performance on DVD

My recent discovery of baritone Roger Lemke (pictured right) in Opera Australia's Gondoliers has lead me to actually buy the DVD of Baz Luhrmann's production of La Boheme that Opera Australia presented in 1993 that featured Mr. Lemke as Marcello. As this production--with it's iconic L'AMOUR lighted sign on the garret roof--was the basis of the late 1990's production that played on Broadway for 250 performances (with different casts than OA used), I feel justified including it in my Year and not as a Classical Monday entry. I'm all about the justifications.

This production is beautiful to look at. The run-down garret apartment, the dingy Montmartre plaza, the restaurant, even the scaffolding used for the border scene in act three is somehow lovely and atmospheric. Nothing much is really colorful, but somehow it seems vibrant and alive. The same could be said for the cast--this cast is a looker. Opera purists may argue with some of the voices and I'm not deaf to those complaints, but on the whole this seems good middle ground between musical and opera. Of course, it's in Italian, so it's not all that middle.

Oh, I just realized that this picture of Roger Lemke looks freakishly like a picture of my father when Dad was in his twenties. Sorry, Roger, I won't be able to look at you the same way again. I'll have to move on to your brother, who sings Schaunard in this production.

La Boheme
Music by Giacomo Puccini
1993 Opera Australia production directed by Baz Lurhmann
Broadcast on the Australia Broadcasting Company, released on DVD.
Cast: Cheryl Barker, David Hobson, Roger Lemke, David Lemke, Christine Douglas