Opera Scotland

Excellent revival of La bohème

Posted 30 Oct 2025

Scottish Opera's big autumn production, a revival of the Bohème staging from 2017, has now finished its Glasgow run and is off on tour to Aberdeen (30 Oct & 1 Nov), Inverness (6 & 8 Nov) and Edinburgh (14, 16, 18, 20 & 22 Nov).  The original production team have returned, along with Stuart Stratford on the podium and Hye-Youn Lee, now a firm favourite with local audiences, repeating her Mimì.

As before, the evening begins in silence, with the chorus, in modern dress, milling about as tourists.  They are still entertained by a street singer - last time clearly intended to represent Josephine Baker, she is now a more recent icon in the great  Edith Piaf.  This is all in our heroine's imagination, and after a couple of numbers the orchestra strikes up in the usual way.  This sounds a bit odd but it actually works rather well, helped by the superb degree of conviction conveyed by everyone involved.

Please note that there is an afternoon performance in each of the three cities - a great help for anyone travelling any distance from outside. At the Glasgow matinee the packed audience clearly loved every minute of it.