The Atlanta Opera will pair two shows, deeply connected but also very different, to its stage this September—Jonathan Larson’s groundbreaking Tony Award-winning musical Rent and Giacomo Puccini’s opera masterpiece, La bohème.
The productions of these two well-known and beloved shows about the struggles of young bohemian artists have never before been paired in performance, even though Larson mirrored Puccini’s 1896 opera when writing his 1996 Rent.
Tickets are now on sale for both productions, being presented under the umbrella title, The Bohème Project. La bohème will be performed Sept. 18 through Oct. 5, while Rent is staged Sept. 19 through Oct. 6. Tomer Zvulun and Vita Tzykun serve as co-directors for the innovative pairing.
“We are incredibly excited to bring these bold and risky new productions to the stage,” said Tomer Zvulun and Carl W. Knobloch, Jr., general and artistic director of The Atlanta Opera. “This is the first time an opera company has performed Rent. Audiences will be immersed in the music and action as the performances happen all around them. We cannot wait to share these powerful stories with the Atlanta community.”
The cast for Rent includes Christin Byrdsong, Leanne Antonio, Bligh Voth and Gerald Lee Caesar. Conductor James Lowe takes the podium for both productions.
The La bohème update relocates the story to 21st-century Brooklyn during the COVID-19 pandemic, where young love blossoms despite a worldwide health crisis and the struggles of impoverished artists. The cast includes Kameron Lopreore, Amanda Batista, Luke Sutliff and Cadie J. Bryan.
Both works will be performed on a multi-platform set that brings the action into and around the audience with visual artists from Atlanta’s Museum of Contemporary Art and the Savannah College of Art and Design invited to set up their easels and creative stations throughout the space.
Tickets for both productions are now available at atlantaopera.org.
Photo: The two shows with a common story will be presented in tandem this September and October.
