The credit may, in many ways, lie with the stage director, Giancarlo del Monaco. The son of the lyric tenor, Mario del Monaco, he grew up around opera all his life, and has become a very busy director in this field, as well as a film director. He has captured the essence of Puccini's opera, and Puccini's fine sense of theater, which ensures that there is no waste in his operas. Consequently, his work lends itself well to being filmed live on a stage, especially when the designer, Michael Scott, and the stage director both seem to know how to capitalize on the tightness of Puccini's music and the libretto that suits it so well.

Of course, both designer and director played a little with the period of the opera, but not so much that it destroyed the feeling of the work. While Puccini set La Bohème during Louis-Philippe's reign, i.e. somewhere between 1830-48, del Monaco moved it around to the very late 19^th or the very beginning of the 20^th century. Rudolfo uses an old typewriter, and Alcindoro travels around in a beautiful old car, but one can forgive that. Few people would even know that Louis-Philippe was the last real King of the French, who abdicated in 1848 and died two years later in England. History isn't taught much these days. Sadly!

Scott's set captures a timeless Paris. The garrets remained little changed from Puccini's setting to what I saw more than 100 years later. They, no doubt, even now still exist in a few places. The design of the set allowed for a seamless change from one scene to another. This produced a good pace, and fidelity to music and libretto. The crowd scenes are very well staged, something that does not always happen in other productions of this opera. The costumes echo back to the 1880s, although they have almost a timelessness about them because fashion changed so very little until after the turn of the century.

The Madrid Symphony Orchestra appears to play exceedingly well, at least judging from the DVD's sound, and the chorus is equally up to the job. But, most of all, kudos goes to the singers, most of whom may not be too well known on this side of the ocean. Unfortunately, the booklet accompanying the DVD gives no information about the artists. The one who is somewhat known to us here is Inva Mula, who has sung Violetta in La Traviata in Toronto. Bruce Willis fans may also know her voice from the film The Fifth Element (1997) in which she is the voice behind the Diva. She does not, however, appear in the film. Mula's Mimi in this production of La Bohème is outstanding. The camera captures her emotions which complement her brilliant voice that has a wide vocal register.

She is well supported by Aquiles Machado, who sings Rudolfo with great intensity. Laura Giordano is superb as Musetta, all coquettish and yet warm-hearted without stooping to mawkishness. She has a fine voice that is well suited to the role. Baritone Fabio Maria Capitanucci sings Marcello with considerable power. They are a foursome to be reckoned with. David Menendez sings Schaunard, the musician, while Felipe Bou sings Colline, the philosopher. His final aria, which is a hymn to his coat that is about to be sold to help give comfort to Mimi, is a highlight of this production.

The final scene, which is, of course, about Mimi's demise and Rudolfo's anguish, is extraordinarily well staged. I don't want to give away just what happens, but del Monaco's vision for this scene is remarkable.