by GIACOMO PUCCINI
libretto by libretto by LUIGI ILLICA and GIUSEPPE GIACOSA

SANTA FE OPERA, 2019

directed by MARY BIRNBAUM - choreography by ADAM CATES - costume design by CAMELLIA KOO - lighting design by ANSHUMAN BHATIA

This new production, which opened the 2019 season at Santa Fe Opera, situates the story in Puccini’s original context of mid-nineteenth century Paris. As the opera takes us through different seasons in the characters’ lives, from youthful optimism through disillusionment and loss, the design of the space is loosely inspired by states of water. A gentle, tentative rain surrounds the two lovers in their first meeting, which then hardens to ice - providing crystalline sparkle and glitz for the backdrop of Paris on Christmas eve. A heavy snow descends as midwinter sets in, along with illness and strife, and finally with the death of Mimi, a spring thaw that finally, indelibly splits apart the environment the friends have shared. This fluidity and transience of the space reminds us of the poignant and inevitable passage from youth into age, from love into loss.