Puccini"s tragic love story is set in the Latin Quarter of Paris among the bohemian students whose hectic gaiety only partially masks the despair and pain that threaten their lives. It remains one of the most popular of all operas with its stark contrasts of lively humor and poignant tragedy. In this ENO recording by Jonathan Miller, he and designer Isabella Bywater have set Puccini"s opera in the Paris of the 1930s, the era of the Depression. Together they have created an unromanticised view of bohemian life, drawing inspiration from the realism and atmosphere caught in the films and sepia-tinted photos of the period. American soprano Melody Moore stars as Mimi with British tenor Alfie Boe as Rodolfo, whose tender love affair is doomed from the start. "...Miller...observes human behavior in ways that can be immensely telling " INDEPENDENT "Miguel Harth-Bedoya draws a superb account of the score from the ENO orchestra: passionate yet supple, evoking the crackle of fire in the garret one minute and the stirrings of love the next." EVENING STANDARD " Alfie Boe"s slightly earnest, boyish charm was through and through honest, from start to tragic finish.....the intensity and truthfulness he communicates is irresistible." INDEPENDENT English National Opera Music - Giacomo Puccini Libretto- Giacosa & Illica Director - Jonathan Miller Marcello - Roland Wood Rodolfo - Alfie Boe Colline - Paul Putnis Schaunard - David Stout Benoit - Simon Butteriss Mimi - Melody Moore Parpignol - Phillip Daggett Musetta - Hanan Alattar Alcindoro - Richard Angas Policeman - Christopher Ross Official - Andrew Tinkler The English National Opera Chorus Orchestra of the ENO