La Boheme is the story of love between a mortally ill seamstress Mimi and the poet Rodolfo in Paris in 1830. Giacomo Puccini conceived the show with a libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The story is loosely based on Henri Murger's collection of short stories, Scene de la vie de Boheme. La Boheme tickets are actually the second most popular in the United States, behind Madame Butterfly.
Puccini's script debuted in Turin on February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio. The opera quickly took the whole of Italy by storm, playing in six theaters in two years. La Boheme spread to the rest of continental Europe at the same time.
In the 20th century, the opera has remained one of the most popular operatic productions. It is scheduled to play at the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center in New York this fall and is touring through North America and in London at the London Coliseum.
