operalab
Marco Iannelli’s new rearrangement for Il tabarro, the first of the three operas in Giacomo Puccini’s Il trittico, commissioned by Hong Kong’s Musica Viva, was played for three performances at the Hong Kong City Hall from 13-15 December 2024. The performances featured Turkish bass Burak Bilgili as Michele, the cuckolded barge-owner. He was joined by soprano Rianne Lau and tenor Yeghishe Manucharyan as the star-crossed lovers Giorgetta and Luigi.
This new adaptation aims to capture the origins of the novel in the semi-autobiographical novel Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger in an intimate dramatic adaptation of Giacomo Puccini’s classic opera. Reduced to the four principal roles, this new version is designed to focus on the emotional ties between the two couples.
The production, adapted by Peter Gordon and with a new musical arrangement by Marco Iannelli, keeps all the major music, arias and ensembles as well as the original, beloved story line, by moving Musetta’s Act II music to Scene 1 and reassigning some lines. The Star Ferry performances were reset in contemporary Hong Kong. It runs approximately 60 minutes.
Scene 1 opens with the writer Murger witnessing a death in hospital (as Mimì does in the original book), and then sitting down to write, stepping into the scene as Rodolfo. Scene 2 also open with Murger writing and again stepping into the scene for Rodolfo’s entrance.
The performances featured Etta Fung as Mimì, Ashley Chui as Musetta, Chen Yong as Rodolfo and Isaac Droscha as Marcello, with Jaclyn Chiu on piano.
OperaLab’s new “La bohème”, produced for the Dante Alighieri Society and Peninsula Hong Kong in commemoration of the Puccini centenary, opened on 27 and 28 April 2024 on Hong Kong’s iconic “Star Ferry”. Reduced to the four principals in a new arrangement by Marco Iannelli, and reset in contemporary Hong Kong, these performances take place against the dramatic backdrop of the world-famous Hong Kong skyline.
“La bohème” features Etta Fung as Mimì, Ashley Chui as Musetta, Chen Yong as Rodolfo and Isaaac Droscha as Marcello, with Hsu Wei-en on piano.