Last week I had a blast at the Santa Fe Opera. Caitlin and Amy of Simply Santa Fe invited me to an #instameet at the new production of La Bohéme at the Santa Fe Opera. I jumped at the chance. I had seen a production that my friend Silvie Jensen performed in at the Lyric Opera in Chicago a few years ago, and really enjoyed it. I’ve heard that the Santa Fe Opera always has innovative sets and costumes, as well as having such a unique location, so I was looking forward to seeing what they did with this opera.
The Santa Fe Opera organized a backstage tour for us (more on that in another post), and we got to see all of the prop rooms. We had dinner and champagne, and they bought the director Mary Birnbaum and the set designer Grace Laubaucher to tell us a bit about their process for putting together this production. I loved getting a chance to hear about how they worked together. I’ve always loved sets (from hanging out in the theater classes and productions back in high school), so I was really excited to see how this one came together.
The Santa Fe Opera is an open air theater. There is a roof, but as you can see above and below, you can see directly out, behind the stage and to the sides. It did look like it would rain, but thankfully it stayed away. The sun set around 8ish, and La Bohéme started right at 8:30, so we got a nice view of the sunset from our seats before the performance started.
I was not dissapointed.
The set was beautifully done, with the structure of the garret being used in every act, as the garret, later as the café, a bar, and then the garret again. The costumes were very colorful, and there was even a scene with Musetta wearing a hot pink sequined jumpsuit (my FAVORITE ever) (see below).
The production of La Bohéme runs through the end of August, so if you have a chance to go see it this Summer, I definitely recommend it! I’m looking forward to getting back to this lovely space soon…