A light in the dark Director, cast find much to love in Puccini’s romantic tragedy La Bohème By: Eva Wasney Posted: 4:32 PM CDT Wednesday, Apr. 2, 2025

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The cold, impoverished streets of 19th-century Paris are a bucket list destination for most opera professionals

For Anna Theodosakis, the setting of La Bohème is familiar territory.

“This is my sixth Bohème,” says the director of Manitoba Opera’s season-closing production of Puccini’s beloved romantic tragedy.

“It is really my favourite opera — and that’s maybe cliché to say, because it’s everyone’s favourite opera.”

La Bohème, which opens at the Centennial Concert Hall Saturday, follows a group of young bohemian artists struggling through a dark, hungry winter. The ill-fated love between Rodolfo, a poet, and his seamstress neighbour Mimì, offers a light in the darkness.

Puccini composed La Bohème in the late 1890s and it has since become one of the world’s most popular operas, later serving as the inspiration for the Broadway musical and film Rent. It was last presented by Manitoba Opera in 2014.

To Theodosakis — a Toronto-based stage director and choreographer making her local debut — the story is ageless.

“The themes and relationships really transcend time, but then the music is also really engaging and really supports the drama,” she says.

Leads Suzanne Taffot (Mimì) and Zachary Rioux (Rodolfo) are also taking the stage in Winnipeg for the first time.

Despite being early in their respective careers, both have a fond history with La Bohème.

Taffot first discovered a love of singing while studying law in her birth country of Cameroon, where the university’s choir conductor encouraged her talents and introduced her to the world of opera.

“I heard this polyphonic music — soprano, tenor, alto, bass — all blending together and I really loved it,” she says.

When Taffot moved to France to continue her education, she auditioned for and was accepted to a local music conservatory with the goal of learning how to sing properly and read music.

Her music and law studies continued at the Université de Montréal after emigrating to Canada in 2011.

These days, Taffot balances her professional opera pursuits with a career as a practising lawyer and founder of an immigration law firm in Montreal.

Mimì was the soprano’s first role in a full-scale opera during a production of La Bohème in Germany in 2019. Taffot is excited to embody one of her favourite characters once again.

“Five years ago, I was completely at another step, not only personally, but also vocally and mentally. Then, it was much more about my technique. Now, I’m drawn into the character and the emotions,” she says.

While Mimì is often portrayed as frail and fragile, Taffot sees her as a resilient young woman who loves life and is driven by emotion.

“I’m pretty confident she knew about her neighbour and was trying to find a way to reach him,” she says of the characters’ Christmas Eve meeting when Mimì knocks on Rodolfo’s door looking for a light for her candle.

Rioux first played Rodolfo as a student of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, where he graduated in 2023, and is making his professional debut in the role with the Manitoba Opera. He’s also performed in La Bohème as Parpignol, a travelling toy seller, and as a chorus member.

“This is the opera I know best, by far. Often in rehearsals I’m singing along to everyone’s parts because it’s so catchy,” Rioux says, adding the Coat Aria, or Vecchia Zimarra, sung by Colline (Alex Halliday) in the final act is a particularly persistent earworm.

The New Brunswick-born and Germany-based tenor grew up in a musical family, but opera wasn’t always on the radar.

Rioux’s dad, who played in a family band called the Blue Jays, taught him how to play guitar at four years old. As a teen, he took voice lessons while pursuing his black belt in kung fu.

One vocal teacher with a classical bent encouraged Rioux to start performing at festivals and another connected Rioux with her daughter, a professional opera singer who suggested he attend the Orford Musique summer academy in Quebec.

“At the time, I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with my life and by the end of the week I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna try singing, I’m gonna try and make this a career,’” he says.

Rioux feels a kinship with Rodolfo, a daydreaming poet and the quiet, reserved character in his group of friends.

“Although he can be a bit jealous and manipulative, so that part’s different,” he says with a laugh.

His favourite scene in La Bohème comes at the end, when Rodolfo cries out upon learning Mimì has succumbed to tuberculosis.

“It’s gut-wrenchingly sad; at least half the people in the audience will be crying,” Rioux says.

For Taffot, Mimì’s demise is a peaceful one.

“It would have been much more tragic if she died without coming back to Rodolfo,” she says.

Director Theodosakis is looking forward to sharing La Bohème with Winnipeg opera goers for the first time in a decade. She expects the big public square scene in Act II to be a highlight.

She also hopes audiences appreciate her nuanced approach to the relationship between female characters Mimì and Musetta (Charlotte Siegel), as well as the dynamic among friends and roommates Rodolfo, Colline, Marcello (Hugo Laporte) and Schaunard (Clarence Frazer).

“I really wanted to make sure that the women were empowered. That’s important to me as a female storyteller,” Theodosakis says.

“Also, in opera, we don’t see a lot of male friendships that don’t involve fighting over a woman or war, so I definitely wanted to consider that and put myself in their shoes.”

Last week, Manitoba Opera announced the lineup for its 2025-26 season, which will include Italian classics Tosca in November and The Marriage of Figaro in April.

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com