La Vie de Bohème
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
La Vie de Bohème is an often-adapted story first appearing in Henri Murger's magazine articles in the early 1800s. These were turned into a play, La Vie de Bohème, in 1849, and later were compiled into the book Scènes de la Vie de Bohème (Paris, 1851). It has also been made into several operatic versions, the most famous of which was composed by Giacomo Puccini.
The story includes a group of friends in the Bohemian artistic subculture of France (see Bohemianism). As the group is poor, and some of its female members work as courtesans, challenging personal situations arise when one of the characters, who suffers from tuberculosis, must balance survival against romantic love.
In the late 20th century, the musical Rent was based on La Bohème, with AIDS substituted for tuberculosis. A movie, Moulin Rouge!, was also loosely based on this plot; it was directed by Baz Luhrmann, who had previously directed a wildly successful Australian production of Puccini's opera version which opened on Broadway in 2002.
Works involving the La Bohème / dying courtesan theme
- La Vie de Bohème — short story by Henry Murger
- La Vie de Bohème — play, 1848
- La Dame aux camélias — novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils, 1848
- Scenes de la Vie de Bohème — book, 1849
- La Traviata — opera by Giuseppe Verdi, 1853
- La Bohème — opera by Giacomo Puccini, 1896
- La Bohème — opera by Ruggiero Leoncavallo, 1897
- Camille — movie directed by George Cukor, starring Greta Garbo
- Camille — play by Charles Ludlam, 1974
- Rent — musical by Jonathan Larson, 1996
- Moulin Rouge! — movie directed by Baz Luhrmann, 2001
