I have never been to an opera performance before, nor have I ever seen the play and movie RENT.  So, spending the past week learning about RENT and the 19^th-century opera performance La Boheme was an exciting and enriching opportunity to expand my knowledge of the arts and discover new insights from the themes of these two performances.

Watching the contemporary adaption of RENT It was incredibly interesting to witness the exploration of sexual identity, the struggle of living with HIV/AIDS, tales of bohemian hardships of trying to make a living in New York, and the duality of jealousy and romance between a couple in love.  I believe the film was incredibly relatable in regards to the love story between the characters of Mimi and Adam and between Anthony and Maureen.  Throughout the film, both of these couples would be infatuated with each other one moment and at each other throats the next moment.  Additionally, there were several scenes where it appeared the characters were done with each other, but would be either jealous of seeing their love interest flirting with someone else and they would quickly run back to each other.

Since RENT is loosely based off of La Boheme, there were numerous parallels and similarities between the two performances.  When our class entered the Lincoln Center to see the opera, I was amazed by the picturesque, luxurious architecture and décor of the theater with the numerous chandeliers, gold-gilded objects, and the formal audience environment.  The opera performance was focused on Rodolfo and Mimi, the prima donna of the performance.  It was incredibly entertaining to witness the characters go back and forth with their relationship of love and jealousy.  Both of the characters deeply cared for each other, but personality differences were a significant obstacle to the longevity of their relationship.  My only problem, however, is the opera is one of those cliché stories of instantly falling in love with each other the second they saw one another.  Overall, the performance combined the music added a sense of connection and intellectual insight into the realities of life and love.

I am extremely grateful for Professor Eversley and the Macaulay Honors College providing our class the opportunity to see such a magnificent performance.  I hope future students won’t take the opera for granted and have the opportunity to enjoy the performance as much as our class did.

—Patrick Perrigo