By Richard Fairman [Financial Times, 24 October 2006]

When the Royal Opera’s production of La bohème was new in 1974, half these singers probably were not born. In an ideal world a cast of young faces would be just what is needed to breathe life into a middle-aged production apt to sag in the middle, but it did not work out like that here. Far from being bright and breezy, this performance felt positively enervating.