‘The Bohème Project’ brings together two iconic productions

The Atlanta Opera staged a beloved classic this year in its production of Puccini’s “La Bohème,” but artistic director Tomer Zvulun felt there was still more to probe.

“The Bohème Project” has emerged from that traditional staging of the opera with two additional, connected productions that will take place at Pullman Yards Sept. 18 through Oct. 6. The ’90s rock musical “Rent” and a new, updated “La Bohème” will premiere together as two inextricably linked pieces of theatre. Both productions reframe the original story’s tuberculosis epidemic with diseases unique to each era — in “Rent,” it was the HIV/AIDS crisis, and a new, reimagined “La Bohème” explores our present-day COVID-19 pandemic experience.

Atlanta Opera General and Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun and Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean of the Emory University School of Medicine and distinguished professor in the Emory Division of Infectious Diseases joined Lois Reitzes on City Lights to discuss “The Bohème Project.”