It was my first time watching an opera. Granted, it was a rehearsal run of the show itself, but that didn't make it less real.

Let me chronologically plot it. We were to attend a rehearsal for Puccini's La Boheme at the CCP Main Theater. It was supposed to start at 8, but due to inevitable circumstances, we instead saw the tail end of one rehearsal that started at 6. So we were quite late. And quite confused.

We ended up walking into Act 3 of the rehearsal run, stumbling into the dark. Both literally, and figuratively. Yeah, I knew how musicals worked. I knew how they were supposed to look. And sound. But this was something entirely different. Never have I seen an opera being sung before me, live. I had weird expectations of seing the stage as a Boho chic apartment in old Paris, but what I got was something a lot closer to home. The transposition of the carefree life that so many have lived to Modern-Day Manila made the story more relatable and more tangible. I mean, you can never really hang around Metro Manila without seeing the razzle dazzle of the squatters' area, now, could you?

Another thing that fascinated me was the backdrop. Such details being worked into the major scheme of interpretation, that being modernization, all the more made watching the moon and the clouds shift as the story progressed enjoyable.

Of course, something has to be said about the actors themselves. The way they projected their characters- and their voices!- made the delivery of the story so effective, that I nearly teared up during that uber long goodbye scene, even though I did not understand one word of it. Nada.

Coming from a medical background, however, and being late, I had a hard time believing that Mimi could be so... robust. And of seemingly good health! But suspension of disbelief and a spectacular performance won out in the end.

Bottom line: I was blown away. And if it is within my capacity, I'd see it again. But what I got to see was more than enough to satisfy one's curiosity and a desire for cultural amelioration. And walking out the venue, I got the sense that it is, indeed, the greatest love story ever sung.