Onstage April 12th, 2024, at Lowell House

Audition!

There will be preliminary auditions and callback auditions for both opera and theater singers. Read more about the show and character descriptions below.

Preliminary Auditions:

For preliminary auditions, you may submit a video online until 5:00 PM on Monday, March 18th. Or, you may audition in person from 6:30-9:00 PM on March 18th in the Lowell House Senior Common Room: 10 Holyoke Pl, Cambridge, MA 02138. You can audition to perform excerpts from both La Bohème and Rent. If this is the case, we ask that you submit both an operatic and music theater application.

If you auditioned for LHO’s THE UNKNOWABLE, you will automatically be put through to callbacks.

Video Submission:

Please prepare one aria in Italian and/or 16-32 bars of a rock song/rock musical theater song. Submit your video HERE by 5:00pm on Monday, March 18th.

In-Person:

Please prepare one aria in Italian and/or 16-32 bars of a rock song/rock musical theater song. Auditions will be drop-in from 6:30-9:00 PM on March 18th in the Lowell House Senior Common Room: 10 Holyoke Pl, Cambridge, MA 02138. Bring your sheet music with you!

Callbacks:

Callbacks will take place March 19th and 20th, from 7:00-9:00 PM in the Lowell House Senior Common Room. Please follow the signs from the Lowell House Entrance. Please prepare the callback materials found HERE. Rehearsals will start March 22nd. 

Contact producers@lowellhouseopera.com with any further questions.

The Lowell House Opera presents an innovative and thought-provoking concert of Jonathan Larson's Rent and Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème. This concert aims to highlight the shared themes, historical contexts, and storytelling techniques of both Rent and La Bohème. This application is for both opera and musical theater performers.

Alternating musical numbers from both works will create a dynamic dialogue between the gritty urban struggles of Rent and the romanticized bohemian life depicted in La Bohème. With meaningful commentary from moderators in between musical numbers, this concert will explore the art of adaptation, analyzing how Rent reimagines and modernizes the themes and characters of La Bohème. 

Directed by Lauren Perl ‘25
Assistant Directed by Lara Rui-Qi Tan ‘27
Vocally Directed by Arhan Kumar ‘23
Benjamin T. Rossen, LHO Executive Director

VIva La Vie Boheme: A Musical Conversation between La bohème and Rent

The Lowell House Opera Presents

Role Descriptions

La Bohème:

Mimì
  • Lyric soprano. Range: Db4-Bb5
  • Excerpt: “Donde lieta uscì” - figure 28 to 29 (p. 208-209)
  • A seamstress who lives in an apartment in early 19th century Paris. She is neighbors with Rodolfo and falls in love with him after a chance encounter. A psychologically and emotionally deep character who goes through the vagaries of love, despair, ecstasy, self-sacrifice and hope. 
Rodolfo 
  • Lyric tenor. Range: D3 - Bb4
  • Excerpt: “Che gelida manina” - figure 30 to 35 (p. 64-69)
  • An impoverished poet who lives in the same apartment as Mimi, in a squalid garret with three other young and struggling artists. He falls in love with Mimi after a chance encounter. A vivacious personality who initially relishes in his Bohemian lifestyle, he goes through the many trials and tribulations of love and poverty with Mimì.
Marcello 
  • Lyric baritone. Range: Bb2 - F#4
  • Excerpt: “O Mimi, tu più non torni” - figure 3 to 4 (p. 228-229) 
  • An impoverished painter who lives together with Rodolfo. He is more sardonic than Rodolfo, perhaps owing to his tumultuous, on-off relationship with Musetta who has spurned him for an older, richer man. 
Musetta 
  • Lyric soprano. Range: Db4-B5
  • Excerpt: “Quando m’en vo’” - figure 21 to 23 (p. 130-133) 
  • A fiery, flirtatious singer who is the on-off lover of Marcello. She is extremely assertive and has all the men in her life wrapped around her little finger. 

Rent:

Mimi Marquez
  • Female-identifying. Range: Eb3-E5
  • Excerpt: “Without You”
  • An HIV-positive stripper with drug addictions. Slender and sickly, she conceals it all at her job in the local strip club. She lives in the same building as the loft.
Roger Davis
  • Male-identifying. Range: F2-A4
  • Excerpt: “What You Own”
  • A struggling musician and former drug addict. He is reminiscent of Kurt Cobain. Roommates with Mark in the loft and battles with being HIV-positive.
Mark Cohen
  • Male-identifying. Range: A2-G4
  • Excerpt: “What You Own”
  • Filmmaker and video artist. Knee deep in his own soul-searching, Mark is the typical young artist. He and Roger are roommates in the loft. A bit of a nerd.
Maureen Johnson
  • Female-identifying. Range: C4-F5
  • Excerpt: “Take Me Or Leave Me”
  • An unpredictably zany performance artist. Maureen oozes sexuality and used to live in the loft. She has recently dumped Mark for Joanne.
Joanne Jefferson
  • Female-identifying. Range: G3-E5
  • Excerpt: “Take Me Or Leave Me”
  • A public interest lawyer and headstrong lesbian. She is smart and purposeful in all her decisions. Carries on a tumultuous relationship with Maureen.