Gale Edwards’ tried and trusted production of Puccini’s classic returns to Sydney. Ditching Paris for the seedy world of 1930s Berlin cabarets doesn’t make perfect sense, but it looks good and has stayed the course thanks to a series of well-cast revivals over the years. For this latest outing, Australian tenor Kang Wang returns to play the impassioned poet Rodolfo (Iain Henderson on 18 and 20 September) opposite Olivia Cranwell as Mimì. Rachelle Durkin sings Musetta with Luke Gabbedy as Marcello, Shane Lowrencev as Schaunard and David Parkin as Colline. Erina Yashima conducts.

Limelight Editor’s Choice

A painter, a musician, a philosopher and a poet are having a night on the town. Café Momus is too pricey for them — they’ve nothing to weigh down those moth-eaten pockets. But why worry? The bar tab can wait.

The way first love grabs hold and floods you with something you’ve never felt before. The fire that burns you the first time jealousy flares. The growing up you do in the instant you realise love can’t last forever.

Some emotions are too big for words alone, and for that, we have music. La Bohème exposes your soul to the feelings that only music can express. It soars with the ecstasy of love, crackles with the pain of jealousy and cries with the agony of loss.

Gale Edwards’ glittering production, set in the fairy light-filled cabarets of 1930s Berlin, is a long-time favourite of audiences. Kang Wang returns with his celebrated portrayal of Rodolfo, alongside Olivia Cranwell as Mimi.