So weirdly moved the story background to the Moon without any convincing originality. The setting of the Spaceship was too simple and boring, even with some electronic changes. The storyline was so clueless and unbelievably ridiculous, the in and out of the characters were just random and most of the time, out of nowhere. I could never understand why this classic opera would shift from an earthly ghetto and moved up into a spaceship. The circus-like comic crowd appeared one after another with so many clueless and irrelevant stage properties that only made the boring setting with little bit more costumes and colors, but it never helped the stupidity and weirdness of this "shoot to the Moon or the Mars" space travel storyline.
BUT other than the ridiculousness, the three major characters cast, Mimi played by Nicole Car, Aida Garifullina as Musetta, and Rodolfo played by Atalla Ayan, were so impeccable. The arias sang by them were out-of-world beautiful and touching. But I have to say, cast Nicole Car to play the fragile Mimi might not the best and appropriate choice. She's a bit heavyset and large in physical condition, when she stood near Atalla Ayan (Rodolfo), she just looked too healthy and strong, not in a bit of the supposed to be fragile and weak Mimi. But once Aida Garifullina showed up suddenly, the boring setting of the stage suddenly bright up, gave a shocking WOW effect. Her presence was extremely fascinating! I have to say, if there's any perfect female existing, she's the one! What a shocking beauty! Atalla Ayan sang and acted perfectly but inevitably ridiculed in the weird spacesuit.
I've patiently watched this complete opera but somewhat disappointed deeply by the ridiculous Space story background. The sublime arias by Puccini were the only memorable parts of this 2017 production. The screenplay, the direction, the settings...all of them, nothing but clueless.
