Opera

Hair colorist Michael Stinchcomb attended the opera 32 times last season. He idolizes this world class soprano Renee Fleming — but he wasn’t always an opera lover. (Originally aired: August 4, 2001)

Erich Wolfgang Korngold wrote this opera when he was just 13. It’s performed here by the BBC philharmonic, conducted by Matthias Bamert.

This week film director Baz Luhrmann’s version of La Bohme opened on Broadway and, much like his movie Moulin Rouge, the result is a rich, sexy, galvanizing blend of comedy, tragedy and theatrical pizzazz. The opera poses no heavy lifting for an American audience — even though it’s completely in Italian.