'And a big part of my role in this production is to say, 'Just because you've always done it this way doesn't mean that there aren't other ways to do it or other ways to explore.After more than 10 years of providing guaranteed parking reservations for fans heading to the Big House in Ann Arbor, Park N Party is pleased to bring its unique service to the city of Detroit. 'We had this really interesting dialogue that's happened over the last few weeks of people that say, 'Well, we've always done it this way,'' said Sharon. He said he especially wanted to rethink Mimi's character given that she's always depicted as a fragile, suffering, 'wilting flower.' Legendary opera singer George Shirley, meanwhile, plays a narrator of sorts, a new role, piecing the story together. Still, Sharon said it's been a process working with the entire cast to think about 'La bohème' differently. 'When you think of the role of the pandemic and this sense of darkness and this pause we've been going through, once we can get out of it, we have that sense of hope and aspiration and ending in love as opposed to death,' said Brown. If anything, Brown said telling 'La bohème' in reverse and ending with hope and optimism is especially timely right now as the world hopefully emerges from COVID-19. The beloved tunes, that sense of emotional connection, remains in tact.'

'But I wanted to be assured that the music does not change. I thought it was brave to take on such a task,' said Brown. He said if anything, the idea 'wasn't totally out of the box' partly because he knew the work Sharon for which he was known. Wayne Brown, Detroit Opera's president and CEO, instead was open to the idea. 'The nice ones would say 'Great idea, but not for us.'' 'Every door was closed in my face on that one,' Sharon said. 'I remember going home and ordering the opera in that opera just to hear what it was like and I was totally transfixed by the idea.'īut a lot of theaters didn't share Sharon's enthusiasm. Over the years, he said he suggested doing ''La bohème' in different places but that he only wanted to do it in reverse order.

'Ever since he said that it stuck with me,' said Sharon.

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