It's an old story that Philadelphia, so culturally rich in so many ways, has a rather anemic opera establishment. This, despite the presence of three major voice schools and a bottomless supply of musicians. Is it the case that Philadelphians simply do not care for opera? Apparently not, considering this astonishing factoid: There are more subscribers to New York's Metropolitan Opera from Philadelphia than there are subscribers in total to the Opera Company of Philadelphia.

OCP is an essential asset here, but the perennially struggling group can manage only four productions per season, a scant schedule by national standards. There have been valiant efforts over the years to siphon off some of this latent passion, notably the late lamented Pennsylvania Opera Theater. The newest comer is Center City Opera Theater, which is about to launch its third production in as many years at the Perelman Theater (after five years on the Main Line), which has turned out to be an extremely accommodating venue for smaller productions of musical theater. This time out, CCOT takes little risk as they present the world's most popular opera, La Bohème, by Puccini. Director Jonathon Loy intends to make use of the intimacy of Perelman to steer the story toward a more intensely theatrical profile. Traditionalists need not fear; there will be a professional, if youthful, cast (appropriate for this tale of young, starving artists) and a chamber orchestra, conducted by artistic director and CCOT founder Andrew Kurtz. To be sung in Italian with English subtitles.