The Portland Opera is set to showcase a 50-minute version of Puccini’s “La Bohème” as part of its Portland Opera To Go (POGO) series.

This series has traveled throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington state, bringing opera to students from these areas. Among the locations where Puccini’s classic will travel for this run are the Walters Cultural Center in Hillsboro, Oregon; the Portland 5, Antoinette Hatfiel Hall in Portland; the Tigard Public Library in Tigard, Oregon; and the Chehalem Cultural Center in Newberg, Oregon.

The company will also feature two public performances at the Hampton Opera Center in Portland on Dec. 7 and 14.

This production, which will feature public performances starting on Oct. 5, will star Sergio Manzo, Aaron Jenkins, Travis Lucas, Johann Schram, Lauren Yokabaskas, and Ivy Zhou.

Emily Baltzer will accompany at the piano while Kristine McIntyre will direct.

“We know that opera isn’t an art form on everyone’s radar,” stated Alexis Hamilton, Portland Opera’s Manager of Education and Outreach in a press release. “POGO is great because we have the opportunity to give kids a frame of reference for opera before they think they don’t like it because of a cartoon spoof of it.

“And it’s not just kids who get an introduction to opera with POGO.  Parents and teachers come up to us all the time and tell us that this was their first introduction to opera—and that they loved it.  As one kid said to me after a public performance, ‘Opera Rocks!’  It’s fun to think that POGO got him rockin’!”