Critics are supposed to have slightly more recherché tastes, I know, but I fall for Puccini’s tear-jerker like a sack of potatoes every time. It says a lot for English Touring Opera’s desire not to do the obvious that I can’t remember the last time the company staged this work, and ETO’s general manager, James Conway, has been waiting his whole life to direct it, too; just the situation for everyone to come a cropper, in fact. Happily no such thing happens – this is a thoroughly enjoyable and musically very strong performance, and the piece works its usual magic.The work is over-familiar, no doubt; and it’s to Conway’s credit that he tries to reopen our eyes to its originality. Bohème completes a process started with Mozart’s F