Jesus Garcia was just out of Philadelphia’a prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts when Baz Luhrmann offered him the tenor lead of Rodolfo in his Broadway production of Puccini’s La Bohème, to be performed—horrors!—with microphones. Opera professionals told Garcia to say no, but he took the job anyway. At season’s end, he and the other nine artists who had shared the opera’s four principal roles all walked away from the Tony Awards with special noncompetitive statuettes of their own. To rehabilitate himself in the classical world, Garcia then entered Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition, emerged victorious, and embarked on a conventional career in Europe and mostly regional American houses. Now Garcia’s back in another controversial La Bohème—Yuval Sharon’s Benjamin Button reboot with the acts in reverse order. Is fate having fun, or what? —Matthew Gurewitsch