Forget about a tubercular Mimì, it was the Rodolfo that went down at a performance of La Bohème by the Royal Opera House last Friday – but fortunately an audience member jumped in to save the show. In a stroke of luck, the brave volunteer was none other than the Mimì’s real-life husband, American tenor Charles Castronovo.

Castronovo was there to support his wife, soprano Ekaterina Siurina, who was singing the role of Puccini’s seamstress for the first time at Covent Garden. But when tenor Atalla Ayan (who is scheduled to take over from Gianluca Terranova in Opera Australia’s Rigoletto in Sydney from August 4) ran into vocal difficulty during the performance, Castronovo rallied and sang the rest of the role from the wings while Ayan mimed. Thankfully, Rodolfo is a role that Castronovo is familiar with.

“We were incredibly grateful that Charles quickly agreed to step in and sing the second half of the performance from the side of the stage, while Atalla walked the role in costume,” said the Royal Opera House in a statement. “The audience received the news of this change graciously and greeted both Charles and Atalla with a wonderfully warm reception during the curtain call at the end...