Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (; 22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian opera composer who has been called "the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi". Puccini's early work was rooted in traditional late-19th-century romantic Italian opera. Later, he successfully developed his work in the realistic "verismo" style, of which he became one of the leading exponents. Puccini's most renowned works are "La bohème" (1896), "Tosca" (1900), "Madama Butterfly" (1904), and "Turandot" (1924), all of which are among the important operas played as standards. Puccini was born Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria
Cambridge Theatre in 1958, Tommy Steele in "Half a Sixpence" in 1963 (678 performances), Bruce Forsyth in "Little Me" in 1964 (334 performances), "The Black Mikado" (1975–76), and in the late 1970s the Kander and Ebb musical "Chicago" ran for 590 performances. More recently the 'rock'n'roll' musical "Return to the Forbidden Planet", which was based on Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and used 1950s and 1960s songs opened in September 1989 and lasted until early 1993, winning the Olivier Award for Best New Musical—beating the favourite, "Miss Saigon". The controversial show "Jerry Springer - The Opera" had a run from 14 October 2003 –