Reviewed by James
Karas
The garret that Franco Zeffirelli built in 1981 for those starving
artists seems to have been made of sturdy stuff. Thirty four years later The
Met has revived his production of La Bohème yet once more and one can
say with some assurance that there was not a dry eye at Lincoln Centre and in
the theatres around the world where it was beamed.
Opera thrives on legends and marvelous statistics and the April 5, 2014
broadcast added yet another tale. Soprano Anita Hartig was scheduled to sing
Mimi but she became indisposed on the morning of the performance. Kristine
Opalais had sung Madam Butterfly the night before and had gone to bed at 5:00
a.m. (Precision is important in these cases) and was called at 8:00 in the
morning (if I recall correctly) to replace Ms Hartig. She wanted to say no but
she said yes and the rest is history, and let’s get on with the review.
Opalais is a young but experienced singer who knows the role of Mimi
(the legend would be juicier if a young and inexperienced soprano stepped in
and a Maria Callas was born … sorry, I stray) and she had no problems vocally.
With Opalais you will not get a petite, fragile and ill-nourished Mimi
but that is not crucial. My issue with Opalais is that she almost never looked
anyone in the eye. This may have been nerves or concentration on the singing
after being ushered to do the performance rather unceremoniously but I would
have liked her to look at Rodolfo or his friends. She looked down, sideways or
nowhere in particular and not on her lover or anyone else that she was
interacting with. When she separates from Rodolfo in Act III, she shows more
emotion to the bannister than to Rodolfo.
Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo is a superb Rodolfo. He strikes the
perfect note of youthful innocence, passion and idealism. When he takes Mimi’s
cold hand and tells her his dreams in “Che gelida manina” we are convinced of
his rising passion even before she tells us her sad story in “Me chiamano Mimi”
and the ardent duet that follows, full of emotional intensity and vocal
splendour, is payment in full for tears that we will shed at the end.
American soprano Susanna Philips attacked the juicy role of Musetta with
relish and aplomb. The vocal part is all her own but she has plenty of help
otherwise. Dressed in a striking red velvet gown, she arrives on a horse-drawn
carriage amid a large, cheering crowd. That is a grand entrance to make the
Queen of Sheba jealous.
Rodolfo’s garret-mates are a well-defined individually and are a
marvelous set as well. Baritone Massimo Cavalletti as Marcello sang with
touching resonance and presented the artist as a real mensch. Bass Oren Gradus as the philosopher Colline gave a moving
rendition of “Vecchia zimarra,” his farewell to his old coat, an act of
touching generosity.
Bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi as the musician Schaunard completed the
quartet of friends who engaged in tomfoolery and poignant humanity.
Zeffirelli’s over-the-top production has been the subject of endless
comment. The garret of the first act gives way to the Café Momus. In fact,
Zeffirelli creates a whole neighbourhood. There are crowds of people on two
levels, a toy vendor, a donkey-drawn cart and Musetta’s entrance. I have seen
the production a number of times and it still makes an impression on me. Seeing
it for the first time, may make your jaw drop and give you a slanted view of
opera.
Stefano Ranzani conducted the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
What we saw in the movie theatres was decided by Barbara Willis Sweete.
Her enthusiasm for close-ups and constant camera changes is not as pronounced as
Gary Halvorson’s (and that’s not much of a compliment) but it is bad enough.
There were a number of bad shots, unnecessary and annoying close-ups. In the
final scene, when Marcello is singing about his brush, Sweete focuses on
Rodolfo. The obvious shot of showing the two men on the screen and sitting on
her hands probably did not occur to her. Just keep clicking.
_____
La Bohème by
Giacomo Puccini was transmitted Live in HD on April 5,
2014 at the Coliseum Scarborough
Cinemas, Scarborough Town Centre, 300 Borough Drive, Scarborough, ON,
M1P 4P5, (416) 290-5217 and other theatres across Canada. For more information: www.cineplex.com/events
No comments:
Post a Comment