Austin Lyric Opera
In this 'Bohème,' the stage is all the world
November 13, 2009Puccini’s “La Bohème” is the standardest of standard repertoire. Nearly everyone knows the big tunes and the story, and most opera-goers of a certain age probably have seen Mimi love and die more than a few times. How can so familiar a theatrical work be made fresh and engrossing? I mean, barring a relocation from Paris’s Latin Quarter of the early 19th century to, say, Novosibersk in the late 23rd.
Stage director Garnett Bruce needed no such auteurist shenanigans to bring the current Austin Lyric Opera production of “La Bohème” to abundant life. He relied on complete mastery of the fundamentals -- showing at every moment and in every motion who all the characters onstage are, what they’re about, how each relates to all the others and how everyone changes with the dramatic context.
The production opened on Nov. 7 in the Long Center in Austin. The final performances are Nov. 13 at 7:30 pm and Nov. 15 at 3 pm. See austinlyricopera.org.
Bruce’s contribution was the most striking aspect of a generally excellent production, compromised mainly by odd casting decisions in the two leading roles, the poet Rodolfo and the seamstress Mimi.
Being near each other in youthful age, poverty and spirit, and being in love with each other, the two roles demand, it seems to me, compatible voices. But French tenor Sébastien Guèze’s singing was bright, lean and effortful, while Russia soprano Dina Kuznetzova’s was dark, lush and free. Guèze could muster ample volume when required, but it sounded as though volume came from force of will rather than from natural power. She was a natural powerhouse who also could be meltingly lovely at mezzo-piano and below, yet she didn’t project the fragility the role sometimes wants. Nonetheless, her aria of farewell, “Donde lieta usci,” was gorgeously sung and very affecting.
The rest of the cast made a nicely matched set. Baritone Craig Verm’s Marcello was big but lithe and stylish. The Musetta, soprano Sari Gruber, wasn’t quite the showstopper presence she should have been in the Café Momus scene, but she brought wonderful warmth and sympathy to the last two acts. Baritone Jonathan Beyer as Schaunard and bass Liam Moran as Colline were both excellent. Bass Tony Dillon was top-drawer as Benoit and Alcindoro.
ALO principal conductor Richard Buckley’s led the proceedings with crisp pacing, sumptuous shaping and classic Italianate style.
The estimable John Conklin designed the sets, originally built for San Diego opera. The settings were naturalistic except for the Cafe Momus scene, an enterprising cascade of small drops in the style of 19th-century French poster art. The set was Bruce’s choice -- he had previously used it for a Kansas City Opera production in 2002 and, earlier this year, at Opera Omaha, where he is principal stage director.
Bruce has apprenticed under some of the best stage directors in the business, including the brilliant Francesca Zambello. Close observation of real people in real situations was evident in manifold details of this production. In Act I, the energetic byplay among four young men was recognizable to anyone who ever lived in a college dorm.
Bruce devoted especially close and welcome attention to the up-and-down relationship between Marcello and Musetta, who share the most poignant moment in this production: As Mimi lies dying, with Musetta at her bedside, Marcello sits disconsolately, facing upstage, at a table across the room. Musetta slowly goes to him and brushes the top of his chair with her hand. Feeling her presence, he turns his head to face her, and they touch. This seemingly simple sequence conveys an ocean of meaning, of feeling, of emotional growth. In it, the whole story comes to its point.
Mike
Greenberg
