Puccini's "La Bohème" is the quintessential story of tragic young love - the giddiness of falling head over heels, the passionate intensity of fighting and reconciling, and the searing pain of a lover's death. Plus it has gorgeously poignant music. "La Bohème" is such a popular opera that the company has scheduled 12 performances instead of its usual eight, performed by two casts.
Seattle Opera's revival of "La Bohème," last seen here in 1998, sagely sticks to a traditional rendition of the opera, setting it in Paris' Latin Quarter in the late 1800s and playing up the love story. Under the able direction of Jose Maria Condemi, the singers have scrupulously developed their characters and relationships so that every moment builds on the one before it. The lighthearted banter and horsing around among the four male bohemian roommates is lively and amusing and, by contrast, punches up the sorrow of the heartbreaking moments that follow. The upshot is a production that is emotionally gratifying and anything but stale.
In the Saturday cast on opening night, Nuccia Focile played a sweet and fragile Mimi, yet her expressive voice had spine and a liquid effortlessness that could be heard at the back of the hall even at her quietest. As Mimi's flame, the ardent poet Rodolfo, tenor Rosario La Spina poured his heart into his voice and sang with an irresistibly enveloping warmth. His exclamation of grief when Mimi dies was heart- rending.
The tempestuous relationship between Rodolfo's roommate Marcello and the coquette Musetta offers an astringent counterbalance to the romantic love of Mimi and Rodolfo. Philip Cutlip has a strong, mellifluous baritone that he put to good use as the roguish Marcello. Karen Driscoll's willful Musetta is well aware of her charms, particularly in her beautifully delivered aria in Act Two during which she flirts outrageously to goad Marcello into showing his feelings for her.
In their mainstage debuts at Seattle Opera, Deyan Vachkov and Jeremy Kelly did a spirited job as the bohemians Colline and Schaunard. Kelly participated in the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program as recently as 2006 and has already sung the role of Schaunard on the Cincinnati Opera's mainstage.
Vjekoslav Sutej - for whom Puccini seems to be second nature - and his orchestra performed with both vigor and nuance on opening night. Initially, however, the musicians' energy translated into overwhelming volume whenever two or more cast members were singing, obscuring their voices. Fortunately, the amplitude glitch was smoothed out by Act Three. Under the guidance of chorus- master Beth Kirchhoff, the Seattle Opera Chorus did its typical refined work, including a delightful depiction of a colorful Christmas Eve street scene complete with a stilt walker, juggler and marching musicians playing live onstage.
Martin Pakledinaz has a gift for tailoring costumes apropos to a particular character. Though each of the four bohemians dons garb of the late 1800s, Marcello's topcoat is as rakish as he is, and Colline's coat is exactly what a starving philosopher would wear.
The sets by Pier Luigi Pizzi for Lyric Opera of Chicago are realistic: the bohemians' gray-timbered garret, the street scene outside Café Momus and the outskirts of Paris in winter. Thomas C. Hase's lighting gently accents the action, from the sense of freezing cold in the garret to the warmth of new love. Although a few timing issues arose on opening night, there was a moment of pure magic at the end of Act One as the lights faded in perfect harmony with the music.
'LA BOHÈME'
Seattle Opera
Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St.
Through Sunday, May 20
Tickets: $51-$141, 389-7676, www.seattleopera.org
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