No wonder Puccini’s “La Bohème” has been a box-office hit for more than a century.
Although set in Paris’ Left Bank in the1830s, “La Bohème”’s story of tragic first love and starving young artists with dreams of fame and fortune is just as germane today. We can’t help but see ourselves — our youthful aspirations and that cherished first time we fell deeply in love — in Puccini’s opera.
And then there is the gorgeously poignant music that enriches “La Bohème”’s tale of the love between the writer Rodolfo and the sweet seamstress Mimi, who suffers from tuberculosis.
Director Tomer Zvulun and the cast of Seattle Opera’s current production of “La Bohème” have brilliantly captured the exuberance and intense passions of the young. Zvulun moves his Rodolfo and Mimi so naturally from singing into the breathless tentativeness of their first kiss that it seems real. The high-spirited horseplay among the four male Bohemian roommates had the audience laughing on opening night, reaching its zenith in Act IV with a rambunctious mock-fight involving a loaf of bread as a sword. After those joyous scenes, we feel the tragedy of a woman dying far too young all the more sharply.
Touching performances
At the center of “La Bohème” is the relationship between Rodolfo and Mimi. The stage chemistry on opening night last Saturday, Feb. 23, between soprano Elizabeth Caballero and tenor Francesco Demuro (as the young lovers) was palpable — and their singing magnificent.
In his first aria, “Che gelida manina,” Demuro established his facility for shifting quickly among emotional shadings and glided with seeming ease to the aria’s high C. His reaction to Mimi’s death was heartbreaking.
Caballero’s Mimi was as warm and touching as her voice was stunningly radiant and crystal-clear. She is one of those rare sopranos without a hint of stridency, even at full throttle. The audience loved her, with a few shouts of “Brava” from the audience during the performance and a quantum leap in applause over that bestowed on the other singers.
Soprano Norah Amsellem and baritone Michael Todd Simpson were having a ball with the fiercely jealous relationship between the flirtatious Musetta and Marcello, one of Rodolfo’s Bohemian roommates. Amsellem’s rendition of Musetta’s well-known waltz, “Quando me n’vo,” was as captivating as Musetta.
As Colline, another of Rodolfo’s Bohemian roomies, Arthur Woodley delivered a sonorously reverential “Vecchia zimarra” that garnered well-earned recognition from the audience.
Andrew Garland did fine work rounding out the Bohemians as Schaunard. Tony Dillon was a delightful buffoon in the roles of Musetta’s protector, Alcindoro, and the Bohemians’ landlord, Benoit.
Carlo Montanaro was as attentive as he was in his 2011 Seattle Opera debut conducting “Don Quichotte,” although the orchestra did overwhelm the singers in a couple of spots.
Setting the perfect scene
Zvulun has shifted the production forward in time to around 1896, when it premiered in Turin, Italy. Martin Pakledinaz’s costumes firmly root the production in the late 1800s.
Erhard Rom’s set, originally designed for Opera Theatre of St. Louis, emphasizes its urban Paris environs in every scene. Even the Bohemians’ garret and Café Momus feature partial walls to reveal the city outside.
Photographic projections at the beginning and end of each scene and Robert Wierzel’s lighting further amplify the sense of the time and place — which, in contrarian fashion, emphasizes the timelessness of the story.
Seattle Opera’s “La Bohème” plays at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall (321 Mercer St.) through March 10. Tickets/information: 389-7676; www.seattleopera.org
MAGGIE LARRICK is a former editor of the Queen Anne/Magnolia News. To comment on this story, write to QAMagNews@nwlink.com.