Opera reviews: Puccini’s La Boheme and Bizet’s Carmen

2 / 5 stars
La Boheme

Australian director Benedict Andrews may have thought that portraying Mimi as a heroin addict rather than a victim of tuberculosis would make an edgy update to Puccini’s romantic tragedy of La Boheme, but all it does is to flatten the highs and lows of the bohemians’ love lives into one long search for a chemical hit.

opera, review, Puccini, La Boheme, Bizet, Carmen, English National Opera, Royal Opera House, Clare ColvinPH

La Boheme: One long search for a chemical hit

Within minutes of Zach Borichevsky’s Rodolfo meeting Corinne Winters’ Mimi, we are given a lesson in how to mainline heroin. Seated on the bed, Rodolfo ties a tourniquet round his arm and injects himself before applying the syringe to Mimi, after which the pair fall to the floor in a drug-induced haze.

So much for “Che gelida manina” as Mimi’s tiny hand is warmed by a surge of heroin. 

Unlike Jonathan Miller’s precise 1930s update of Henri Murger’s original story of down-and-out artists in 1840s Paris, which Andrews’s effort replaces, the staging is not tied to a time or place. We could be in Paris, London, New York or Sydney, at any time during the latter part of the 20th century. Or Amsterdam, as the production is shared with Dutch National Opera. 

The anonymous studio of the first scene gives way to designer Johannes Schutz’s clumsy white blocks approximating to a Cafe Momus as a shopping mall.

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There is fine acting and singing from most of the cast

In the final scene the students are living in what resembles a community hall, its floor to ceiling windows looking onto a children’s playground. 

All a great pity, when there is fine acting and singing from most of the cast. Duncan Rock’s hard-drinking painter Marcello is outstanding. Ashley Riches gives the musician Schaunard a more assertive personality than usual.

Corinne Winters, though, is hampered by the director’s determination to see Mimi as a drab little wannabe. We never quite know whether it is the frequently alluded to cough in the libretto, or the heroin, that does for her.  

Talking of coughs, isn’t it time for the Royal Opera House to adopt draconian measures towards its cacophonous audience? Does no one bring precautionary lozenges or bottled water with them nowadays?

Constant uncontrolled coughing accompanied last week’s otherwise excellent revival by Duncan Macfarland of Francesca Zambello’s 2006 staging of Carmen, conducted by Bertrand de Billy. 

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Duncan Macfarland of Francesca Zambello’s 2006 staging of Carmen, conducted by Bertrand de Billy

Zambello’s lively production is as traditional as they come. Against Tanya McCallin’s design of terracotta walls, a crowd of townspeople mill around. Hyperactive street urchins are chased off by the soldiers.

The cigarette factory girls swirl their skirts to the banter of the young men. Animals are part of the action, with Tracey the donkey taking front of stage on the square in Seville and Louis the horse making an entrance at Lillas Pastia’s tavern bearing Russian baritone Alexander Vinogradov’s Toreador. 

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Zambello’s lively production is as traditional as they come

Russian mezzo Elena Maximova’s Carmen has the dark, smoky tones that come from the chest, and an almost contralto depth.

Bryan Hymel’s Don Jose sounded slightly strained a the start but had recovered by the second act. His descent into jealous rage at Carmen’s rejection was coruscating.

Australian soprano Nicole Car, making her Royal Opera debut, was a lovable Micaela, bringing to Don Jose’s good girl fiancee a much feistier character. 

Car’s lustrous tones and vibrant stage presence brought a storm of applause at the end. I look forward to seeing her Tatyana in Covent Garden’s revival of Eugene Onegin in December.

VERDICT: 4/5

Puccini’s La Boheme at the English National Opera, The Coliseum, London WC2 (Tickets: 020 7845 9300/eno.org; £12-£115)

Bizet’s Carmen at the Royal Opera House, London WC2 (Tickets:  020 7304 4000/roh.org.uk; £9-£215)

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