MOT's 'La Boheme' offers pleasantries but little magic
"La Boheme," again.
Every five years or so, Michigan Opera Theatre rolls out another production of Giacomo's Puccini's beloved and bittersweet tale of love and loss among a group of young starving artists in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the mid-19th Century. The company opened its 45th season on Saturday with its ninth production of "La Boheme," and it's a pleasant enough affair. With the exception of conductor Leonardo Vordoni's eloquent work in the pit and one exceptional moment of stagecraft, nothing about the performance Saturday soared above a kind of sturdy professionalism.
Does that matter? Well, yeah. We go to live performances wanting — expecting— to be transported into another dimension. Art is supposed to move us, to elate us, to provoke us, to do something to us. I want to leave the opera house thinking about more than where I should get a drink after the show. On the other hand, "La Boheme" is pretty much indestructible on stage. The work is so perfectly crafted and artistically inspired, so rapturous in its melodic lyricism and honest in its sentiment, that it never fails to speak on some level. There were certainly a number of satisfying moments on Saturday, but, alas, no transcendent ones
There's a naturalistic look and feel to the production, whose sets and costumes were originally designed by MIchael Yeargan and Walter Mahoney for the San Francisco Opera. The garret that the young artists share and where the central romance between the romantic poet Rodolfo and the sickly, doomed seamstress Mimi begins and (tragically) ends is unusually tiny and intimate. It's surely a more realistic depiction of bohemian Paris than the expansive loft-like spaces in many productions.
The most striking episode of the night comes in the middle of the first act, after Rodolfo and Mimi have famously told each other about themselves and launch into their love duet, "O soave fanciulla." As their voices merge and Puccini's score shifts into an even higher gear of passion, the walls of the room around them slide open to reveal the moonlight casting an evocative blue haze on the surrounding cityscape — it's a beautiful evocation of the miracle of two people finding each other in the lonely city.
The singing itself didn't match the power of visuals. In his MOT debut, tenor Sean Panikkar cut a dashing presence as Rodolfo. He voice was warm and plush yet also oddly dispassionate; there wasn't much ardor in his expression during his signature first act aria "Che gelida manina." Soprano Nicole Cabell brought more uninhibited emotionalism to the stage, marrying vocal sweetness and strength in appealing fashion but also never quite reaching the delirious peaks embedded in the score.
Panikkar and Cabell's most rewarding singing came amidst the winter bleakness of Act 3, when the despairing couple agrees to put off parting until spring. There was a depth of feeling here missing earlier, a relaxed ebb and flow and shape in both singers' phrasing and dynamics that unlocked the subtle mix of sadness, resignation and hope in everyone's realization that Mimi is probably dying.
As the on-again, off-again lovers Musetta and Marcello, the creamy-voiced Marina Costa-Jackson and spirited Rodion Pogossov made an attractive pair. The flirtatious Costa-Jackson delivered her famous "Musetta's Waltz" in front of the handsome Cafe Momus by picking a random man out of the crowd and dancing with him as she sang. This was presumably stage director Mario Corradi's choice, and one of his better ones.
The smaller roles of Colline (Brent Michael Smith), Schaunard (Jeff Byrnes), Benoit and Alcindoro (Thomas Hammons in double duty) were all handled skillfully.
The staging is efficient and clear, but Corradi has a hard time controlling his vulgar streak. I can forgive the over-the-top groping of Musetta and Marcello and the knee to the groin during the otherwise creative and friendly horseplay between the male friends. I suppose you could justify the pantomime of Colline urinating into a bowl in front of his friends in the cramped apartment as a window into the true grittiness of bohemian life. But, really?
What I can't abide, however, is allowing Musetta and Marcello to race across the stage, noisily continuing their saucy lovers' play at the end of Act 3 and ruining one of the most sublime musical moments of the opera. The orchestra is fading gently into the silence of the winter snow; Puccini is allowing the melancholy of the unfolding tragedy to sink into the listener's ear and heart. Then suddenly comes a final startle: a sharp, two-note staccato punch that frames the entire third act by harkening back to the same two-note pop heard at the start of the act. The quiet, portentous beauty of all of this was lost on Saturday, a particular shame because Vordoni had the MOT Orchestra playing with a range of nuance, color and dynamics that it sometimes lacks.
Contact Mark Stryker: 313-222-6459. mstryker@freepress.com
Puccini's 'La Boheme'
Two stars out of four stars
7:30 p.m. Wed. and Sat., 2:30 p.m. Sun.
Detroit Opera House, 1526 Broadway, Detroit. 313-237-7464. www.michiganopera.org. $29-$149.
Lina Tetriani and Eric Margiore replace Cabell at Sunday's performance.