It’s been a long time since audiences had their first opportunity to see Los Angeles Opera’s captivating production of Puccini’s “La Boheme,” originally directed by filmmaker Herbert Ross.
How long?
Well, it was the year Bill Clinton first became president; the Brinks armored car heist took place; the World Trade Center towers were bombed (for the first time) and Microsoft introduced Windows 3.1. It was 1993.
It also was the first time LA Opera reached out to a member of the Hollywood film community. And Ross, who had never focused his talent on staging an opera before, seized the opportunity.
The result was a production that brimmed with life and vitality accentuated by the atmospheric sets and costumes of 1880s Paris by Gerard Howland and Peter J. Hall. It marked the beginning of a tradition that would lead to fruitful collaborations with other film directors including John Schlesinger, Maximilian Schell and, most recently, Woody Allen.
Clearly guided by the principal that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix (or replace) it,” LA Opera brought Herbert Ross’ production back for an unprecedented seventh revival Saturday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
It features an able cast led by amber-hued soprano, Nino Machaidze. Re-directed by Peter Kazaras (director of opera at UCLA), it maintains all the Parisian zest of Ross’ original staging, particularly during the festive pull-out-all-the-stops flag-waving Christmas Eve party at the Café Momus.
LA Opera has clearly embraced Machaidze. Since her debut with the company as Adina in “The Elixir of Love” in 2009, the Georgian soprano has starred as Fiorilla in “The Turk in Italy (2011); Juliette in “Roméo and Juliette” (2011); sung the title role in “Thais” (2014), and Violetta in “La Traviata” (2014).
Her performance as the consumptive girl in the garret, Mimi, was emotionally and vocally resonant. Her Mimi was convincing, but in a one-dimensional manner. That’s because Kazaras’ direction avoids the tricky balancing act of portraying Mimi as both the sweet girl from upstairs and the poverty-stricken young woman who has become a flirtatious manipulator of men in order to survive. Hard realities are not this production’s strength.
Mimi’s significant other, Rodolfo, is sung by Guatemalan tenor Mario Chang, who was a triple award winner at the 2014 Operalia competition in Los Angeles. Whether Chang had undisclosed vocal issues Saturday is unclear, but he did not manifest the same degree of vocal luster he demonstrated during the competition.
Throughout the performance his voice tended to thin rather than gain intensity as it rose into the upper register. Ultimately, he and Machaidze didn’t generate the type of chemistry their big love requires.
Giorgio Caoduro displayed a fine voice as the jealous lover/painter, Marcello. But during the Christmas Eve festivities his jealousy took on cartoonish proportion. The tempestuous object of his affection, Musetta, was sung by soprano Janai Brugger. Brugger has a good deal of fun being the belle of bohemian Paris as she warbles “Musetta’s Waltz.”
Then, as the story deepens and her love affair with Marcello frays, Brugger captured the more mature side of her character.
The madcap crew of starving artists is rounded out by Nicholas Brownlee as the good-natured Coline and the robust singing of Kihun Yoon as Schaunard.
The real star of this production, however, is not onstage. She’s on the podium and her name is Speranza Scappuci.
And while the company is heavily promoting the last two performances of “Boheme” (June 10 and 12) because they will mark the LA Opera debut for conductor Gustavo Dudamel, it is unlikely Dudamel will bring any more vitality, finesse and emotional connection to the opera than Scappuci did Saturday.
Italian by birth, with flowing red hair and dual degrees from Juilliard and Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia, her conducing combined pinpoint accuracy with a finely nuanced sense of dramatic sweep.
Scappuci made Puccini’s all-too-familiar music sound as fresh as it was the day the opera had its American premiere — Oct. 14, 1897, in of all places, Los Angeles, less than a mile from where it was performed Saturday.
Jim Farber is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer.
Want to go?
Rating: 3 stars.
Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave, Los Angeles.
When: 7:30 p.m. May 25, 28 and June 10; 2 p.m. June 5 and 12.
Information: 213-972-8001 or www.laopera.org.