Glimmerglass Opera Festival's 'La Boheme' is fresh, emotional experience (Review)

If you think you've seen Puccini's "La Boheme" enough, see it one more time at the Glimmerglass Opera Festival this summer. If you've never seen it, go now.

In her debut with the company, director E. Loren Meeker makes the familiar story fresh again and touches our deepest intellect and emotion. It's everything an opera should be.

From the instant conductor Joseph Colaneri calls the orchestra to life--Puccini provides no overture--the willing suspension of disbelief is invoked, and the audience enters the garret apartment of young, penurious Parisian artists. Outside, the smoky twilight sky emits a warm glow, but the only warmth inside is that of friendship and a feeble spark when the writer Rodolfo sacrifices pages of his play to the match, eeking out a bit of comfort on Christmas Eve.

He stays behind when his three friends leave to enjoy holiday food and festivities, promising to meet them later. A timid knock on the door announces the arrival of Mimi from downstairs, who asks to rekindle her candle, and the flame of romance is lit.

Michael Brandenburg plays Rodolfo for the first time and does it so perfectly that he is certain to be sought for the role in the future. His lyric tenor voice is faultless from the first measures of "Che gelida manina," the opening aria in which he reveals his dreams to Mimi. It launches 15 minutes of some of Puccini's most alluring music.

Mimi, Raquel Gonzalez, responds with the rapturous "Mi chiamano Mimi," telling him she is a seamstress who loves springtime and flowers. Gonzalez's lush soprano, rich and colorful on Puccini's lyrical melodies, gives credence to Mimi's determination to prosper despite illness. She decides to go with her new friend to Cafe Momus, where the others are celebrating. The duet that closes this act demonstrates the agility of the young singers' voices and their skill in performing virtuoso phrases, rising at the end to a thrilling high C.

Act II highights the composer's genius in the intricate, complex weaving of songs and motion as the entire town celebrates. A panoply of neighbors, jugglers, dancers, and revelers--including a charming children's chorus--converges outside the cafe. Inside, the two find their friends, including cafe singer Musetta, played by Vanessa Becerra.

Marcello, baritone Hunter Enoch, sings playfully of his distain for Musetta, his former girlfriend. Becerra nails the part of the scheming entertainer, who flirts to get baubles and treats. "Musetta's Waltz," Act II, calls for vocal dexterity and raw expression, both of which Becerra delivers on the well-known solo, earning enthusiastic applause.

Mimi's failing health and Rodolfo's thriving jealousy divide the lovers, who promise, in a poignant duet, they will separate in the spring. Singing Mimi's farewell aria, Gonzalez generates pure emotion, which falls like a veil of sorrow upon the audience.

A moment of goofy guy time lightens the mood back in the garret, but all hijinks end when Musetta arrives with dying Mimi. Colline, Rhys Lloyd Talbot, says he will sell his coat for Mimi, but first he embraces it and sings a robust bass aria about its good qualities. Musetta sacrifices her earrings to buy medicine. But nothing--not the warm muff the friends give her, or Rodolfo's love, or the hopes of a completely involved audience--can save Mimi. To shattering chords from the pit, she dies.

Glimmerglass is noted for the excellent quality of its music, which is presented without amplification for purity of sound. This opera rises to the top of the top. Colanari; orchestra artists, and vocalists are magnificent, performing Puccini's brilliant score with breathtaking dynamics and expressive phrasing.

The narrative for "La Boheme" was first a series of newspaper articles, which the author, Henri Murger, then combined into a novel in 1848. Murger's tales of real, struggling, sensitive people come alive in Puccini's opera, which had its debut in 1896, La Belle Epoque, or the Beautiful Age of Paris before World War I.

In the Glimmerglass Opera Festival's all-new production, every element works in harmony to give the audience a vibrant, heartrending, and emotion-filled experience.

THE DETAILS:
What: Puccini's "La Boheme" in Italian with English projections.
Where: Alice Busch Opera Theatre, 7300 State Highway 80, Cooperstown, N.Y.
Performance: Reviewed July 17, runs in repertory through Aug. 27.
Running Time: 2 hours, 35 minutes with one intermission.
Complete Season: Online at www.glimmerglass.org
Tickets: www.glimmerglass.org or call 607-547-2255.
Prices: July Preferred Pricing for savings.
Parking: Free in nearby lots.
Meals: Picnic on the grounds or purchase food and beverages.

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