Goldilocks was a critic. The little girl from the fairy tale was quick to point out the shortcomings she encountered while choosing chairs, bowls of porridge or beds, but, in each case, she settled upon one that she deemed “just right.”
My experience with a handful of productions of Giacomo Puccini’s opera, “La Boheme,” had left me feeling a bit like the dissatisfied Goldilocks. While I understood why this circa-1900 work was among the world’s most popular operas, there was something significant missing from every staging I’d seen. The energy was too low, the passion wasn’t palpable, there was no heat between the lovers at the story’s core.
But Minnesota Opera’s season-closing production is the closest thing to a just-right “La Boheme” I’ve encountered. It’s a splendid synthesis of marvelous music expertly sung and played, charismatic characterizations and a wonderful design. A hum of energy permeates the production, and — where I’d previously chalked up some of my dissatisfaction to flaws in the original score and libretto — I came away from Saturday’s opening night at St. Paul’s Ordway Music Theater thinking this a better opera than I’d remembered.
And if you already think “La Boheme” the perfect opera, you’re going to find a lot to love in this production. It evocatively succeeds at placing us in the heart of 19th-century Paris’ Latin Quarter, where “bohemian” painters, writers and musicians survive on enthusiasm for their art and camaraderie, meals only an intermittent occurrence. Yet it also taps into such universal touchstones as the ebullient spirit of youth and the intensity that love inspires, for good or ill.
Puccini created so much beautiful music for this opera that some productions think singing it well to be entertainment enough. But director Octavio Cardenas has summoned from his cast an electric esprit de corps, making me feel as if I was with a very fun group of people in a very exciting place. Playing a large role in transporting me there were the sets of Tony winner Michael Yeargan, from the claustrophobic garret that makes the opening and closing scenes all the more intimate to the streets bustling with colorful choristers to the ice-cold columns that oversee the central lovers’ breakups and reconciliations.
Which singers portray those lovers will depend upon what performance you attend. Because “La Boheme” is so popular, Minnesota Opera is presenting it eight times in 11 days, two different quartets of leads alternating. On Saturday, I at last found the right Rodolfo after years of searching, for Scott Quinn has not only a brilliantly clear, emotion-laden tenor voice but the acting skills to bring unguarded enthusiasm to this heart-on-his-sleeve poet.
His ill-fated amour, Mimi, was given an engaging portrayal by Nicole Cabell, who employed a rich and subtle soprano voice throughout her ample range. Quinn’s energetic Rodolfo and Mary Evelyn Hangley’s comical coquette of a Musetta helped make up for the stiffness of Edward Parks’ Marcello, who nevertheless sang well, as did Benjamin Sieverding during a memorable farewell to a coat. (Speaking of which: Kudos to the costumes of Walter Mahoney.)
This production also underlines the tremendous strides that the Minnesota Opera Orchestra has made since Michael Christie came on board as music director in 2012. While sculpting the ideal atmosphere and laying a beautifully balanced foundation beneath the soaring arias and duets, the orchestra did Puccini … just right.
If you go
What: Minnesota Opera’s “La Boheme”
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; 7:30 p.m. May 16 and 18-20, 2 p.m. May 21
Where: Ordway Music Theater, 345 Washington St., St. Paul
Tickets: $200-$25, available at 612-333-6669 or mnopera.org
Capsule: At last, a first-class passage to Puccini’s Paris.
