Audiences at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion last Saturday were met by a production of Puccini’s La bohème that was an epic of escapism, befitting the celebratory mood of this inauguration of the LA Opera season.
Original director Herbert Ross channeled both David Lean and Disney into a visual realization of the opera that spilled onto the stage. Starlit skies, evocative boulevards and bustling street scenes, all presided over by a flapping tricolore – it was a Paris of long ago that seemed truer to the spirit of the place than the actual city itself. Overrun with realistic visual detail, it framed and intensified this operatic paean to love unfettered by convention.
This romantic realist vision was brought to life by a fine cast of young voices led by Janai Brugger and Oreste Cosimo. Brugger gave voice to a Mimì that was warm, secure in voice, if dispensing with the vulnerability and fragility more often associated with the role. Her rendition of “Sì, mi chiamano Mimì” was a forthright declaration of fact, while her role in Act 1’s closing duet suggested the feelings of a woman not yet ready to surrender to impulse, temptations of budding romance notwithstanding.
Cosimo, on the other hand, voiced a Rodolfo whose brashness was threaded by melancholy. That quality communicated a young man who was as wary of love as Mimì, albeit for his own reasons. His elegant, silvery top notes bespoke as much of delighted limerence in “Che gelida manina” as it forecast awareness of heartbreak to come. Better not to love, Cosimo’s Rodolfo intimated, than to risk losing it all.
Brugger and Cosima were well supported by Gihoon Kim as Marcello, William Guanbo Su as Colline and Emmett O’Hanlon as Schaunard. Kim’s resonant baritone and affable characterization proved a dear friend to Marcello. An even bigger impression was made by Erica Petrocelli as Musetta. With presence and convincing flirtatiousness, she nearly upended the focus of the opera with her singing of the brief Act 2 waltz. Even more captivating, as well as a formidable display of her range, was her poignant interpretation of Musetta’s prayer at the end of Act 4, which stilled the breath of the hall. Rod Gilfry, whose splendid baritone and comic timing have long made him a Los Angeles Opera favorite, was affecting as Benoît and Alcindoro. Lina González-Granados efficiently conducted the whole.
Rather than reinvent the wheel, the musicians and production staff honored Puccini and placed their trust in his music. If the applause at the end of the performance was anything to go by, the composer’s message seemed to get across just fine, no gimmickry required. Los Angeles Opera had much to be proud on this bohemian night.
