You know the holiday season is approaching when the Met trots out Franco Zeffirelli’s Bohème. It’s a surefire crowd-pleaser, with its gargantuan sets and army of choristers and animals. Not much remains to be said about the 43-year-old production, except that the long intervals remain a drag despite the recently refurbished sets.
It’s a challenge for any cast to keep it fresh, both musically and dramatically, rather than a matter of routine. The main reason to catch this revival is for soprano Ailyn Pérez’s sumptuous Mimì. Pérez has been singing the role for well over a decade now, and brings a wealth of dramatic and musical experience in the part. She’s been moving into bigger roles lately, adding Puccini’s Tosca and Butterfly to her repertoire, and her middle register in particular has filled out nicely, with a welcome glint of metal to her dusky sound. Her experience with the bigger Puccini heroines seems to have given her a greater expansiveness of tone and she took her two arias at a daringly slow tempo, expertly pushing and pulling the line. Her portamenti and glottal stops ran the risk of sounding overly mannered for the simple Mimì, but Pérez has a winning charisma that made it seem like the most natural thing in the world.
The other standout voice in the cast came from Gihoon Kim, making his debut as Schaunard. The South Korean baritone has a lovely burnished sound and gorgeous legato, a natural fit for the big Verdi roles. Schaunard gets few moments to shine, but Kim made the most of them and also managed a mean entrechat. Let’s hope he comes back in bigger roles soon. There were also welcome debuts from bass Bogdan Talos and baritone Boris Pinkhasovich as Colline and Marcello, the former making an impression in his brief aria with rich tone and elegant phrasing, the latter with a lighter, more characterful sound. Pinkhasovich is an engaging actor, full of energy and making the most of the text even if his baritone didn’t always carry.
He was at his best opposite Emily Pogorelc’s Musetta, with real sparks flying between the two in their tavern fight. Pogorelc has made her name in Europe as a lyric coloratura of great promise, who made her Met debut earlier this year. She possesses a confident technique and a lightly shimmering tone, demonstrating a fine command of line and a fantastic diminuendo B flat in her aria. She also possesses a surprisingly punchy lower register, hurling out insults at Marcello with aplomb. But while it’s not a small voice she struggled to make herself seen and heard over Zeffirelli’s Act 2 antics, and she didn’t dominate the ensemble as much as she should.
The major letdown of the performance is Dmytro Popov’s Rodolfo. While the Ukrainian tenor has an attractive tone, he often resorted to a covered sound that failed to project effectively. He’s also a stiff stage presence, and there was little of the romantic chemistry needed for the story to really move the audience. It’s a shame, because he’s a wonderful musician with great musical instincts, impressive dynamic control, and a wealth of tonal colour at his disposal.
Conductor Kensho Watanabe was perhaps the culprit for the mixed musical qualities of this revival, often prioritizing orchestral grandeur over his singers. He took it slow, emphasizing the little details in Puccini’s orchestration, and while this didn’t interfere with the musical or dramatic flow it could overwhelm the singers. But it was worth it purely for the sheer sonic glory of Pérez’s Mimì, when vocal and orchestral splendour came together.
