SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Puccini,  La Bohème: Soloists, Orchestra and Chorus of Scottish Opera. Conductor: Derek Clark. Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 18.4.2010 (SRT)

 
Cast:
Mimi – Celine Byrne

Rodolfo – Avi Klemberg

Marcello – Benjamin Bevan

Musetta – Nadine Livingston

Colline – Christian Sist

Schaunard – Julian Hubbard

 

Orchestra of Scottish Opera

Chorus of La Bohème

Derek Clark (conductor)

 

Production:

Stewart Laing (director/designer)

Heather Carson (lighting designer)

As Iceland continues to spew volcanic ash into the skies over Europe the consequences are being felt in ever more corners of our lives. Today’s performance was due to be conducted by Scottish Opera’s music director, Francesco Corti, but due to travel disruption he was stranded in an unspecified corner of the world and SO’s Head of Music, Derek Clark, stepped into the breach, more than ably, as it turned out. His contribution added distinction to this disappointingly bitty production.

The singing began hesitantly but improved as the evening progressed. All four Bohemians struggled to project in the opening scene and their knockabout antics didn’t make up for a lack of vocal magic, but by the final act Christian Sist’s Colline produced a distinguished account of the raincoat aria. Benjamin Bevan, so distinguished in last year’s Puritani, lacked sparkle until his duet with Rodolfo in the final Act. As Rodolfo Avi Klemberg took a while to warm up, sounding decidedly uncomfortable in the big moments at the end of Act 1, though his contribution to the farewell duet in Act 3 was bang on the money. The ladies stole most of the thunder: Nadine Livingston’s Musetta chewed up the scenery whenever she was on stage, and her rich, clear mezzo effectively rode the crest of orchestral sound in the aftermath of Quando m’en vo. Celine Byrne’s Mimi was even finer: her bright but vulnerable soprano was perfect for the big numbers at the end of Act 1 and, while she didn’t quite pare down the voice enough for Mimi’s death scene, the pathos was very effective in the third act. The dramatic and musical temperature rose every time she was on stage, making this a most auspicious company debut.

What a pity, then, that the production should be so lacking in magic. Stewart Laing’s decision to relocate the action to contemporary New York brought us closer to the feeling of modern day Bohemianism but it instantly lost all the warmth and nostalgia that is such an intrinsic part of this piece, stretching all the way back to the source novel itself. The Bohemians live in a sterile (and very spacious) attic studio devoid of any homely charms, making Mimi’s last act spark of nostalgia for the room sound more implausible than ever. Instead of the Café Momus, Act II was located at an opening night in a New York gallery rendering most of the characteristic references in the libretto nonsensical and removing the camaraderie of the wider community that the scene is so dependent on. Making Marcello a video artist/designer was a good excuse to show some extended clips on screen, but burning Rodolfo’s play in Act I simply didn’t happen. Matters were made worse by some extremely liberal surtitles (at the start of Act IV, for example, Mimi has been spotted wearing Versace), a clear sign that the concept has been stretched to breaking point. Watching this on stage I felt no desire to join in their world, a feeling that any successful staging of La Bohème must evoke in the audience.

 

For the second time in a week the finest achievements of the evening emanated from the pit. The strongest emotional wave of the evening came from the orchestral surge on Gioventu mia at the end of Act II. Any opera orchestra knows this piece inside out, but these players are still able to find the freshness in it, and the fortissimo crashes that begin and end Act III were razor sharp, a rare and praiseworthy event.

It’s often tempting to find a fresh take on perennial favourites and Scottish Opera have done so very successfully in the past, but here they fell wide of the mark. Catch it for the singing of the ladies and, after the interval at least, the duets.

 

Simon Thompson

La Bohème plays at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre until 24^th April then goes on tour to Aberdeen, Inverness, Belfast and Dublin. For full details go to http://www.scottishopera.org.uk