Royal Opera House: Puccini's La Bohème was a perfect evening - despite pandemic
A visit to the Royal Opera House, of course, is always something special, but I has seen this opera many times and this particular production twice before and this time, with Covid restrictions in place, I was not expecting anything special. I could hardly have been more wrong. The young cast were sensationally good, the modifications made necessary by the pandemic were intelligently and sensitively done and the reduction in orchestra size necessitated by social distancing rules increased the intensity of the performance, especially in the last, emotionally-charged act.
The story is the standard boy-meets-girl, girl dies, opera plot, but apart from the principal parts of Mimi (gloriously sung and acted by Russian soprano Anna Princeva) and Rodolfo (powerfully sung by American tenor Joshua Guerrero), the drama of the tragic love story is cleverly contrasted by the carefree life of Rodolfo’s fellow artists, Marcello (Boris Pinkhasovich), Schaunard (Cody Quattlebaum) and Colline (Gianluca Buratto) and most of all by Marcello’s outrageous girlfriend Musetta (played with glorious abandon by the wonderful Danielle de Niese).
All three of Rodolfo flatmates bring their own impressive individuality to the roles, while Musetta’s feat of removing her knickers and waving them around while singing and dancing on the tables at Cafe Momus has to be seen to be believed. If there were an operatic Oscar for best supporting actress, de Niese’s performance would win it hands (and knickers) down.
Special praise must also be given to the Adaptation Director Dan Dooner, whose necessary changes to Richard Jones’ production included modifying a massive crowd scene in the second act to a much smaller affair, which he managed highly thoughtfully and effectively. Renato Balsadonna also gave an impressive performance in conducting the reduced orchestra.
He brought out the best in Puccini’s glorious music, as we might have expected after his faultless 12-year-long stint in charge as Chorus Director at the Royal Opera.
