My Thoughts on “La Boheme”
Hypothetical question: during curtain calls, its traditional for the leading lady to walk backstage and bring out the conductor for his bows. But if the conductor is female, should the leading man be performing this task instead?
Since there’s already quite a detailed review on this blog I’ll refrain from typing another ‘proper’ review (whatever that means), suffice to say that I had a wonderful time tonight. The production is actually rather attractive, especially the ’steel bars’ that served as the opening curtain, the lively Cafe Momus scene, and the detailed backdrop of the friends’ apartment. La Yuen sounded reserved in the first half, perhaps the effect of singing 4 shows in a row, but the voice is always attractive, her trademark lightness of tone is always a pleasure to hear, which got fuller and rounder as the evening progressed. Kristin Symes had a rather small but attractive voice, natural for a coloratura I suppose. She camped it up and milked the role’s comedic bits for all its worth, and was also quite touching in her serious Act 4 moments. Maybe the accoustics are playing tricks on me, but from where I sat Martin Ng’s voice seemed to have grown substantially since the 2008 Turandot, and that attractive ember-ish colour unique in a bass baritone is coming through much clearer.
Simon Kyung Lee sang a spirited, unsentimental Che Gelida Manina that to me is quite refreshing, quite a change from the throbbing, lovelorn traditional way of in interpreting. He seems rather intent on being loud and louder throughout the evening (although there are attempts to sing softer); I can see why this would be irritating in a concert setting where without proper theatrical context, but in this full opera production I thought he was quite lively despite this, his interactions with colleagues quite sponteneous. Plus there’s no fear of not being able to hear him loud and clear. His anguished cries of “Mimi” at the opera’s end moved me the most.
In fact, what impressed me most of all is the overall sense of ensemble. Everything flowed along quite naturally and there’s no sense of “the director told me to do this and so I shall”. I guess after 4 nights and countless rehearsals the cast is getting much more familiar with each other, which in turn created a sense of sponteneity that makes everything look so natural.
Of course, there will always be some mistakes that happen in every live performance: the odd flat note, the odd line that goes out of synce with the orchestras, these are just tiny things that an audience should make room for when attending live events. But I do have one quibble about the direction: in Act 3, why does Musetta have an actual lover feeling her up? Not that I mind adding extra silent characters, but it doesn’t make sense that Marcello can physically attack a full-grown man who doesn’t retaliate but simply lie there while the contents of a trash can are being poured on him. Also it does justify Marcello’s tantrum as a justifiable act of emotion rather than acting out of paranoia.
But overall, I had a great time. After being away for such a long time its good be able to experience such a lovely opera production in my own home.