LA BOHEME (Royal Opera)*****

 

By Aashiq

Link: https://stream.roh.org.uk/products/la-boheme-2020 £3

Available until: 10^th January 2021

La bohѐme used to be my favourite opera. It was my first ever trip to the Royal Opera House. I couldn’t believe how posh it was, I was almost scared of going on those red carpets which was weird as I always thought I was born for the red carpet. But the Royal Opera House was so beautiful and so was La bohѐme.

Of course, it was only my favourite for a couple of hours because I went back and saw something even better that evening, but a good production of this opera always gets you. Put on a bad production and I’ll die of boredom, but luckily (or unluckily?), this is a great production so I am still here.

If anyone has watched or is going to watch Hope Mill Theatre’s brilliant production of Rent, you might want to give this a watch too and see where the inspiration for the musical came from. There’s no Angel, just a Schaunard, and he always wears men’s clothes, which is just boring and I don’t think he and Colline (Collins) are secretly doing it and there might be a couple of shock twists in the plot. But you might find it interesting.

La bohѐme’s score is famous for its emotion and sensuality, but it also has a lot of comedy. It doesn’t have the lush orchestrations of Turandot, but it’s far superior to some of Puccini’s other rubbish. Emmanuel Villaume is the conductor and he’s very sensitive to all the nuances, bringing out all the wonderful comedy banter between the boys (seriously, the opening made me smile even before I saw those four hot guys).

Director Richard Jones (and the revival directors, Julia Burbach and Simon Iorio) seems to have focused really strongly on the personalities. Schaunard usually fades into the background a bit (when you don’t put him in a dress and call him Angel), but this production allows him to have a bit more fun. There is also a lot of physical affection between the cast members. I don’t know if that stands out because it’s practically illegal for me to hug my mates (seriously, when did I last hug someone I’m not married to? It’s going to feel so wanton. And I can’t wait!), but I think the camaraderie and support between the characters is really adorable.

The set design is great too. The flat belonging to the boys is minimalist, but it’s still beautiful. You can tell it’s tiny and there isn’t much money and with the small doorway and the sloping ceilings, I don’t even want to think about how many times they must have bumped their heads, but it’s nice to look at and you can believe that artistic men could live there without wanting to scream (except when they bump their heads).

The Act 2 set outside the Café Momus is gorgeous and the Café itself is very swish. There’s also a lot of snow falling in the outdoor scenes which looks good and there’s a fabulous night sky in Act 3 which is very romantic, in harsh contrast to what is happening to the characters.

The only disappointment is the graffiti in the final act. It’s actually good graffiti and it makes perfect sense in the dramatic moment, but it seems so tacky and tasteless for it to be up there when Mimi arrives. This is my ONLY reservation (unless I think of something else before this gets posted).

Charles Castronovo (who I’ve also seen as Alfredo in La traviata, he really has a type, doesn’t he?) is an adorable Rodolfo. Mimi is lucky he’s fictional or I’d be after him myself (he could be bi, you know). He’s loving, caring and passionate and he pours it all into his gorgeous voice. Sonya Yoncheva is a very warm, very innocent Mimi. It’s a very touching performance with glowing vocals and there was a moment or two when I really thought she might turn me.

Simona Mihai is a remarkable Musetta. She sings gorgeously, but she’s also an exceptional actor so she’s able to show Musetta’s coquettishness (nothing wrong with that, I go in for a bit of that myself) and her rudeness, but there’s also a yearning quality in her performance and Mimi is bang on when she says Musetta is only behaving like that because she loves Marcello.

Andrezej Filonczyk is a deliciously masculine and very kind but also hilarious Marcello, especially when he’s trying to ignore Musetta. He’s definitely one of the Marcellos who makes me wish Puccini had composed the missing act because maybe then we might have got the aria Marcello deserves. Andrezej has a gorgeous voice (among other things).

Peter Kellner’s rich bass voice makes him ideal for the role of Colline (though his coat isn’t all that, just saying, though maybe that’s the point – maybe it has sentimental value) and Gyula Nagy (great hair and a voice to match) gives Schaunard personality and a sense of drama (I might have one of those), as well as some really impressive dancing.

This is a great performance which must have come very close to not happening. It closed (as scheduled) on February 13^th 2020. It’s hard to remember a 2020 when we didn’t know. (Well, I knew. I knew the virus would be a problem and I told everyone and they told me I was panicking over nothing which was totally unfair because I think I was quite calm really. And who was right? Me. And do I feel smug? No. I don’t get to feel smug about serious stuff like this.) But the vaccine’s coming! We will be back! And so will this fabulous production of La bohѐme. (See, I got back on topic in the end.)