puccini – New Zealand Arts Review

N. Z. Opera’s La Boheme

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

La Boheme

Composer Giacomo Puccini

Librettists Luigi Illica, Guiseppe Giacosa

N Z Opera

Kiri te Kanawa Theatre

Until June 6

Then

Wellington 18 – 22 June

Christchurch 2 – 6 July

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

There are no gods or fairies in La Boheme. There are no heroic figures in La Boheme. There are no evil or deeply flawed characters in La Boheme and there are no complicated plots or byzantine machinations in La Boheme.

All the characters we encounter are young and ordinary, all making their first steps into adulthood, living in a bohemian environment, full of possibilities.

This ordinariness is in contrast to many other great operas where characters face great moral dilemmas, battle tyrants or life’s injustices. This is one of the few great operas where we see characters on stage who we can recognize as very much like ourselves – or twenty year old versions of ourselves.

Four of the very ordinary characters live in a very ordinary student flat and the opera opens with Rodolfo, a writer and his artist friend Marcello struggling to create masterpieces while they battle the freezing temperature by burning one of Rodolfo’s plays to keep warm. Colline, a philosopher, and Schaunard enter with food and drink but instead of paying the rent they decide to celebrate Christmas at the Café Momus, where they encounter Marcello’s girlfriend, Musetta who is with her sugar daddy Alcindora.

At the same time Rodolfo meets the frail seamstress Mimi, and they fall in love. But their tender romance is doomed, for Mimi is ill with consumption, and Rodolfo is too poor to help her. Through the opera they also have to confront the other aspects of life and love -jealousy, guilt and despair which comes with that love. As a contrast is Musetta whose love has a wider focus given to Marcello, Alcindora as well as others.

Ji-Min Park (Rodolfo) and Elena Perroni (Mimi) Image. Andi Crown

The slowly dying Mimi (Elena Perroni) who all but whispers in many of her arias gives memorable performances. While she presents a gentle voice often almost whispering while at other times she was able to sustain an expressive intensity as with her “Donde Lieta Usci”aria

Rodolfo and Mimi have a purity of soul which seems to bond them despite their Act 3 questioning of their relationship and this is reflected in their voices. Ji-Min Park (Rodolfo) is able to express an urgency with his rich voice while both Elena Perroni’s voice and demeanor coveys a sensitivity and frailty.

Rodolfo’s three friends also contribute some lively singing with their first act witty dialogue and humorous interchange with the landlord Benoit. Marcello provides some brilliant duos with Mimi and Musetta, notably the third and fourth acts while the philosopher Colline ( Hadleigh Adams) provides an additional concept of love with his aria dwelling on his much-loved coat.

The musician Schaunard (Benson Wilson) contributes slightly to the singing in the opera but his main purpose seems is to always have some money and always has food or wine available as the hedonist of the group and a contrast to Rodolfo.

Emma Pearson (Musetta) Image. Andi Crown

The setting has been changed for Mid nineteenth century to Paris in in 1947 and the bohemian nature of the artist’s lives in seen ibn some huge paintings like those of Pierre Soulages in the studio / garret. The post war date also means the costume designer (Gabrielle Dalton) have been able to give the Musetta and Mimi some contemporary fashion with Musetta being attired in some stylish Dior inspired outfits.

The simplicity and honesty of La Boheme has meant it is always accessible with a story which is clear, immediate and romantic and universal. Director Bruno Ravella and Conductor Brad Cohen have ensured that the story and the characters are brought to life with sensitivity, authenticity and joie de vivre.

Opera Australia’s “Tosca”

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Tosca. The Te Deum sequence Image. Keith Saunders

Opera Australia

Tosca by Giacomo Puccini

Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa

Sydney Opera House

July 13

Performances until August 16

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Last Saturday’s performance of Tosca at the Sydney Opera House didn’t go quite as planned. The role of Tosca which had been played by a now ill Giselle Allen was to be replaced with Natalia Aroyan

Allen’s Tosca had previously been reviewed in Limelight where her performance was described as “a wonderfully capricious creation; a haughty, self-absorbed prima donna one minute and tragic heroine the next”.

This was to be Aroyan’s first outing in the role but she has had several roles in other Australian Opera productions and has previously even performed with Dame Kiri te Kanawa.

From the first moment we hear Tosca calling her lover’s name from offstage to her bursting onto the stage any concerns about her abilities vanished. She revealed the power and lyricism the role requires immediately. We also heard the notes of the recurring love theme, sometimes calm, at other times agitated, mirroring Tosca’s changing moods. In this opening scene she also revealed other aspects of her complex nature, playfulness egotism, jealousy and romanticism, giving the audience one of the crucial aspects of the opera – a believable character who, she says “lives for art”.

Her voice in Act II traversed a huge range of emotion, – pure love, pain and yearning while her soaring rendition of the aria“ Vissi d’arte ” captured an almost ethereal dimension.

In a sense she is the alter ego of Puccini who saw the opera a political work which had a strong political thread with a plot that revolved around the historical and political narrative of Italian nationalism. While the opera was originally set in Rome in the early part of the nineteenth century, Director Edward Dick has set the work firmly in the twenty-first century with laptops, CCTV and earpieces. All this provides a very clear reference to the growth of contemporary fascism.

The story , set in Rome still revolves around the tragic love triangle between Floria Tosca , the famous opera singer ; Mario Cavaradossi , a painter ; and Baron Scarpia , the sadistic chief of police .

The opera opens with the escaped revolutionary Angelotti (David Parkin) making a dramatic descent by a rope from the opening in a painted dome in the ceiling of a church. This oculus can be seen as a reference to the ceiling opening of the Patheon in Rome. Cavaradossi comes to his aid and in so doing implicates himself and Tosca in his escape and that knowledge is exploited by Scarpia in order to capture the escaped Angelotti, punish Cavaradossi and seduce Tosca.

From the first mention of Scarpia’s name we hear the ominous sequence of three, strident chords that represent the evil character. Sung by Gevorg Hakobyan he emanates ruthlessness and amorality with a sinister voice and the actions of a disturbed man. This is highlighted in the powerful Te Deum sequence at the end of Act I where the power of the state is linked to that of the church and the choir sings along with Scarpia as he fantasises about his seduction of Tosca.

Giselle Allen (Tosca) and Gevorg Hakobyan (Scarpia) Image. Keith Saunders

While Hakobyan conveys a narcissism and cruelty with a searing, caustic voice it is Young Woo Kim singing the role of Cavaradossi who was the standout performer of the opera with a powerful voice with which he conveyed a range of rich emotions along with a very honest portrayal of character.

The set in each of the acts is dominated by a large dome shape with an image of the virgin which works effectively and the oculus in the final act becomes the space from which Tosca plunges to her death.

In Act II the central feature of the set is Scarpia’s four poster bed which becomes the site of seduction as well as acting as a cage within which much of the strugglers between Scarpia and Tosca take place

The work really relies on its wonderful, evocative music, emotionally charged with some poignant orchestral passages which requires a conductor who is aware of that emotional and dramatic range. In Johannes Fritzsch and the Opera Australia Orchestra all the great qualities of the music were delivered.

With ten performances to go Tosca is one great reason for a short holiday across to Sydney.

Future operas at the Sydney Opera House

Brett Dean/ Matthew Jocelyn, Hamlet, July 20 – August 9

Mozart, Cosi van Tutte, August 1 – 17