Production enhances some world class performances

Innovation and tradition can be strange bedfellows in the modern world of opera. Up-dating seems de rigueur and while I have no problem with that, sometimes it goes too far. The inane innovation of Beethoven’s Fidelio at the Festival two years ago bears testament to that. However, Teatro Regio Torino’s four-show run this weekend of La Boheme proved that the correct imagination allied with beautiful music and an excellent cast can be a winner. This production won hands down.

Alfons Flores’ sets were quite outstanding, huge scaffolding that transformed the usual Parisian garret we associate with this opera into modern day apartment blocks. The trucking was ingenious as the transformation from Act 1 to the café scene in Act 2 demonstrated.

However, when Café Momus appeared I got the feeling of overcrowding, as chorus and principals vied for the little space available.

However, the Bohemian spirit of 1830 Paris was transformed to the present day and if iPads, selfies and takeaway pizzas weren’t around in Puccini’s day, they fitted into this production perfectly.

Now on to the music which always takes pride of place and can only enhance such an inventive production as this. Nope, that’s the wrong way around. The production enhanced some world class performances.

Such is the marvellous music and intensity of the storyline, the love affair of Mimi and Rodolfo and its tragic consequences can be portrayed against any backdrop. This was the case with Francesca Sassu and Ivan Ayon Rivas who were outstanding. The production caught the final scene of Mimi’s death exactly.

This was a softer side to this excellent company after their hardhitting Macbeth of last weekend, but a very welcome one at that.