La Boheme a welcome return to company’s start
Youthful spin on classic
It was 40 years ago when a fledgling professional opera company was established in Calgary under the artistic leadership of baritone Alexander Gray. Since then, the company has presented more than 100 operas, quite a track record, and an achievement deservedly to be celebrated.
The official 40th anniversary production of the com- pany, and the end-of-season offering, is Puccini’s La Boheme, a natural choice, as this was the first opera produced by the company in its first season.
Befitting the nature of the story, this production focuses on youth: all the characters in the opera are played by young singers (even the old ones); and the opera introduces a number singers new to the Canadian operatic scene and to Calgary audiences. Casting largely untried singers can be a risky business, for it is a very delicate decision of just when in a singer’s career it is the right time to tackle major roles in bigger opera houses.
As this issue concerns this production, there is no significant weak link, although not all these young singers are vocally fully developed as yet. But, the crucial roles are very well cast, and there is the added benefit of having people act in roles to which they are suited physically and by age.
Heading the list is Marianne Fiset as the production’s Mimi in her debut with the company. Fiset is somewhat petite, and easily inhabits the dramatic space of Mimi’s character, with its simplicity, charm, and innate attractiveness. Vocally, she has just the right weight of voice and timbre, her singing fresh-voiced and sweet, but also fully equal to the incipiently dramatic side of the role. Her famous first-act aria was cleanly and eloquently sung, and she was, if anything, still better in the more passionate music of the wonderful third act.
The death scene was also well judged, with the sense of Mimi’s fragility well projected, but not descending to bathos. She was given a very warm reception by the first night audience, which was evidently captivated and moved by her performance.
Although he is still young, tenor Antoine Belanger already has quite a bit of experience with the role of Rodolfo, the poet, and it showed in his confident, thoroughly engaged singing of the part. Belanger’s voice is a natural highish tenor, and he had no difficulty with the rather high-lying tessitura of the role. His famous aria in the first act was passionate and eloquent, with an easy command of all the (considerable) vocal difficulties. Moving easily on stage, he captured the romantic fervour and jealousy of Rudolfo much better than is often encountered.
The other singers all were a trifle less vocally convincing in their roles, although there was much to admire in the pert, viva- cious Musetta by Laura Albino. She dominated the proceedings in the second act at Cafe Momus, her waltz song the smash it always is, and her shenanigans on stage hit the right spot.
Phillip Addis was a sterling Marcello, appealing for his strong, authoritative singing, if not quite as natural on stage as some of his other Bohemian companions.
Jon-paul Decosse and Alexandre Sylvestre were solid vocally and dramatically as Schaunard and Colline respectively, if not standing out particularly. There is more in these roles vocally than was evident from Saturday’s performance.
Clarence Frazer and Mark Ellis Gough, both from the company’s Emerging Artist Program, rounded out the cast in the comic roles of Alcindoro and Benoit.
Robert Herriot’s staging of the opera was effective, if traditional. The chorus sang with enthusiasm and evidently enjoyed the many bits of “business” they were given to do. The set and costumes were apt; Harry Frehner handled the lighting with his customary flair.
Conductor Gordon Gerrard, who works with the Emerging Artist wing of the company, conducted his first main stage romantic opera. For his musical ideas to be fully realized, however, there needed to have been more rehearsals: a few seams showed here and there, the result of trying to achieve slightly more than was possible. It is a good fault.
This was an enjoyable production of an evergreen opera, with fine singing, a clear, focused production and admirable youthful energy projecting from the stage. There are two more performances, on Wednesday and Friday.