Review: La bohème is passionate and satisfying

There’s a reason La Bohème is the most popular opera of all time – the music is wonderful, it has many recognisable arias and the story is lively, romantic and ultimately tragic.

At the heart of the story are Rodolfo (Ji-Min Park) and Mimì (Elena Perroni) who meet one Christmas Eve by chance at his place. She lives in the same building and has a candle but no match. They talk, she loses her key, both candles go out, and within ten minutes they fall in love in the dark. While both of them are poor, she is beautiful, he is a romantic poet – what could possibly go wrong?

Heading off to meet his friends at a local cafe the couple walk through central Paris in a mild snowstorm, which considering she has undiagnosed TB is probably not a good idea but it is romantic.

At cafe Momus, Mimì meets Rodolfo’s friends Marcello (Samuel Dundas), Schaunard (Benson Wilson), and Colline (Hadleigh Adams). They are full of bonhomie until Marcello’s ex Musetta (Emma Pearson) appears on the arm of Alcindoro (Robert Tucker) a wealthy older gentleman.

Musetta is sassy and flirtatious and it doesn’t take long before she’s wound Marcello round her finger again by singing on a swing and faking a sprained ankle. The group scarpers leaving a perplexed Alcindoro to pick up the bill.

A couple of months later, Mimì is ill and Rodolfo has dumped her. Alone and bereft she seeks out Marcello and tells him what has happened. She hides as Rodolfo confesses to Marcello he loves Mimì. She coughs, he hears it, they reconcile but only until the coming spring. Months later, Mimì is gravely ill and is carried in to Rodolfo’s apartment where she is cared for and medicine is sought. But it is all in vain as she dies moments later.

It seems a simple story upon reading such a synopsis doesn’t it? Hardly the kind of thing to stir great emotion you might think. But its simplicity is its strength. Puccini has dispensed with any long overly burdened scenes and cuts directly to the most fundamental moments. This opera is filled with deep emotion and each scene has enough depth and connection that every single character feels real and every one of them illicit a response be it humour or pity.

Of course the music is what makes it come alive and Puccini’s score is just beautiful with the most memorable arias. His music is truly of the Romantic style – vivid, passionate, and elevating.

Park and Perroni as the leading couple are magical together. Park has a wonderfully strong voice and his Rodolfo had an earnestness and palpable passion. Perroni’s voice is beautiful and she brought a shy vulnerability to Mimì that is enchanting. Pearson is a gifted singer as well and created a nuance to Musetta which brought out the humour in the role but also her compassionate side.

There was obvious chemistry between the entire cast which enhanced the emotion in the story and the opera chorus was strong and gorgeously harmonic. Under the baton of Brad Cohen the Auckland Philharmonia displayed their usual mastery with Puccini’s sumptuous music.

This is a stylish production which has some curiosities. The original opera was composed at the close of the nineteenth century but set in the late 1830s. While there are nods to that era, there was a typewriter and electric lamp in Rodolfo’s garret and the cast wore what looked like mid 20th Century fashions.

That may seem a little odd, but I liked it as it created a kind of hybrid era which, given the story is a timeless classic, seemed entirely appropriate. All up, this La bohème is a lively and yet deeply emotional production that is ageless and gorgeous.

**Editor’s note – in the printed programme NZ Opera states the opera has been updated and is set in 1947

Photo credit – Andi Crown

Watch my interview with Elena Perroni who plays Mimì: