Opening night of Vancouver Opera‘s (VO) final production of the season, La bohème, was one of those soft crystal nights the west coast experiences in early spring – warm yet ocean fresh, inviting. The last cherry blossoms drifted earthwards as Jeff, my “everyman” partner, and I walked towards the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. The blossoms foreshadowed the snowfall soon to be drifting onto the stage, as a full house gathered to watch Puccini’s warhorse.
Judging from last night’s audience, Bohème continues to transcend the ages and clearly appeals to all ages; I sat alongside two young women in their early 20s, “influencers,” and was amused to hear them chuckle, sigh, gasp and applaud in all the right places throughout. Later, when asked if they’d ever seen Bohème, they hadn’t, but they’d seen Rent, the musical based on Bohème, a story of another time and a different plague (HIV rather than tuberculosis). I believe that VO hit the sweet spot for a new generation with this production.
La bohème is cloaked in deep winter’s pall with its inevitable suffering, yet the feeling I was left with after the two-and-a-half-hour production was one of gratitude and warmth. The gratitude came from knowledge that the form continues to exist – this production is the fastest selling of any in VO’s 66-year history – and that so many continue to believe in it.
Despite the thematic material of the opera, it was warmth and newness that surprised me most in this production, and for this I thank Maestro Jonathan Darlington. Darlington’s conducting clearly brings maturity and sensitivity. His was a fresh take, powerful at times but equally delicate. His lighter touch reflects an early career as a pianist and his stated love of the Lieder repertoire, which allowed the audience to experience the opera with a chamber-like lens.
Kudos to director Brenna Corner for her attention to detail and the score vis-a-vis the stage business – she handles the opening “boys will be boys” quartet as deftly as the huge crowd scene of the second act. This act is a real crowd pleaser with the VO Chorus and Children’s Chorus performing well (thanks to Leslie Dala and Tina Chang). Of Corner’s direction, I particularly recall a relatively minor gesture by tenor Matthew White as he covered the shivering Mimì with a blanket; the business was perfectly in sync with the music and wholly without staginess. This simple, understated gesture was emblematic of a production that has a lot of emotional intelligence.
Photo Credit: Emily Cooper Photography
Jonelle Sills and Matthew White in the famous first-act meeting between Mimì and Rodolfo
Matthew White gave us a lyrical, believable Rodolfo; his is a voice to pay attention to. While his first aria, “Che gelida manina” elicted the evening’s first bravos, I particularly enjoyed his ensemble work with the other “boys,” demonstrating a collegiality. Gregory Dahl, as Marcello, is convincing and compelling. He delivers the laughs, especially when playing off the delightful Musetta sung by Lara Ciekiewicz (of her, more later). Dahl’s is a big voice capable of filling the theatre, but his singing with Musetta remained touching, powerful and focussed. As with White, Dahl is a fine soloist but equally a team player, as evidenced in the quartet, “Addio dolce svegliare alla mattina!”
Rounding out the male cast, Thomas Goerz, as Benoît and Alcindoro, delights in these relatively minor roles. The stage business between Musetta and Alcindoro as she prepares to dump him, and between Musetta and Marcello as she antagonizes the latter, is worth the price of the ticket alone. Alex Halliday as Colline and Justin Welsh as Schaunard perform admirably and work well in solo and ensemble passages. Halliday’s “Vecchia zimara” is touching and believable. Here I must declare my bias: I love a bass-baritone voice, and Halliday’s is fine.
Jonelle Sills brings to the Vancouver stage a rich and expressive Mimì. At times, her Mimì can be gorgeous and fulsome, and she received some of the evening’s loudest cheers and shouts after her first act aria. But there was a lot more going on here than an audience responding to familiar and beloved music. Sills is an intelligent interpreter, and she is clearly in control of both her voice and the material – the audience sees, and importantly, hears Mimì’s decline as the scourge of tuberculosis wracks her body and carries her to a far-too-early death. Lara Ciekiewicz is one of those force-of-nature performers as Musetta. Vocally, she has the power and control to soar above the orchestra and the intelligence to command the big theatre, but equally, her acting chops allowed her to investigate the pathos of a complex role such as Musetta, notably in the final act.
The costumes and set were rented from New Orleans Opera and Sarasota Opera, and while I prefer a sparer set and costuming, the audience, especially the younger members, liked the “realism” of both. My only quibble in this production was the overlong set changes between acts. Also, I did not care for the often barely legible handwriting projected onto the large screen. I found the language to be somewhat awkward as it spelled out the narrative development – so much so I suspected AI or poor-quality translation. This is a minor criticism.
I like to leave the last words to my “everyman” companion Jeff, who commented at intermission, “This is an art form of everything … It’s what I love about opera … the music, the sets, the singing, the costumes, the dance, getting dressed up and making an evening of it all.” He added, “For me, if there is something I don’t like in an opera, it pulls me out of my suspended disbelief … There was nothing in VO’s Bohème that did this. I was able to sit back, relax and really enjoy the whole evening.”
Bravo Vancouver Opera, you delivered!
Photo Credit: Emily Cooper Photography
Lara Ciekiewicz is a “force-of-nature performer” as Musetta at Vancouver Opera
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