SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Puccini, La Bohème: Soloists, Orchestra and Chorus of Welsh National Opera, Conductor Andrew Greenwood, Wales Millenium Centre, Cardiff 5.6. 2009 (LK)

Director Caroline Chaney (original production directed by Göran Järvefelt)
Designer, Michael Yeargan
Original Lighting Designer, John Waterhouse
Lighting realised by Ian Jones
Chorus Master, Stephen Harris

Cast:

Rodolpho, Gwyn Hughes Jones
Mimì, Naomi Harvey
Marcello, Jason Howard
Colline, David Soar
Schaunard, David Stout
Musetta, Victoria Joyce
Benoît, Howard Kirk
Parpignol, Huw Llewelyn
Alcindoro, Alastair Moore
Customs Official, Julian Boyce
Customs Sergeant, Laurence Cole
Children’s Chorus drawn from local primary schools

The Café Momus
 

People tend to believe that Puccini’s heroines are all helpless victims of fate, driven along by uncontrollable dark forces, an impression fostered  carefully by the music’s easy seductiveness but having very little to do with the actual characters. Tosca’s ‘dear little hands’ for example – which we may all like to think of as cherishing her babies - turn quickly to murder to achieve her ends. They’re figments of all our  imaginations, including Cavaradossi’s.

There’s more. While Butterfly fits the helpless stereotype more easily than most, her choice of death over dishonour reveals an iron clad will. Turandot will never turn into a loving wife in a month of Sundays, but she knows when she is beaten and needs to regroup - how long does anyone really give her marriage to Calaf? Only La Fanciulla’s Minnie wears Puccini’s true colours. This bible toting barmaid storms in with six-shooters blazing to save Johnson/ Ramirez, even though her illusions about him have mostly been shattered. A girl can get a man with a gun - if her mind is set on it.

Mimì is no exception to Puccini's general rule. From the beginning of  La Bohème we are hoodwinked into believing that she is a poor little thing, while Musetta is a scheming gold-digger who sleeps her way to fortune: but in fact they’re soul sisters to the core. And though LOVE AT FIRST  SIGHT is entrancing of course, Rodolpho doesn’t have to work that hard  to get Mimì into  bed. She pointedly makes him buy her favours and while the little pink bonnet with its careful connotations of innocence seems on the surface a fairly low price for anyone to pay, in reality it costs all of Rodolpho's cash.

Now before hordes of committed Bohème-ists scream that a Fanciulla-like lynching is too good for  me, I should probably add quickly that none of this means that true love never springs from unlikely soils. I am sure that Rodolpho - even though he  decides that she's  better off whoring with a Viscount - really does bring out the romantic in Mimì.  It's just that she's a whole lot grittier than she lets on and has to be  tough as old boots (hold out for that bonnet, girl) on the one hand and a frail  besotted innocent on the other.  That’s very a  hard trick to pull off - perhaps even one that's impossible - which is why (given our place in the dying embers of Victorian sensibility) she is often the least convincing character on stage.

The men are a lot better off. They set the tone of cheerful student life  immediately; starving in their garret, none of them is even slightly worn down by their circumstances and in this production their hope was more than evident from the outset. Andrew Greenwood conducted with magnetism and excitement, and achieved first class responses from both orchestra and singers, not allowing the pace to slacken for a minute and getting inside the music with both sensitivity and vigour – something not always easy to achieve.

The performance turned into an ensemble triumph. Rodolpho, played by Gwyn Hughes Jones, gave one of the best performances I have ever seen, being in command vocally and dramatically at all turns complete with truly  splendid top notes. The unforgiving role of Mimì was taken by Naomi Harvey (substituting for Rebecca Evans) whose powerful voice dealt easily with the volume required for her character, but showed some problems at times with maintaining complete control. However, this is a minor criticism given the difficulties not only of the vocal demands but also the challenge of making Mimì into a credible character.

The students, Jason Howard as Marcello David Soar as Colline, and David Stout as Schaunard, along with Victoria Joyce as Musetta, were also vocally excellent, their acting making the plot's drama come together with absolute conviction – a tribute both to their skills and to the direction by Caroline Chaney in this Göran Järvefelt revival. Schaunard’s farewell to his old coat was perhaps one of the most beautifully sung parts of the whole opera - love is only love, but a good coat is multi-functional and a real friend in a cold world.

The sets and lighting from this 1984 production seemed not at all dated - given  Jonathan Miller’s recent production with ENO - presenting a straightforward visual interpretation of what was happening on stage. They were simple, subdued in terms of colouring, but very beautiful in their simplicity with lighting to show them off  to their best advantage.

In short, this was a tremendous production of an old favourite which too often lacks conviction - a truly great tribute to a fine cast and conductor.

Lyn Kenny

Picture © Brian Tarr

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