Over the next seven weeks, a troupe of talented bohemians and their trusty musicians will be taking to the roads and unpacking their truckload of theatrical paraphernalia to bring a compelling new production of Giacomo Puccini’s enduring 1896 classic, La Bohème, to 20 regional centres across Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania.
Opening last Friday evening at Dandenong’s terrific Drum Theatre, Opera Australia’s 28th annual National Tour is underway and ready to rock the region – 1970s style.
Transplanted from its original 1830s Paris setting within the vibrant Latin Quarter to the funky down to earth groove of the 1970s to make a comfortable match, director Dean Bryant fosters accessibility for young and old while demonstrating the commonality across time of impetuous youthful love and big dreaming minds.
Importantly, the balance of deep emotion and peripheral light-hearted moments are effectively handled to complement Puccini’s stunning painterly shifts of sweeping melody and sudden turns. Kudos to conductor Simon Bruckard for sculpting a notably luscious and sensitive soundscape with little over a dozen expertly prepared musicians in the pit.
In Bryant’s vision, energy, emotion and detail abound and is realised with well-calculated flair and clarity in Isabel Hudson’s sets and costumes as well as Damien Cooper’s mood-shifting lighting.
Remember how often-discarded second-hand furniture, bric-a-brac and plastic milk crates furnished the domestic scene in student share housing? How about the vivid and earthy colours and patterns, the broad flares, the wide lapels, polo jumpers and faux fur-trimmed coats? Hudson puts it all together with an air of confidence and fun.
The bohemians’ upper level pad of Act 1 effortlessly transforms for the colour of Act 2’s street life and Cafe Momus. The toll gate at Barrière d’Enfer on the outskirts of Paris in Act 3 is rendered by a bus shelter-like structure with street furniture completing the picture and, back at the pad in Act 4 several months later, the double height curtain with its sketched out romantic image seen dominating the background of Act 1 is now bursting with colour.
But there’s nothing easy-going about the love-at-first-sight romance and gnawing tragedy that La Bohème harbours. The economy of words in librettists Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica’s text gives richness to love’s complexities and a major part of the work’s success is the demand for the energy of youth.
For this, OA has assembled a noticeably tight-knit cast who bring passionate, credibly expressed performances to the table.
Alternating principal roles for weeks on end is certain to knit the ensemble into a well-oiled unit. Danita Weatherstone is a sweetly sung and snug fit for the ill and dying seamstress Mimì (alternate, Maia Andrews). Weatherstone’s Act 3 Addio di Mimì, when Mimì tells Rodolfo that she is leaving him, is a particularly moving vocal highlight.
Deeply motivated by the text and manipulating it impressively, John Longmuir is heroically sounding and ardent as the poet Rodolfo (alternate, Nick Kirkup and Christian Haotian Qi) and creates meaningful chemistry with Weatherstone. Dialling down the volume a tad to suit the space, however, would be desirable.
A warming honesty comes with Andrew Williams’ (alternate, Benjamin Del Borrello) robustly voiced Marcello, Rodolfo’s close friend the painter. As his on-again, off-again lover, Cathy-Di Zhang (alternate, Jane Magão) is a lithe, appropriately radiant and big-hearted Musetta.
Michael Lampard (alternate, Daniel Ott) as the musician Schaunard and Shane Lowrencev (alternate, Eddie Muliaumaseali’i) as the philosopher Colline bring heaps of entertaining flamboyance and wit to the drama and depth of feeling when circumstances change.
Lowrencev’s excellent rendering of Colline’s Act 4 funereal Coat Aria, in which the philosopher says goodbye to his favourite coat before pawning it to raise money for medicine for Mimì, may get the tears rolling even before the gut-wrenching finale as tense silence precedes Rodolfo’s scream of “Mimì” in his heartbreaking discovery of her death.
And, with local children prepared for the stage and performing with delightful enthusiasm by chorus master Su Chuong, it’s impossible not to see how La Bohème spreads infectious charm on top of weighty emotion.
If you’re familiar with or a fan of the popular Broadway musical Rent or blockbuster musical Moulin Rouge based on the 2001 movie, you may be aware that Puccini’s La Bohème is their inspiration. Regardless, experiencing their enduring operatic source and catching up with this affable bunch of bohemians is highly recommended.
La Bohème
Drum Theatre, Lonsdale Street, Dandenong
Performance: Friday 12 July 2024
La Bohème will be presented throughout Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania until 3 September 2024. For more information and touring schedule, visit: www.opera.org.au
Images: John Longmuir as Rodolfo, Danita Weatherstone as Mimi, Andrew Williams as Marcello, Michael Lampard as Schaunard, Cathy-Di Zhang as Musetta, Shane Lowrencev as Colline, Eugene Raggio as Alcindoro and cast in La Bohème – photo by Jeff Busby | Danita Weatherstone as Mimi and John Longmuir as Rodolfo in La Bohème – photo by Jeff Busby |
Review: Paul Selar