"Per richiamarla in vita non basta amore"
The first notes you hear in this 2012 Den Norske Opera production of Puccini's La Bohème are the beeps of a heart monitor on a life support system that Mimi lies attached to in a hospital bed. The beeps take that familiar flatline tone as Mimi breathes her last and doctors rush in to the opening chords of the score proper in a vain attempt to resuscitate her, while Rodolfo looks on aghast, completely lost in his own grief. This evidently isn't a traditional way to start La Bohème, but it is very much a typical Stefan Herheim touch where the standard linear approach is just not an option. As a director, Herheim is clearly interested in getting into the minds of characters whose actions and motivations we can take for granted from over-familiarity, and La Bohème is a very familiar opera. Not here it isn't.
Having established that Mimi dies - which, let's face it, even if you weren't familiar with the opera, her fate is signalled clearly enough by...
Il perché non so!
This La Boheme is a non-traditional production, as those wacky Europeans are wont to do. But it somehow works. Mimi dies in a modern hospital bed before the downbeat, and the entire opera seems to take place in Rodolfo's head. (He's a tenor, so there's lots of space in there.) The cast seems to alternate between modern-day medical personae and their characters in traditional stagings of the opera, almost seamlessly at times.
One bit that I haven't seen before [spoiler alert] is using the same singer/actor as Benoit and Alcindoro (yes, that's often done, but keep with me) AND Parpignol AND the drum major at the end of Act II AND the guard in Act III until he is always on stage. A presence you can't shake. We realize more and more that he's Death. He's Dr. Miracle, the Serpent, a male version of the Loreley. He's Lon Chaney.
Although some of the modern medical scenery and props were a little intrusive, I have to commend all the cast on their total commitment to the...
Brilliant production from Oslo Opera
This version of La Bohème is on the New York Times list of gift ideas as a `Must Have', so what better opera to pick for a first time viewing. If you know the story of La Bohème then you will be somewhat puzzled when the stage opens onto a modern oncology ward with Mimì attached to a heart monitor. But Stefan Herheim is a producer who is intent on making his audience think about an opera and its meaning, and in this version of La Bohème he certainly achieves this aim in bucket loads.
Before even the first notes of the overture have started Mimì dies and Rodolfo is distraught. What follows is a potent mix of now and then, the modern and the traditional Bohème, to Puccini's fantastic score. Yet it is all so skilfully woven together with scene and costume changes taking place before your eyes as part of the opera that there is no confusion, just a deep empathy with Rodolfo as he struggles with his grief at the loss of Mimì from...
Click to Editorial Reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment