BY MARILYN FARWELL
For The Register-Guard
Published: Sunday, Jan 2, 2011 05:05AM
When an opera company chooses to produce another “La Bohème,” it cannot be lackadaisical about the performance. Some people have seen it so often that they know it by heart, and others want to experience their first opera, knowing that Giacomo Puccini’s heart-rending story of Mimi is considered an opera neophyte’s dream first opera.
Any performance, then, must be better than good. Luckily, Eugene Opera’s season- opening performance provided the audience with a delightful “La Bohème.”
The core of any opera company must be its orchestra and chorus. Over the years, Eugene Opera has struggled to supply homegrown talent for these important groups, but finally under General Director Mark Beudert, Chorus Master John Jantzi, and newly appointed Music Director Andrew Bisantz, the orchestra and chorus are providing the energy and talent necessary for successful performances. If this production of “La Boheme” is any indication, these much-improved groups now provide the foundation for an exciting opera company.
The second act of Puccini’s opera is a chance for any company to show off its choral forces, its sets and costumes to the best advantage — or to stumble over its own inadequacy. As the curtain rose on this scene, applause greeted a sparkling set of a snowy Paris street, and a large chorus, including children, in colorful period costumes.
After a momentary pause to create a still life, the chorus moved and sang effectively, something that did not happen in last year’s “Faust.” This scene was well-directed by Nicola Bowie, who caught the joy and chaos of a Christmas Eve in 19th century Paris. It is the best crowd scene I’ve witnessed at Eugene Opera since James Toland worked his directorial magic.
The orchestra also sounded impressive. Under Bisantz’s conducting, small details, such as short woodwind phrases, were precise, and those long lyrical passages for the strings, so essential to Puccini, sang out with warmth. Puccini’s music always verges on sentimentality, but Bisantz kept that tendency in check — except in the last scene. His reading of the beautiful baritone tenor duet that opens the last act bordered on mawkishness, a lapse easily forgiven because of the rest of his music making.
Eugene Opera has been able to engage better and better singers over the past several years. This time we were treated to several who are well into their careers, including some who have sung at the Metropolitan Opera.
As someone who has seen Emily Pulley at both the Portland Opera and in Wexford, Ireland, I was not surprised that she was an affecting singing actress as Mimi. Her slender soprano also has a silver vibrancy, although the vibrancy comes in part from an over active vibrato.
Yeghishe Manucharyan as Mimi’s lover, Rodolpho, was not an accomplished actor, but his voice is a marvel. He has all the notes and a rich, plangent tenor sound which is hampered from time to time only by erratic voice placement.
In the initial acts, he sang tentatively and often out of sync with the conductor, but once Beudert announced at the intermission that Manucharyan was ailing, his voice, ironically, rang out ardently.
The foil to Mimi and Rodolpho’s touching love story is the stormy pair of lovers, Musetta and Marcello, played with verve by Jill Gardner and Michael Mayes. Although Beudert also announced that Gardner was ailing, I could detect nothing that detracted from her singing and performance. Her voice has a bright, solid color which revealed in the famous “Musetta’s Waltz,” and her acting as the tempestuous character was excellent.
Mayes had the most powerful voice among the four leading singers, and sometimes he overwhelmed the others, but for the most part he used his warm baritone and ease on the stage to project the volatile character of the painter.
In all, a great way to start the opera season.
Marilyn Farwell, a professor emerita of English at the University of Oregon, reviews vocal and choral music for The Register-Guard.
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