Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 19, 1990 TAG: 9005190096
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Two small caveats, though. Those who saw Craig Fields' audacious production of "The Magic Flute" last fall - staged as a child's dream on a playground set, no less - will wonder if this "La Boheme" is equally inventive.
The answer is: sort of. Fields has introduced one new wrinkle into Rodolfo's character. In an attempt better to explain Rodolfo's heartless cruelty to Mimi, Fields reveals in the program guide that the male lead was actually your basic 19th-century substance abuser - an alcoholic. A Rodolfo tortured by his own failure as a writer, by his inability to live up to his own artistic ideals, could indeed go far to explain behavior that in the bare libretto seems hard to account for.
However, this promising concept was not conveyed well. Giacomo Puccini's penniless bohemian poet is seen holding a bottle and looking groggy in one scene, but otherwise the notion of a juicehead Rodolfo is not communicated dramatically. In fact, had it not been for Fields' explanatory program note, I'm not sure I would have realizedthat this was anything other than a straight production of what is one of the four or five most popular operas of all time.
However, a well-done, conventional "Boheme" can be marvelous indeed, and this production was precisely that.
The other item that did not quite work was the supertitle system, which was developed by the Canadian Opera Company and which reportedly cost SVO two grand. Since the opera was sung in Italian, an unobtrusive English translation would come in handy for those unfamiliar with Giuseppe Giacosa's libretto. The danger, of course, is that projected supertitles could be distracting.
However, the translation was projected onto a black flat above the stage which absorbed too much of the light, making the words hard to read. Paradoxically, the supertitles were more distracting than they would have been at five times the brightness.
But these are small complaints compared to the virtues of this production, which became apparent the moment the curtain rose. The sets were utterly convincing, especially during the snow scene in Act III, and the costumes were brilliant and eye-catching.
Rodolfo was sung by SVO veteran Jeffrey Reynolds, a tenor with a lovely upper range and a strong stage presence. Mimi was sung by Karen Bogan, who is not quite the actor Reynolds is but whose voice is just as good. Bogan's impressive dynamic control was especially evident in her dying scene in Act IV, during which she convincingly portrayed the expiring woman with a tone that managed simultaneously to sound weak yet perfectly audible.
Jeralyn Refels was possibly the best Musetta I've ever seen, adding much sly humor to the character of Mimi's trollop girlfriend. Rodolfo's friend Marcello was played by Jeffrey Ambrosini who, with Christopher Kelly as Schaunard and Wayne Kompelien as Colline constituted a fine trio of supporting actors. Ambrosini brought the house down with his hilarious falsetto when he pretended to be a pretty maiden during the horseplay scene in Act III.
One pleasant surprise was newcomer Tony Townsend who sang both the landlord, Benoit, and Musetta's elderly boyfriend, Alcindoro. In addition to possessing a powerful bass-baritone, Townsend is an accomplished character actor and comedian who managed to steal large portions of the two scenes in which he appeared.
by CNB