Teatro Lirico is out of synch with 'La Boheme'
La Boheme
Opera by Puccini
Presented by Teatro Lirico D’Europa
At: the Cutler Majestic Theatre, last night (repeats tonight and tomorrow afternoon)
Over the last 5 years the touring Teatro Lirico D'Europa has built a large and loyal public here for its rousing performances of large-scale repertoire our resident companies do not often attempt. Puccini's "La Boheme" is a more intimate piece, and last night's performance was probably the least satisfying production of the 11 the Bulgarian-based company has brought to Boston.
It did display some of Teatro Lirico's traditional strong points -- big voices delivering powerful emotions backed up by an excellent chorus and orchestra. Buteveryone was consistently undermined by conductor Hristo Ignatov. Previous Teatro Lirico productions have featured fully professional American and Bulgarian conductors, but Ignatov was unable to supply impetus, momentum, and shape; he couldn't keep the orchestra together; and synchronization with the stage was a shambles. He was consistently ahead of or behind the singers, and at one point poor Mimi was left twisting in the wind in the second-act ensemble. It was never possible to relax and go with the flow that usually sweeps the company through momentary mishaps because there wasn't any.
Instead of its usual handsome scenery, designed and built in Bulgaria, the company arrived with sets and costumes from an American regional company; they looked cheap and cheesy. The second act, at the Cafe Momus, was played outdoors; the text has made it clear that Christmas eve in Paris was bitterly cold, even indoors, so Musetta took a chair in the sidewalk cafe and blithely removed her wrap. Most of Giorgio Lalov's staging was traditional, sensible, and effective, and the horseplay among the male Bohemians was fun, but the scenery kept presenting obstacles. At the end of Act I, Rodolfo called downstairs from the window on the right, and his friends responded from the window on the left.
The computer scrambled the surtitles and repeatedly sabotaged the performance; Mimi sang her first-act aria while the screen above her head was running a Norton Anti-Virus scan, much to the merriment of the audience.
The philosopher Colline's farewell to his beloved coat from bass Viacheslav Pochapskyproved the vocal and emotional highpoint of the performance, and Vladimir Samsonov and Ilia Pavlov were sonorous and sympathetic as his Bohemian buddies. Saucy soprano Marina Viskvorkina delivered Musetta's role with star vocal and dramatic presence, although declining Puccini's invitation to supply an elegant decrescendo at the climax of the famous waltz.
Russian tenor Leonid Repin sang the poet Rodolfo with some charm of phrasing, but he lacks the ringing high notes the part requires. As the tubercular and doomed Mimi, American soprano Steffanie Pearce offered some lovely vocal shadings, along with some hooty ones, and she has no problem with top tones. But she was more intent on looking glamorous than on acting, and instead of fragility, Pearce radiated can-do professionalism and health, like a pro on the women's golf or tennis circuit. This rangy Mimi actually rose from her deathbed to walk around, and one half expected her to suggest a round or a set.
