Opera Australia – Puccini’s La Boheme. February 8, 2019.

Joan Sutherland Theatre at Sydney Opera House.  Circle (Seat E8, A$167.)

Story.  See previous blog.

Conductor – Nicolas Milton.  Mimi – Joyce El-Khoury, Rodolfo – Ivan Magri, Marcello – Samuel Dundas, Musetta – Julie Lea Goodwin.

For this year’s trip to Australia, we started at Brisbane, and flew down to Sydney on Friday February 8 in the morning.  A few days before we left the USA, I bought three tickets to this opera, asking Tim and Whitney to come along.

I found out afterwards that I had seen this with Tim and Alyson in 2013, but had little recollection of it.  Tim also forgot all about it.  Comparing the cast members for the two performances, the only common one was Samuel Dundas singing the role of Marcello.

My blog entry on the 2013 performance was quite minimal, but it was generally quite positive.  The only complaint was about how all the singers belted out their lines.

For tonight’s performance the volume wasn’t that much of a concern.  The constant term that came to mind, however, was “chaotic.”  The story is simple, and I am reasonably familiar with the story, so I shouldn’t feel as confused as I oftentimes was.  The sets were simple, but in Act II it seemed too many things were happening (this is the Act where a couple of topless ladies appeared in Café Momus.)  If I remember correctly, the Met production had more people on stage, but I could follow the story better.

So I won’t forget (if there is) the next time I see this again, here is a brief description of the sets. For Act 1 the background were six (or so) panels where the painter was done; in the center panel was the door to the room; a step-ladder, a chest, and a plank constituted a table; and there was a fireplace where the poet’s work was burnt to warm the place.  Act II started as a city square where adults and children milled about, then two-tiered props were rotated out as Café Momus.  For Act III the background were panels of chain-linked fences, and in center stage was a desk and chairs for the customs agents; it snowed towards the end of the Act.  Act IV took place in the artists’ living room again, the desk now had a mattress on it for Mimi’s last moments.

The singing was all good, although no one stood out particularly.  The few solo instrument lines were also done well.  Somehow the story about Marcello and Musetta was more of a background event; either I couldn’t concentrate, or producers have a way to bring across different messages.

Curtain Call.  Standing in front is conductor Nicholas Milton.

It is a tribute to all involved that the story was still heart-wrenching, simple and somewhat incredible as it was.  Even what I often considered as a joke “they call me Mimi, but my name is Lucia” sounded extremely sad.  And I didn’t realize it was the dying Mimi who was repeating what Rudolfo was saying when they first met.

La Boheme is ranked one of the most popular operas, for good reason.  Opera Australia will be doing 23 performances this season.

There was lightning and torrential rain this evening.  I saw lightning, but managed to dodge most of the rain by taking advantage of the lower promenade leading to the box office.  Many people