My very first live La Boheme - YES!!! At last, it seems like forever I have been awaiting this opportunity and I can confirm that on this occasion it seems the Opera gods have conspired to fulfil my dreams for a beautiful experience as I follow the tweets on twitter and the posts/pictures on Facebook from Royal Opera House and La Boheme stars Joseph Calleja and Carmen Giannattasio during rehearsals it appears as if something magical and spellbinding it about to emerge, the obvious mutual respect, admiration and cameraderie of singers taking part and director John Copley, that I have witnessed in the build-up fills me with delight. What a glorious team!
The build-up has been agonizing as I am getting so excited, but seriously lovely to follow and my excitement has almost reached fever pitch as I head off to London for my chance to see this beautiful Puccini opera played out at The Royal Opera House. As I take my seat in the Amphitheatre the place seems to be buzzing with excited chatter.
Act I begins and we find the four young men trying to keep warm whilst trying to avoid the pressure from the landlord to produce the rent money, some lovely humour and general camaraderie with lovely genuinely nice vibes of singers obviously very comfortable with each other. All in good voice but I sit there stunned on hearing Joseph Calleja - our Rodolfo - sing live for the very first time. Having seen a couple of operas on TV in which he appeared I must confess I was not prepared for what I now heard - what an amazing voice! So rich, so warm, so, so beautiful, it filled the Opera House and could easily have filled a theatre twice the size, seemingly with little effort it was my best experience thus far of a live in-house opera for this voice alone-Joseph, I am in awe. Am also incredibly impressed with our Marcello/Fabio Capitanucci, always thrilled to see genuinely great singers whose live performance is new to me. As we move on and his Mimi (the lovely Carmen Giannattasio) appears - an extinguished candle, a lost key - I am truly transported to Opera heaven as I witness the very special chemistry between them and have to add that I just adore Carmen's beautiful soprano voice - definitely my kind of soprano, soft-sounding but at the same time rich and full-voiced, adoring her voice which fully reaches me up in the amphitheatre.
As each delivers their Act I arias, Che Gelida Manina/Rodolfo and Si, mia chiamano Mimi/Mimi, I cannot imagine a more fabulous pairing, my heartstrings feel a massive tug as Rodolfo, in the duet 'O soave fanciulla', sings "In you I see the dream I want to dream forever" - gulp - what girl could resist - it is a breathtakingly beautiful through to the end of the scene and I cannot suppress the tears that prick my eyes as the incredible music fades and the curtain falls I almost have to pinch myself to convince myself I am not dreaming. Our pair have met, introduced themselves and fallen in love and my breath has been well and truly taken away already, WOW!
Must just mention how touching it was during Act II as everything goes on around them, including Musetta's famous aria, how our Mimi and Rodolfo maintain their fond caresses and tender, loving looks with each other, think I may have said it before but it is truly magical. OK, so I confess now this is not my most favourite Act in this opera - bit too crowded, so shall swiftly move on.
Skipping on a pace as I fear I must to Act III we find Mimi seeking out Rodolfo and Marcello listens in turn to first Mimi who tells him of Rodolfo deserting her the night before and then as Mimi seemingly departs a fearful Rofolfo, who has realised his beloved Mimi is very ill and probably dying, confesses to Marcello that he is distraught at this and the prospect of losing her, and even more so as he sees that Mimi is still around and has heard his confession to Marcello. The next part moved me the most in the whole opera, as the snow falls and Mimi and Rodolfo sing of their lost love being too strong for them to part straight away, they must wait until the springtime, for the blossom to appear on the trees - again this is so moving and so beautiful, the combination of again the beautiful singing and chemistry between Joseph and Carmen, the mesmerising duet, the very moving words and incredible music of Puccini combine to produce such an emotion-filled scene which at the close I know I am not alone as the tears fall. Gulp, this is incredible, more that I could ever have dreamed of and we are not done yet. How lucky am I!
Act IV, the sad finale as Musetta arrives in the bohemians garret with the news she has found Mimi, now very sick, on the street and has brought her to the garret. The air of sadness is almost overwhelming as Marcello and Musetta leave to sell Musetta's earrings to buy medicine for Mimi and find a doctor, but then I cannot help but smile some and yet be incredibly moved as Colline/Yuri Vorobiev sings a beautiful aria, beautifully 'Vecchia zimara' (Old coat), to his favourite coat he intends to part with and will miss, hoping to get money in which to help Mimi, as he leaves he bids Schaunard/Thomas Oliemans to leave also in order to give Mimi and Rodolfo time on their own. The beautfiul duet, Sonno andati (Have they gone) in which the pair lovingly recall their first meeting - the candle, the lost key - it is achingly beautiful, again Joseph and Carmen's voices mingle amidst more of their tender chemistry. All too soon the others return, Musetta with a muff for Mimi's hands but the tragic conclusion plays out with Mimi falling into unconsciousness and dying as a stricken Rodolfo cries out in anguish.
So many different ingredients combine in this beautiful John Copley production, the music, the singers, the acting a very special pinch of magic, I just felt that all these elements and the cast themselves all pulling in one direction for the ultimate goal of perfection which was undoubtedly achieved-this experience will remain in my memory and my heart forever, I feel very privileged to have witnessed something so very special, so magical; I wanted my first live Boheme to be something dreamy and magical and this was it and some, not a grain of fairy dust was needed as every single ingredient that went into the mix produced more than enough magic to keep me spellbound long, long after the music finished and the lights dimmed I can't imagine there will be anything now to take it's place on this stage and in my heart...... sigh ...
footnote: as always with my visits to the opera I have yet more fabulous singers to add to the ever-growing list of artistes I love and wish to follow, so much wonderful talent out there
