‘La Bohème’ at the Met Is Grand, Reviled and Beloved

by James R. Oestreich

THE NEW YORK TIMES

These poor in particular, it seems, we will always have with us. The impoverished yet spirited young aesthetes of Puccini’s “La Bohème,” that is, in Franco Zeffirelli’s grandiose production, which returned to the Metropolitan Opera on Monday and runs through much of the season.

The Met has performed “Bohéme” more than 1,200 times, more than any other opera. The Zeffirelli staging dates from 1981 and is surely one of the Met productions most often revived.

And most beloved, when it is not most reviled. Some of us veer back and forth, the sticking point being the second act, set at the Café Momus in Paris.

“So much noise,” the libretto reads in the Met’s seat-back titles. “So many people.” That seems to have been Mr. Zeffirelli’s guiding philosophy in producing a veritable population explosion on two levels, complete with a stage band leading the exit.

The single donkey and the single horse crossing the stage always seem gratuitous, and you have to wonder how long such conspicuous consumption can survive amid the company’s current budgetary constraints. Yet the spectacle invariably elicits applause, and the production is one of the few that still guarantee crowds.

In any case, the Met seems to be trying to shift attention this season from productions to voices, and “Bohème” will offer many options in rotating casts. The American soprano Angel Blue, in her company debut, sings Mimì until Oct. 27, and she was the clear star on Monday, combining power, as needed, with sensitivity and warmth.

The Ukrainian tenor Dmytro Popov, who made his Met debut last year as Rodolfo, rises strongly to the role again here but sings it only through Oct. 9, giving way to two other tenors this fall and a third in the spring. The Romanian soprano Brigitta Kele, who also made her company debut last year, as Musetta, makes a vivid impression in that role, though her glittering voice tended to tighten at the top on Monday.

For the rest, the ensemble was vocally strong and well matched: Lucas Meachem as Marcello; Duncan Rock, in his Met debut, as Schaunard; and David Soar as Colline. They were also appealing in their byplay, presumably guided by the revival stage director, Gregory Keller. The veteran bass Paul Plishka smoothly dispatched the roles of the stooges Benoit and Alcindoro.

Also making his Met debut is the English conductor Alexander Soddy, who leads the fall performances. On Monday he showed good care for balances and nuance, and the stellar players seemed to respond well to him. If there was a little slippage among the teeming contingents in Act II and with singers deeply recessed onstage in Act III, that pretty much comes with the Zeffirellian territory.

A Soprano’s affecting debut highlights Met’s big-voiced “Boheme”

by Eric C. Simpson

NEW YORK CLASSICAL REVIEW

A constant presence at the Metropolitan Opera since 1981, the Franco Zeffirelli production of La Bohème is about as reliable a contraption as exists on any stage. Plug in the right singers, turn the crank, and out comes a fine evening of opera—and occasionally more.

Puccini’s Parisian chestnut had a strong season premiere Monday night, opening the first of two Met runs this season. The story of the evening, no question, was the excellent company debut of Angel Blue as Mimì, a role that has served as a memorable introduction for many sopranos.

Blue’s voice is full and colorful, if a little temperamental—the lowest stretches of the part felt like a reach for the American soprano, and in her middle range her vibrato grew uncomfortably pronounced. Yet the higher she climbed, the more she revealed a bright, spacious instrument, meaning that the crucial elements of the role—the soaring contours, the sustained high notes—positively bloomed. She matched that luscious singing with a compelling dramatic take: Blue’s Mimì was an especially shy one, giving her a fragility that made her romantic aspirations inherently tragic.

The voices of the four garret-dwelling romantics were all on the heftier side of their roles, making the evening a particularly resonant one. Dmytro Popov’s tenor is a forceful instrument, so robust that his ability to navigate the part seemed miraculous. Navigate it he did, giving a vocal performance of ringing power that necessitated a brilliantly passionate portrayal to match. He gave a resounding rendition of “Che gelida manina,” and from then on there was no reining him in.

Lucas Meachem sang the dashing Marcello with a roaring, grainy baritone that could as easily have suited a Scarpia. The star of Act III, he showed himself to be alternately tender and forceful in his duets with Mimì and Rodolfo. Bass David Soar gave an affecting performance as Colline, bringing a rich, earthy tone to the role and giving a simple but moving account of his melancholy Act IV aria, “Vecchia zimarra.” Baritone Duncan Rock showed the brightest voice of the three supporting men, offering a lively portrait of the musician Schaunard.

Brigitta Kele has so far sung Musetta and nothing else at the Met; Monday marked the start of her third pass in the role, in which she has performed admirably since her 2016 debut. Her voice isn’t quite ideal for the part—Musetta wants a truly voluptuous lyric voice, whereas Kele’s can have a hard edge. In Monday’s premiere that edge was especially prominent, casting a slight shadow on her vocal performance. She was dramatically convincing in the role nonetheless, particularly in her moving prayer for the dying Mimì in Act IV.

The venerable Paul Plishka, still enjoying semi-retirement, was a comic gem as the lascivious landlord Benoît, though as Musetta’s patron Alcindoro he was next to inaudible.

The third debut of the evening was Alexander Soddy, taking command in the pit for the first time. This was a promising first outing, though not without its shortcomings: in a few spots in the second act the ensemble started to loosen at the seams, and he compensated by letting the music drag–which is deadly in a scene that moves so quickly from one idea to the next. Still, the details of the score were richly rendered in Monday’s performance, as Soddy brought out gorgeous textures and brilliant flourishes from the Met Orchestra.

As so often in these Met Bohèmes, the Zeffirelli staging provides a strong glue for the performance, giving the audience a compelling story even without much star power. Under the direction of Gregory Keller, the action onstage was free of affectation, allowing room for the romances of the two couples and the playful antics of the four roommates to show the humanity of the opera. It may not be trendy, but as long as this classic production can so directly access the heart of the piece, it’s a worthy fixture of the Met’s rotation.