West Bay Opera Performance Reviews

West Bay Opera gives La Bohème all it has

Giocomo Puccini, surely knew how to play with our emotions. He lifts us to joyous heights only to drop us into hopeless despair, all in the same opera.

By the end of Act 1 of West Bay Opera’s production of “La Boheme,” after a sparkling view of Christmas Eve on the streets of the Latin Quarter of Paris in the 1900s, we go out for the intermission with our feet hardly touching the ground. But by the end of the opera, we are sneaking out to avoid others seeing the tear stains running down our cheeks.

Puccini is a genius in this genre. Who can forget the ending of the first act of “Madama Butterfly,” where she, her servant and child peek out into the night in vain for her American husband Lt. Pinkerton to return? The theme goes on for minute after hopeless minute until the sympathetic emotions of the audience reach an unbearable pitch.

But great works require great productions and the West Bay Opera is handing us one at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto.

As I have written before, one can always expect beautiful sets, suitable to the small stage of this intimate auditorium and set designer Jean-François Revon came through with that. And, Latifa Medjdoub also hit the mark with her period costuming.

Again, one may be certain that general director and conductor David Sloss will put together a highly capable pit orchestra. And, again, he brought in film and TV’s Kenneth Tigar for stage direction and this breathed a special life into this production.

But, what makes West Bay Opera’s productions so accessible, aside from the English supertitle translations of the original Italian lyrics flanking the stage, is the casting, for which it draws upon talent from across the country.

If the roles call for young characters, one may be sure that they look the part, handsome and beautiful, and in addition to being super singers, they will be excellent actors. And, this production hit it in spades. The plot is thin, but performers and melodic lines are glorious.

For those few who may not yet know the story, it is drawn from a novel, “Scenes From the Life of the Bohemians,” by Henri Murger. It is about four male friends leading the lives of impoverished, garret-dwelling writers, painters, musicians and philosophers in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Into this amoral environment blunders a neighbor, Mimi, and the primary love affair begins.

There was that always hoped-for special chemistry between the performers last Saturday evening. The principal characters were equally high in both vocal quality and dramatic sensitivity and the relationships were believable and heartwarming.

Tenor Jonathan Boyd and soprano Shana Blake were outstanding as the doomed lovers, the poet Rodolfo and the seamstress Mimi. They were matched by baritone Joshua Benaim and Malinda Haslett as the quarreling lovers, painter Marcello and coquettish singer Musetta.

The other two young friends were sung by bass Kirk Eichelberger as the philosopher Colline and baritone Roberto Gomez as the musician Schaunard.

Frankly, my generation of males would rather have been caught dead than attend an opera performance, but supertitle translations and wonderful casting, such as that of the West Bay Opera, is making fans of us all.

San Mateo Times Reviews

Posted June 3, 2002, by .