La Boheme

For those who despise everything "modern" in opera, including modern voices, last night's performance of La Boheme at the Metropolitan was the place to be. Franco Zeffirelli's production is considered the gold-standard of old-fashioned La Boheme's. But what's more, the Met cast singers who in their style and acting were also thoroughly old-school. They even took thoroughly old-school in-between-act curtain calls.


Joseph Calleja's voice is the kind of tenor opera lovers often complain "doesn't exist anymore." His voice is big, warm, Italianate, with a quick vibrato that sounds like an urgent romantic throb. Ringing high notes. "Che gelida manina" was sung with the old-fashioned rubato and pointed diction of ___ (fill in your blank with your favorite Italian tenor). He even has the tubby look of a stereotypical tenor. His Rodolfo was less of a sensitive poet than a 1950's man's man -- at the end of "O soave fanciulla" he turns to the audience and pumps his fists. In Act Three he kicks a bench. His vocalism was certainly of a kind and quality that is so rare nowadays, but I did miss the sweeter, more sensitive portrayals of Rodolfo like Piotr Beczala or Ramon Vargas.

Maija Kovaleska also runs against the modern trend of casting fuller-voiced lyric sopranos (think Anna Netrebko or Angela Gheorghiu) as Mimi. Kovaleska's voice -- thin, a bit shrill and piercing -- reminds me of Licia Albanese or Bidu Sayao. What's missing is the idiomatic command of language (her consonants are mushy and vowels gurgled) and charm. Kovaleska's Mimi is sort of a pill. When Calleja sings "Che gelida manina" she sits across the table from him, eyes cast downward, hands primly on her lap, as if it were an awkward first date. She ends "Donde lieta" by ... extending her arm to Rodolfo for a handshake. Her most expressive moment is when she gets the bonnet in Act Two. For some reason she throws her head back in ecstasy and shows more passion in that one moment than she does for the rest of the opera. But I've heard some operagoers complain that they don't like Mimi's who act like "hussy's," so if you like your Mimi's ladylike, Kovaleska's your gal.

Irina Lungu (Musetta) actually sounds more like a Mimi -- her voice is darker, more mature, without the light flutter that we might associate with Musetta. Her acting was considerably more dynamic than Kovaleska. Lungu's a very pretty woman with a very appealing voice. I'm sorry I missed her debut as Gilda earlier this year (subbing for Alexandra Kurzak). I'd love to hear more.

The rest of the ensemble were all fine. They had a nice rapport with each other -- they looked like they really were a group of friends. Alexey Markov (Marcello) has a pleasing, sonorous baritone (Anthony Tommasini calls him "vocally virile") and Christian van Horn (Colline) is a real bass-barinhunk type.

As for the conductor Stefano Ranzani, I guess it goes to show how old-fashioned this performance was that when he came out to the orchestra pit for the final act, the audience forgot to applaud him.