travelswithalice

September 18, 2011

La Boheme at Arena di Verona

LA BOHEME

The staging (a revival from 2005) was a dream in post-minimalist precision. The milky white set morphed like origami from the claustrophobia of an attic room accessed by a trapdoor on a white floor, into a town square, a bar, and finally back into the attic for a death scene set on top of a pile of mattresses.

(As the evening's performance was twice interrupted by rain, a comic interlude was inadvertently added to the program when the heroine jumped up from her death bed and marched up to the apron, hand cupped to ear, straining to hear the Maestro's instructions as to the deployment of the final scene. A few orchestra members, notably the strings, had already begun to evacuate the pit, rushing to protect their prized instruments from drenching. The rain stopped, the orchestra trickled back in, and Mimi sportingly slumped back to her death scene for a few heartbreaking bars, only to jump up again to seek cover from another burst of rain. And once again, da capo! This sliding in and out of character added another accolade for Cedolins: she was game for anything, not a diva brat at all!)

The strictly white on white stage was punctuated by deliciously heartwarming theatrical, cinematic, and photographic gestures: random vignettes of townspeople and circus performers, Musetta in brilliant blue couture waltzing skittishly on stilettos atop a disconcertingly high long bar, Parpignol's runaway balloons floating above our heads, stealing across the arena, up and up into the dark rain-soaked Veronese night. And for the most stunning cinematic effect of the evening, the entire chorus glided swiftly, silently across the steeply sloped white floors and exited offstage on beautiful, big, black bicycles.

At the end of the first act, the giant white tower that loomed menacingly at the back of the set suddenly exploded with a loud boom, sending a huge cloud of confetti shooting up about 50 meters into the air. It then floated airily over everyone on and off stage, giving the assembled patrons in the Poltrinissima section license to laugh and shout and dance and jump in the air, chasing bits of paper, before again settling down to the business of drinking prosecco during intermission.

Because Mimi was sung by the lovely Fiorenza Cedolins, much loved and respected by Arena audiences, I am bullied into silence except to say she sang beautifully, sweetly, delicately, strongly. Marcelo Alvarez was Rodolfo. He too sang beautifully, sweetly, delicately, strongly.

Let's face it, I was there for the grandness of Opera, the theatrical over-the-topness, the party that is the Arena, the buzz of being there. The music too of course, but frankly, it sounds better on DVD.

Labels: arena di verona, La Boheme, opera, verona