United States Puccini, La bohème: Soloists, Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra / Alexander Soddy (conductor). Metropolitan Opera, New York, 13.3.2025. (RP)
Production:
Original Director & Sets – Franco Zeffirelli
Revival Director – Mirabelle Ordinaire
Costumes – Peter J. Hall
Lighting – Gil Wechsler
Chorus director – Tilman Michael
Cast:
Mimì – Kristina Mkhitaryan
Marcello – Luca Micheletti
Rodolfo – Joseph Calleja
Colline – Nicolas Testé
Schaunard – Gihoon Kim
Musetta – Brittany Renee
Benoît / Alcindoro – Donald Maxwell
It is easy to get caught up in statistics with Franco Zeffirelli’s 1981 production of La bohème for the Metropolitan Opera. Audiences, however, don’t give a fig about the fact that it has been mounted over 500 times. They are there for a knock-out experience, and the Met delivered just that with this mid-run performance in an ever-revolving cast of Bohemians this season.
Zeffirelli set the gold standard for La bohème, at least for New York audiences, with this production. The sets are hyper-realistic, with hundreds of people on the stage for the Café Momus scene in Act II. Some people mist over at the sight of a live donkey and horse trotting across the stage. Thirty pounds of snow fall on the Barrière d’Enfer at the beginning of Act III, creating one of the most impressive scenes on the Met’s stage.
Mimì was soprano Kristina Mkhitaryan, who made her house debut in the role earlier in March. Mkhitaryan sculpted the role with as much skill as an actress as she did as a singer. Her Mimì entered Rodolfo’s apartment weak and wan, but mere contact with another person instantaneously revived the girl’s spirits. This Mimì made no secret that she was toying with Rodolfo when losing her key.
Mkhitaryan’s voice bloomed beautifully in ‘Sì, mi chiamano Mimì’, singing of her simple, solitary life as an embroiderer and the gentle, sweet things she treasures. The soprano brought out the best in Joseph Calleja’s Rodolfo and Luca Micheletti’s Marcello. Calleja’s voice combined with Mkhitaryan’s in soaring phases in ‘O soave fanciulla’ as they realized and experienced the first flushes of love. The opening scene of Act III, where Mimì tells Marcello of the torments she suffers living with Rodolfo, was touching beyond compare.
Calleja’s last appearances at the Met as Rodolfo were in 2014. He returned with the warmth of his voice and ardor fully intact. Micheletti is making his Met debut in this run, and he is a winner. He avoids the bluster of many baritones in the role to create an exceptionally sympathetic Marcello. The hangdog expression on Micheletti’s face when Musetta taunts him was priceless.
Brittany Renee conjured Musetta’s sparkle and energy, but it took a while for her voice to warm up. For much of the Café Momus scene, her middle range was disconnected from the rest of her voice and inaudible. Those lapses passed, and Musetta’s fiery exchanges with Marcello outside the tavern at the Barrière d’Enfer and heartfelt prayer in the final scene were enriched by the warmth and roundness of her voice.
Nicolas Testé’s Colline is more anchored to earth and much less gloomy than many. There is a lightness and brightness to his bass voice that made Colline’s farewell to his coat all the more poignant. Gihoon Kim is a scene stealer as Schaunard, with antics as lively as his voice is resonant. Donald Maxwell’s Benoît and Alcindoro were subtly different takes on crotchety old men.
Alexander Soddy is a busy man, conducting both La bohème and Aida this month at the Met, sometimes on consecutive nights. He drew the same level of emotion from the orchestra that the singers expressed on the stage. The string playing in Puccini’s beautiful melodies was particularly transparent and shimmering. With Soddy in the pit and this fine cast of Bohemians on stage, Puccini’s beloved opera cast its spell once again.
Rick Perdian
Featured Image: A scene from Act I of Puccini’s La bohème (previous cast) © Met Opera