A Mixed Love Affair

Giacomo Puccini’s La Boheme is one of the world's most famous operas. You could hear one of the melodies from the opera with your eyes closed and you'd probably recognise it anyway.

 

Based on the novel Scenes from the Bohemian Life by Henri Murger, La Boheme tells of a quartet of artists living in a run-down apartment in Paris. One of whom is Rodolfo who falls in love with a neighbour, Mimi. The love story traces the passionate love affair of Mimi and Rodolfo, the breakup of their relationship and the short-lived reconciliation before Mimi’s tragic death.

 

Singapore Lyric Opera's latest venture, which featured singers like Nancy Yuen (who played Mimi), Kota Murakmi and  Simon Kyung Lee (who took turns playing Mimi's lover Rodolfo), unfortunately had mixed offerings.

 

There were poignant moments in Act 1, where the chemistry between Yuen and Murakami was especially strong when they were the only characters on stage. The pacing of the entire opera, which had two intermissions, was surprisingly light and unwieldy.

 

The main problem with the production, however, was the direction of the opera. During Act 2, set in the Latin Quarter with the entire cast on stage, the singers and supporting choruses were disorganised both in placement and movement, and it was hard to even tell who was singing what at which point because of the very messy placement.

 

This continued into the rest of the other Acts, which was a pity because Yuen as Mimi didn't disappoint, and as pointed out earlier, the two leads had a chemistry that could have been exploited more to centre and focus the performance around them.

 

The rich characters written by Puccini could also have done with more theatrical characterisation to distinguish one from the other - and to emote their characters more through onstage movement in addition to merely singing their parts.

 

It must be said that staging a production on this scale is not the simplest thing to do, and one has to keep this in mind while reviewing something of this nature. But with the similar scale of investment put in, it is a pity that one couldn't do more with what is a popular classic.