”La Boheme,” venue combine for delight
Spokane Coeur d’Alene Opera took on a very familiar opera in an unfamiliar venue Saturday. But Puccini’s “La Boheme” proved a perfect fit for the Valley Performing Arts Center. The look and the sound – of both the opera and the theater itself – made for a great evening of romantic musical theater.
The 3-year-old Valley Performing Arts Center is on the campus of Central Valley High School, and both Spokane Ballet and the Spokane Coeur d’Alene Opera have begun giving performances there.
The location means an additional 15- or 20-minute drive if you live near downtown Spokane, but the facilities for opera production – the only performance I have seen there, so far – made the extra effort worthwhile.
The auditorium size with slightly more than 500 seats has excellent sight-lines, comfortable seats and quite good acoustics. The large stage, modern production facilities, and good-sized orchestra pit are added conveniences for a production like Saturday’s “La Boheme,” which used three strikingly different sets ranging from a small attic room for the opening and closing acts to two outdoor sets for the central acts.
This “Boheme,” in fact, had a very good visual impact with simple but effective sets designed by George Caldwell, 1830s period costumes by Marjory Halvorson and stage direction by company co-founder Bill Graham.
Opera is not just for sitting and looking, of course. There happens to be Puccini’s magnificent music. And it was well sung opening night by a cast that featured a mixture of guest soloists and regional artists in the principal roles.
Soprano Kerri Marcinko and tenor Scott Ramsay sang the roles of the lovers Mimi and Rodolfo. Both have large, secure-sounding voices and excellent diction. They made a pair of ardent lovers. Perhaps, too ardent at times. What I missed was a sense of intimacy in the Act I scene where they first meet and in the crucial scene in Act III where the lovers almost part. Their full-out singing seemed geared more toward grand theatricality than toward the quiet tenderness of a Left Bank poet and a poor seamstress. Or maybe it was a product of these singers having to fill large halls with sound.
The role of the fickle, temperamental Musetta was sung with great elan by soprano Leslie Mauldin. While Randel Wagner, as Musetta’s lover, Marcello, could not always match Mauldin in volume, his musical expressiveness did.
Baritone Max Mendez, the musician Schaunard, was a pleasure to listen to, and his athleticism was fun to watch. Bass baritone Joseph Rawley was appropriately somber as the bohemians’ philosopher, Colline. William Rhodes brought a fine growl and sneer to the role of the landlord Benoit and, in Act II, a suitably huffy indignation to Musetta’s aristocratic lover, Alcindoro.
The bustle of noisy activity in Act II’s scene in Cafe Momus was enhanced with a 23-member children’s chorus (all up to some mischief) and a bright-sounding six-member on-stage band.
Joseph Mechavich conducted using Stefan Kozinski’s reduced orchestration for an ensemble of 15.
“La Boheme” makes the ideal introduction to opera for the novice. If you are an experienced opera buff, you don’t need a sales pitch. Just go.