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La locandina

Mimì	Kristine Opolais
Rodolfo	Vittorio Grigolo
Marcello	Massimo Cavalletti
Musetta	Susanna Phillips
Schaunard	Patrick Carfizzi
Colline	Oren Gradus
Benoit	Donald Maxwell
Direttore	Stefano Ranzani
Regia	Franco Zeffirelli ripresa da J. Knighten Smit
Scene	Franco Zeffirelli
Costumi	Peter J. Hall
Luci	Gil Wechsler
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Recita trasmessa in diretta HD in molte sale cinematografiche

 

If you are a die hard opera lover and you still haven't heard about the heroic act that took place at the Metropolitan Opera in New York the past 5th of April during the matinee of La Bohème, then you might have been away in another planet.  On Saturday, April 5th, the HD world live transmission of La Bohème took place with a last-minute change in its original Mimi. Romanian soprano Anita Hartig was sick and had to cancel her participation in such a big event. At 7:30 am, Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais, who had just sang the very demanding role of Cio-cio-san in Madama Butterfly the night before, received a phone call from Peter Gelb asking her if she could sing the part of Mimi for the HD that would take place that afternoon. The Latvian soprano had only had 2 hours of sleep after her performance of Butterfly. After some hesitation, Opolais agreed, went to the MET, got her costume fit, her hair done and quickly began to bring Mimi into her voice and her memory (she has sung the role before in Vienna). The HD began, Gelb gave the announcement of the replacement and the rest is history.

Given the fact that this cast is almost exactly the same as the one I reviewed on the April 2nd commentary, I will concentrate only in the way Kristine Opolais sang Mimi. I also have to say that I am doing this review from the point of view of someone who was there, at the performance inside the MET, not in the cinema. As soon as Opolais's Mimi came on stage you were sure this was no ordinary portrayal of the naïve, shy seamstress. The young Latvian soprano gave a new approach to the character that made it very rich and interesting, more full of nuances and emotions, while still keeping the romantic mood of the love story between her and Rodolfo. This Mimi was a true tragic heroine and not some ingénue. To begin with, Opolais's Mimi shows her sickness since the very beginning and, when she sings "O, sventata la chiave della stanza" and the lights of the candles go on and off, you could even wonder if such little flame with which she and Rodolfo have their first encounter, might be the symbol of Mimi's life that is slowly fading away or the light of hope and love that comes to her life by meeting Rodolfo.Having sung Cio-cio-san less than twelve hours before, you could scarcely sense that Opolais was building up to the character bit by bit because she completely embodied the role immediately and began to bloom in "Sí, mi chiamano Mimí" and in her duet with Grigolo's Rodolfo "O soave fanciulla", where their voices blended perfectly.  In the third act, this Mimi was on the edge of desperation realizing her lover knew about her sickness and thus realizing herself that she wouldn't escape her destiny. Opolais sang "Donde lieta usci" with vibrant tone, gorgeous color in her voice, portraying Mimi's desperation in a very touching and honest way. Her big, beauteous voice is capable of molding the fortes with shinning tone and her high notes ring through the orchestra effortlessly; she had no problem proyecting her instrument during the gorgeous quartet of the third act. In the end, Opolais's acting was superb (not only because of the fact that she was indeed tired of having sung two of Puccini's greatest roles in less than twelve hours). You could see in her eyes and through her way of singing all of Mimi's love for Rodolfo and her "Sono andati?" was mesmerizing, showing Mimi's death in an elegant, almost subtle way. 

The rest of the cast did also a marvelous job. Vittorio Grigolo sang much better than in his performance on April 2nd, giving all his passion and Italian joie-de-vivre to the role. Massimo Cavalletti was a commanding Marcello, singing with a strong, dark voice and soprano Susanna Phillips was charming as Musetta singing "Quando m'en vo" with gorgeous, silvery tone and lovely high notes.  At the end of the performance,

Kristine Opolais received a well-deserved thunderous standing ovation from all the audience who was grateful for her courage, her determination, her professionalism and, most important,  grateful for her art. An afternoon that many people would not forget in a long time. Brava!

Ingrid Haas