lovely as the dawn, lovely as the sunset
Jun. 30th, 2003 03:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coyotegothMy most profound thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rm, for encouraging me to catch Baz Luhrmann's production of Giacomo Puccini's opera La Boheme, in its final performance at the Broadway theater, yesterday afternoon (raah, rush tickets!).
The show had rotated between three separate casts, due to the vocal demands upon the performers; this performance had Alfred Boe as Rodolfo (When Rodolfo clinks glasses with Benoit, was his glass supposed to break? It shattered in his hand, and he looked utterly shocked for a moment), with Sarah Joy Heerema as Mimi, and Eugene Brancoveanu as Marcello. From the very first, the opera- which opens with a huge, red "L'Amour" sign (which is an image seen in all Luhrmann's work) is completely of a piece with (what I've seen of) Luhrmann's other work: an unabashed, heart-on-the-sleeve romanticism, backed with fascinating, period-mixing design work by Catherine Martin. I can't even count all the moments when this production simply swept me away (to say nothing of Puccini's music itself; I'd heard the score before, but never before seen the opera onstage), although the French poster for The Wild One and the ridiculously wonderful streamer cannon deserve special mention. (So oddly right that I'm watching that parade as Pride was happening outside.)
By the end, I was simply transported, lunging to my feet as all three casts came out to take a final curtain call; I pause at the doorway to blow a kiss to the stage, then turn, and walk out into the afternoon sun.
rm, for encouraging me to catch Baz Luhrmann's production of Giacomo Puccini's opera La Boheme, in its final performance at the Broadway theater, yesterday afternoon (raah, rush tickets!).The show had rotated between three separate casts, due to the vocal demands upon the performers; this performance had Alfred Boe as Rodolfo (When Rodolfo clinks glasses with Benoit, was his glass supposed to break? It shattered in his hand, and he looked utterly shocked for a moment), with Sarah Joy Heerema as Mimi, and Eugene Brancoveanu as Marcello. From the very first, the opera- which opens with a huge, red "L'Amour" sign (which is an image seen in all Luhrmann's work) is completely of a piece with (what I've seen of) Luhrmann's other work: an unabashed, heart-on-the-sleeve romanticism, backed with fascinating, period-mixing design work by Catherine Martin. I can't even count all the moments when this production simply swept me away (to say nothing of Puccini's music itself; I'd heard the score before, but never before seen the opera onstage), although the French poster for The Wild One and the ridiculously wonderful streamer cannon deserve special mention. (So oddly right that I'm watching that parade as Pride was happening outside.)
By the end, I was simply transported, lunging to my feet as all three casts came out to take a final curtain call; I pause at the doorway to blow a kiss to the stage, then turn, and walk out into the afternoon sun.
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Date: 2003-06-30 01:15 pm (UTC)And no, the glass isn't supposed to break. How funny and eerie. Or something.
Boe isn't my favourite actor of the people I saw, but he was great on Friday (I'd seen him once before) and definitely has the strongest voice in the show.
Current rumour has it, this production may be a regular holiday season limited run revival, which would be a beautiful thing.
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Date: 2003-06-30 01:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-01 06:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-01 08:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-01 02:08 pm (UTC)Luhrmann mounted his first production of Boheme prior to the existence of Rent, and the producers of Rent (who also were on the Boheme on Broadway production team) often cite having seen this early iteration of Luhrmann's vision of the Puccini work as what got them committed to the Rent project.
Of course, if you were kidding, please excuse my twitching.