25th September 2022 at Wales Millennium Center<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Words by Billy Edwards <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was at first nervous about seeing La\u252c\u00e1Boheme\u252c\u00e1because of\u252c\u00e1it’s very nature as an opera. As I had never seen one before,\u252c\u00e1you could forgive me for feeling nervous about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The public perception of the form signifies a certain stuffiness, held only in esteem by the oldest generations and \u00d4\u00c7\u00f4 daresay \u00d4\u00c7\u00f4consisting of long, boring productions with overly melodramatic singing. However, I was certainly inquisitive and eager to be proved wrong, and so looked forward to seeing La\u252c\u00e1Boheme immensely.\u252c\u00e1<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A story concerning a doomed relationship between a bohemian and his lonely seamstress neighbour, I was enthused that the opera was relatively agreed upon as one of the best to see \u00d4\u00c7\u00f4 it’s a standard performed constantly around the world, formed by Giacomo Puccini at the end of the 19th<\/sup> century, a composer viewed as one of the greatest figures in Italian opera\u00d4\u00c7\u00f4 so for the first dip into the pool, it seemed very suitable. Its worldwide ubiquity was reflected in the differing backgrounds of the performers, such as Argentina, Korea, and Portugal, aside from a strong Welsh cast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The story begins\u252c\u00e1through introducing the main character Rodolfo, played by Luis Gomes,\u252c\u00e1and his friends: all anticipating a grim Christmas due to their poverty until he falls in love with Mimi,\u252c\u00e1a\u252c\u00e1slightly ditzy\u252c\u00e1neighbour wowed by his passion for poetry, expertly performed by\u252c\u00e1Anush Hovhannisyan.\u252c\u00e1<\/p>\n\n\n\n The opera was surprisingly simple to follow \u00d4\u00c7\u00f4 it captured their relationship as it blossomed, receded, and changed, in environments such as bustling Christmas streets and the tollgate into Paris.\u252c\u00e1It\u252c\u00e1was sung in the original Italian with helpful English and Welsh subtitles on small screens above the stage so you could easily follow the narrative.\u252c\u00e1The Donald Gordon Theatre was an especially impactful\u252c\u00e1setting; it was huge and ornamental, with a boxed stage perfect for whisking\u252c\u00e1its\u252c\u00e1audience away to a cold Christmas Eve.\u252c\u00e1<\/p>\n\n\n\n The staging too was very impressive \u00d4\u00c7\u00f4\u252c\u00e1Act 2 opened with the revelry at the\u252c\u00e1Caf\u251c\u00ae Momus, busy with street hawkers depicting a pretty Christmas aesthetic,\u252c\u00e1and they\u252c\u00e1had inexplicably created a snowing climate on stage\u252c\u00e1through\u252c\u00e1a method I could not\u252c\u00e1figure.\u252c\u00e1The characters too were\u252c\u00e1just asfully-formed\u252c\u00e1and remarkably expressive\u252c\u00e1as any major Broadway or West End production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I particularly enjoyed Marcello, played by\u252c\u00e1Rodion\u252c\u00e1Pogossov, a suave\u252c\u00e1wise-crackerwho charmingly becomes a simpering\u252c\u00e1pursuer when coming across his former lover\u252c\u00e1Musetta.\u252c\u00e1His other two friends,\u252c\u00e1Colline\u252c\u00e1and\u252c\u00e1Schaunard,\u252c\u00e1also\u252c\u00e1have\u252c\u00e1a\u252c\u00e1remarkable sense of stage presence.\u252c\u00e1The entire cast’s\u252c\u00e1singing will prove a surely impressive feat by itself, sung in perfect, fluent Italian for a couple of hours without a duff note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Narratively, it wasn’t uncharted waters at all; I\u252c\u00e1personally\u252c\u00e1was\u252c\u00e1well-reminded of\u252c\u00e1many of the forms of drama I was familiar with, the\u252c\u00e1closest comparison in my (albeit-limited) experience being to Shakespeare.\u252c\u00e1There is much tragedy in how Rodolfo settles on the thought that\u252c\u00e1his\u252c\u00e1relationship\u252c\u00e1with Mimi\u252c\u00e1is\u252c\u00e1inflicting pain on\u252c\u00e1her, as their\u252c\u00e1illness can only grow worse in the poverty they share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u252c\u00e1I felt tremendously sorry for the central characters, struck by a universal story of the emotional suffering caused by poverty.\u252c\u00e1I would thoroughly recommend seeing a production put on by the Welsh National Opera – La\u252c\u00e1Boheme\u252c\u00e1was immensely enjoyable and\u252c\u00e1a very worthwhile change from the typical musicals\u252c\u00e1most audiences are accustomed to, with the considerable bonus of the show taking place in a beautiful venue. I was intrigued by the opportunity to watch an opera and I came away very impressed and eager to see more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n La Boheme is currently touring for the Autumn season, with venues including Venue Cymru, Llandudno; Theatre Royal Plymouth; Birmingham Hippodrome; Mayflower Theatre, Southampton; and New Theatre Oxford. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 25th September 2022 at Wales Millennium Center Words by Billy Edwards I was at first nervous about seeing La\u252c\u00e1Boheme\u252c\u00e1because of\u252c\u00e1it’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":650,"featured_media":32386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,135],"tags":[3,3267,1323,96,19,509,1559],"class_list":["post-32385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-live-reviews","tag-cardiff","tag-la-boheme","tag-opera","tag-quench","tag-review","tag-wales-millennium-centre-cardiff","tag-welsh-national-opera"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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