Bohemian rhapsody

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This article was published 06/04/2025 (503 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Opera pulled hard at the heartstrings Saturday night as it closed its season with one of the most beautifully tragic operas of all time, Puccini’s La Bohème.

Based on Henri Murger’s novel, Scènes de la vie de Bohème, its time-honoured tale of bohemians living in 1830s Paris — told through the lens of dreamy-eyed poet Rodolfo and his seamstress lover Mimi, dying from tuberculosis — has inspired tears since its 1896 Italian première.

Last performed here in April 2014, the company’s latest incarnation (sung in Italian with English surtitles), sensitively stage directed by Anna Theodosakis in her MO debut, boasts a particularly strong Canadian cast of principals (all marking their own company premières save for one) who make this “verismo” opera sing.

The first of those is Canadian Cameroonian soprano Suzanne Taffot; she’s a spectacular Mimi who transforms before our eyes from shy neighbour in search of candlelight to a woman deeply in love, even as her own life force flickers.

She wins our heart as easily as she does Rodolfo’s during her Act I aria Mi chiamano Mimì, displaying her gorgeously expressive voice and ability to infuse her character with dignified humility.

Her performance grows even more luminous as consumption takes its grim toll; her Act IV farewell duet sung with Rodolfo, Sono andati?, is a shimmering highlight as she declares: “You are my love!”

Tenor Zachary Rioux is equally enthralling in his confident role debut as Rodolfo. His Act I aria, Che gelida manina, showcases his resonant, rounded tones, even range and heroic delivery, lingering on his uppermost notes (though his climactic line, “La Speranza,” might have been held longer) and well earning applause.

His Latin Quarter chums — painter Marcello (baritone Hugo Laporte), musician Schaunard (baritone Clarence Frazer) and philosopher Colline (bass-baritone Alexander Halliday) — good-naturedly spar and joke with each other as they realize their pal has fallen for the seamstress. Their well-matched voices create a musical canvas for the lovers throughout the nearly three-hour (including two intermissions) production.

A special bravo to Halliday for his Act IV solo, Vecchia zimarra, sung simply and eloquently to his beloved overcoat — a metaphor for the bohemians’ own “age of innocence” — which he sells to buy medicine for the dying Mimi, eliciting the first of many open sobs heard in the house on opening night.

Another treat was Act III’s Addio dolce svegliare alla mattina! in which the two lead couples contrapuntally play off each other, although closer physical proximity would have allowed more sparks to fly.

Soprano Charlotte Siegel’s coquettish Musetta first flounces into Café Momus to win back her former lover, Marcello, her voice effortlessly sailing through Act II’s Quando me’n vo’, a.k.a. Musetta’s waltz, despite at times sounding strangely muffled. Nevertheless, she crafts a compelling femme fatale ultimately redeemed by the power of selfless love.

No stranger to this stage, Winnipeg bass-baritone David Watson reprises his dual roles of crusty landlord Benoit and Musetta’s doddering sugar daddy Alcindoro, with the beloved singer’s booming voice as strong and sure as it did back in 2014.

The Manitoba Opera Chorus (Tadeusz Biernacki, director) and Children’s Chorus (Carolyn Boyes) light up the Paris night sky during Act III’s Christmas Eve street scene, their delivery as crisp as the gendarmerie’s rat-a-tat military drums during chorus Aranci, datteri! Caldi i marroni! (which includes a cameo by toy vendor Parpignol, played by George Nytepchuk).

R. Keith Brumley’s effective, multi-tiered sets and properties, provided by Lyric Opera of Kansas City, pumps plenty of ooh-la-la into this show, all lit in rosy hues by Winnipeg’s Hugh Conacher, with costumes from Edmonton Opera.

Maestro Tyrone Paterson skilfully leads the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra through Puccini’s lushly romantic score, in which one hit aria follows on the heels of another.

There’s a reason La Bohème remains one of the world’s most cherished operas, still able to speak to the longing in all of us. It certainly did opening night, with its latest ragtag group of bohemians garnering a rousing ovation for their daring to live — and die — on their own passionate terms.

The production continues Wednesday at 7 p.m. (note earlier start time) at the Centennial Concert Hall. For further information, visit mbopera.ca.

holly.harris@shaw.ca