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OCP's 'La Bohème'
Dan Rottenberg
Awaiting the next Pavarotti
DAN ROTTENBERG
My persistent problem with the Opera Company of Philadelphia you may have heard before: Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s of blessed memory (blessed for the OCP’s audiences, if not its accountants), an evening at the OCP usually provided an opportunity to see and hear the great voices of the day— legends like Beverly Sills, Renata Scotto, Luciano Pavarotti, James Morris, Jerome Hines, Jessye Norman, Justino Diaz, Régine Créspin, Sherrill Milnes— right here in our own equally legendary Academy of Music. Since Robert Driver’s arrival as general and artistic director in 1991, it means listening not to today’s greatest voices, but to tomorrow’s.
The trade mark Driver production is a risk-free chestnut like La Bohème performed by competent singers who haven’t yet developed the charismatic star quality that drives Main Line matrons to leave their husbands and real estate lawyers to run off and join the circus. If my perusal of the program for OCP’s current production of La Bohème is correct, only one of the nine listed soloists— the baritone Richard Bernstein, in the relatively minor role of Colline— has ever sung a solo operatic role in a city larger than Philadelphia.
But once you’ve reconciled yourself to this state of affairs— which, granted, I do with great difficulty— it’s clear that the Driver approach has its benefits. It wasn’t always easy to imagine Beverly Sills, at 50, as the schoolgirl in Daughter of the Regiment, or the 300-pound Jessye Norman as the saucy gypsy in Carmen. But for an opera like La Bohème, what could be more appropriate than to hire struggling artists to portray struggling artists?
Tenor Roger Honeywell, as Rodolfo, displayed not only a lovely voice but also an appropriately modest mien for the role of an unpublished poet. Soprano Ermonela Jaho, making her OCP debut as the dying seamstress Mimi, looked credibly tubercular and displayed an infectious shy smile; I can foresee a bright future for her in the roles of sickly and vulnerable heroines (e.g., Violetta, Lucia di Lammermoor, Gilda, Marguerite, Luisa Miller, etc.) in which opera abounds. If the sets are spare— another Driver trade mark (in Act III, the snow falls only on the right side of the stage)— the colorful costumes do compensate, especially in creating a rousing sense of a raucous Christmas at the Café Momus in Act II.
You can indeed have a very good time at this Bohème as long as you understand going in that you won’t be blown away. It may help to think of the OCP the way you think of the Curtis Institute’s orchestra. As I’ve remarked before, 95% of the audience can’t tell the difference between the Curtis Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra— except that the Curtis musicians play with more enthusiasm. So it is with the OCP’s soloists these days. They’re excited to be in Philadelphia and on the Academy stage, and it shows. And for us customers, there’s the excitement of knowing that you may be watching the next Placido Domingo or Renée Fleming.
As for watching the real Domingo or Fleming— these days that requires a road trip to New York.
DAN ROTTENBERG
My persistent problem with the Opera Company of Philadelphia you may have heard before: Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s of blessed memory (blessed for the OCP’s audiences, if not its accountants), an evening at the OCP usually provided an opportunity to see and hear the great voices of the day— legends like Beverly Sills, Renata Scotto, Luciano Pavarotti, James Morris, Jerome Hines, Jessye Norman, Justino Diaz, Régine Créspin, Sherrill Milnes— right here in our own equally legendary Academy of Music. Since Robert Driver’s arrival as general and artistic director in 1991, it means listening not to today’s greatest voices, but to tomorrow’s.
The trade mark Driver production is a risk-free chestnut like La Bohème performed by competent singers who haven’t yet developed the charismatic star quality that drives Main Line matrons to leave their husbands and real estate lawyers to run off and join the circus. If my perusal of the program for OCP’s current production of La Bohème is correct, only one of the nine listed soloists— the baritone Richard Bernstein, in the relatively minor role of Colline— has ever sung a solo operatic role in a city larger than Philadelphia.
But once you’ve reconciled yourself to this state of affairs— which, granted, I do with great difficulty— it’s clear that the Driver approach has its benefits. It wasn’t always easy to imagine Beverly Sills, at 50, as the schoolgirl in Daughter of the Regiment, or the 300-pound Jessye Norman as the saucy gypsy in Carmen. But for an opera like La Bohème, what could be more appropriate than to hire struggling artists to portray struggling artists?
Tenor Roger Honeywell, as Rodolfo, displayed not only a lovely voice but also an appropriately modest mien for the role of an unpublished poet. Soprano Ermonela Jaho, making her OCP debut as the dying seamstress Mimi, looked credibly tubercular and displayed an infectious shy smile; I can foresee a bright future for her in the roles of sickly and vulnerable heroines (e.g., Violetta, Lucia di Lammermoor, Gilda, Marguerite, Luisa Miller, etc.) in which opera abounds. If the sets are spare— another Driver trade mark (in Act III, the snow falls only on the right side of the stage)— the colorful costumes do compensate, especially in creating a rousing sense of a raucous Christmas at the Café Momus in Act II.
You can indeed have a very good time at this Bohème as long as you understand going in that you won’t be blown away. It may help to think of the OCP the way you think of the Curtis Institute’s orchestra. As I’ve remarked before, 95% of the audience can’t tell the difference between the Curtis Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra— except that the Curtis musicians play with more enthusiasm. So it is with the OCP’s soloists these days. They’re excited to be in Philadelphia and on the Academy stage, and it shows. And for us customers, there’s the excitement of knowing that you may be watching the next Placido Domingo or Renée Fleming.
As for watching the real Domingo or Fleming— these days that requires a road trip to New York.
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