{"id":723,"date":"2010-02-06T15:49:17","date_gmt":"2010-02-06T15:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp\/2010\/02\/bohemians_they_all_do_it.html"},"modified":"2010-02-06T15:49:17","modified_gmt":"2010-02-06T15:49:17","slug":"bohemians_they_all_do_it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/2010\/02\/bohemians_they_all_do_it.html","title":{"rendered":"Bohemians: they all do it"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Two operas in a week and two odd, Anthony Powell-ish coincidences. Jonathan Miller’s wonderful production of Cos\u00ec fan tutte <\/i>is having its sixth revival at Covent Garden, and Sir Jonathan seems to have changed his mind again about how the story ends. In his original version, I seem to remember, the two boys leave the two girls and go off with each other at the end – though whether this has homoerotic overtones I don’t remember. In one of the recent revivals, I seem to recall that there was an ambiguity about whether the original pairings were restored; but in this week’s revision, they all seem resigned to make the best of a mediocre thing.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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[from The Cock Tavern Theatre’s La Boheme<\/i>]<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n<\/p>\n

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         <\/span>Miller
\nalso designed the permanent set of vague-purposed, strikingly beautiful ivory
\nstucco buildings, with only tables, some Louis-something chairs and a narcissism-revealing
\nmirror furnishing the stage. The costumes are contemporary; originally by
\nArmani, the six principals were then dressed for the revival by Marks &
\nSpenser. I’ve heard a rumour that this is the Zara Cos\u00ec<\/i>; I can’t dispute that when it comes to the lovers, but the
\nproduction credits reveal that Don Alfonso’s suits are by the more upmarket
\nGieves and Hawkes.  <\/span>The only
\noff-note is the boys’ “Albanian” costumes, hippy-dippy 60s parody outfits,
\nupdated with a touch of punk and a gesture to Damien Hirst’s diamond skull.
\nThey don’t work; though the UN blue beret plus camouflage combat uniforms are
\nperfect.<\/span><\/p>\n

         <\/span>Besides
\nthat it is so fine that you’d be crazy not to want to see the production again,
\nthis time ’round there was an English woman conductor, Julia Jones, a stalwart
\nof the Vienna Opera, making her Royal Opera debut. After a small ensemble fumble
\nin the first two bars, she took charge of the orchestra, and all was well up to
\nthe high standard of the house.         <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sally Matthews’s
\nFiordiligi is another reason to catch this revival – she scintillated,
\ndramatically and vocally. In come scoglio<\/i>,
\nshe managed to deliver one of her coloratura passages while pulling a face \u00e0 la
\nMunch’s The Scream<\/i>; and her octave
\nleaps were clean and crisp.<\/i>  <\/span>Helene Schneiderman, formerly Dorabella
\nin this production, was an unusually mature Despina, and made the most of it,
\nwithout mugging or exaggerating her Doctor or Notary impersonations. The
\nsinging was first-rate, bar a little intonation trouble in soave sia il vento<\/i>. Of the two boys, of course the tenor Ferrando has
\nthe bigger, better and showier role, and Charles Castronovo inhabited it fully.
\nI think I’m unlikely ever again to see a tenor so fit he can sing almost while
\ndoing press-ups – at least, instantly after, with no recovery time.<\/span><\/p>\n

         <\/span>The
\ncoincidence had to do with none of these, but with Guglielmo. A young American,
\nTroy Cook, was making his Covent Garden debut – he was very good indeed, lithe
\nand supple of limb and voice, with a beautiful strong, burnished baritone, with
\na lovely upper register, and the projection needed for a big house. Like most
\nof the cast, his acting was superb. Somehow or other I learned that he was from
\nmy native state of Kentucky. I don’t think the Bluegrass State has produced
\nmany international opera stars, so before the curtain went up, I googled Mr.
\nCook, and learned that his birthplace must be very near my own – Lexington, for
\nhe said he was born in Eminence, KY, a town of 2,000 that got its name from
\nbeing the highest point where the LNRR passes between Lexington and Louisville.
\nI ambushed Sir Jonathan in the interval and asked whether he knew where Troy
\nCook came from, hoping he would take the hint and invite us backstage to meet
\nhim. But he insisted Mr Cook was from Pennsylvania (where he does, indeed,
\nlive), and ignored the imploring look in my eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n

         <\/span>That
\ndidn’t happen at the next opera coincidence. Because the designer, Kate
\nGuinness, is the daughter of close friends, we went to see the pub production
\nat the Cock Tavern Theatre in Kilburn of La
\nboh\u00e8me<\/i>. There are about 50 seats in the upstairs of the pub, most of them
\nin raked staging. As we were the last to arrive, we were seated on stools in
\nthe stage area, at right angles to the sofa that was the chief stage furniture.
\nThus we could, and several times almost did, touch the singers.<\/span><\/p>\n

         <\/span><\/span><\/i>As I sat there sipping my pint of Kronenburg 1664, the cast came in
\nand took their places. A dark, good-looking young man daubed at a painting. “Look,”
\nI said to my wife, “Marcello is being sung by Ben Seifert.” We hadn’t known
\nthat yet another off-spring of close friends was involved in this amazing
\nproduction, and, in fact, because it runs every night until well into May,
\nthere are three Marcellos – so it was pure chance that we got young Benjamin. <\/span><\/p>\n

         <\/span>He
\nwas superlative. He looks the part: his dark eyes blaze when needful, smoulder
\nin the presence of Musetta, and smile wryly when he’s amused. He pulls off the
\nfighting as well as the painting, and looks sexy. His baritone voice is
\nimpeccably musical, accurate, warm, round and fleshy, with no gear change sound
\nbetween chest and head voice; and he projected his voice precisely for the size
\nof the room. Of course I can’t say he was the best of the cast, as I’m
\nnaturally prejudiced. Fair enough, because our Mimi, Belinda Evans, was superb,
\nwith a glorious, silvery upper register, perfect intonation, and acting so good
\nthat she convinced me she was ill. As Mimi exhaled her last I looked around me
\nat the tiny house, filled with people weeping. Our Rodolfo was Antony Flaum,
\nwho has a winsome, dimpled face that makes him a natural romantic hero, and has
\nall the notes of the tenor role. His voice is lovely in the lower register, but
\nhis head voice spinto is usually channeled through his nose – a not at all
\nbeautiful sound. However, he is capable of floating a very high note from the
\ntop of his head, so this nasality is just a bad habit, which he can
\nunlearn.  <\/span>Lynn Marie Boudreau’s
\nMusetta was splendid, and her frocks gave us a chance to assess Kate Guinness’s
\ngood work. Of course the venue is too small for anything but a piano to fit. The
\nconductor, Andrew Charity, played it with such bravura that it sometimes
\nsounded like an entire pit band.<\/span><\/p>\n

         <\/span>The
\nextremely good new translation is by the director, Robin Norton-Hale. It sets
\nthe piece right there in Kilburn High Road, has Rodolfo working on copy for a
\nwebsite, and makes good sense of almost every detail. When I bought Ben and
\nBelinda a drink afterwards, they told me it was easy to sing – and it obviously
\nwas not to hard to learn, as Ben worked it up in a fortnight.  <\/span>One of the brilliant aspects of the
\nevening is that the Caf\u00e9 Momus scene is staged downstairs in the pub, with us,
\nthe audience sitting at tables drinking, along with the pub’s regulars. It’s
\nstill a surprise when the chorus turns out to be the table of people sitting
\nnext to you, and the waitress breaks into song.<\/span><\/p>\n

         <\/span>This
\nis real seat-of-the-pants opera. You can see and hear every detail. The singers
\nare completely exposed – a false gesture as easily spotted as a false note. But
\nLa boh\u00e8me<\/i>, at least, is ideal for
\nthis setting. I think I speak for the entire audience (and they are not your
\nCovent Garden crowd) in saying we were all thrilled and moved. The run has sold
\nout and been extended several times and now is on until May [see www.cocktaverntheatre.com<\/a>]. For
\ntheir next production I suggest Carmen<\/i>.
\nThe pub is the perfect setting for Lillas Pastia’s inn. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Two operas in a week and two odd, Anthony Powell-ish coincidences. Jonathan Miller’s wonderful production of Cos\u00ec fan tutte is having its sixth revival at Covent Garden, and Sir Jonathan seems to have changed his mind again about how the story ends. In his original version, I seem to remember, the two boys leave the two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-723","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbv6zV-bF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}