Among the multiple repercussions that the coronavirus will have had on lyric life in France, there will not only have been multiple cancellations of shows, but also upheavals in artistic schedules, as with this Bohemia to theMarseille opera house initially entrusted to the veteran Italian demiurge Leo Nucci. Faced with the impossibility of respecting the physical distances in force on the stages of theaters as in the streets of our cities, Leo Nucci preferred to give up his participation rather than radically modify his initial project. It is finally Louis Desire – familiar with the Marseille house – that Maurice Xiberras went looking at the last minute, with a particularly successful end result despite the speed of its execution. And if all the performances were canceled for the public, the premiere of December 20 was fortunately the subject of a videographic capture that the Marseille Opera broadcast on New Year’s Eve. via his Youtube channel.
Like to Tosca presented here in 2015, darkness and austerity will be the two key words for the staging of Louis Desire, without knowing whether the intention is to stick to the tragedy of the work of Giacomo Puccini or in the dark times we are going through, but certainly a bit of both. Designed by Diego Menez Casariego, the sets are as spartan (a bed, a few chairs and armchairs deprived of their files…) as the costumes are dark and sketchy. The lighting of Patrick Méeüs are just as parsimonious, only directed towards the protagonists (in a pale beam), the rest of the stage being plunged into semi-darkness for the duration of the evening. It is in the direction of actors that it will be necessary to seek the main satisfactions, an in-depth work on the gestures and the glances which first lets the emotion circulate openly. It must be said that the youth and the scenic credibility of the main quartet are also blessed bread for the director, and the movements here are as natural as the free bodies and the expressive faces, to the delight of the (TV) spectators.
Revelation of the show, the young French soprano Angélique Boudeville (member of the Académie de l’Opéra de Paris since 2017) will be talked about in the years to come, because here is a great lyrical soprano like the Hexagon has hardly revealed with such brilliance during these last two decades. With a perfect musicality, never forcing the great means of her superb round and homogeneous voice, she also brings to the role a naturalness and an emotion which culminate in a final scene truly overwhelming. For his role as Rodolfo, Enea Scala draws a tender Rodolfo, very enamored of his Mimi. Vocally, he knows perfectly well how to color sentences, and unfolds with sovereign ease the famous “ What a cold hand ». Alexandre duhamel is, as usual, flawless, Marcello even seeming too easy for him. Same remark for the Colline d ‘Alessandro Spina, which issues a ” Old cloak »Truly moving. Mention, finally, for the Musetta of the Italian soprano Lucrezia Drei, alert, wheeled, and perfectly sung, while Régis Mengus (what we interviewed recently) is a luxury in the role of Schaunard.
Last miracle of the capture, the direction of the Italian conductor Paolo Arrivabeni, who despite the twenty or so instrumentalists gathered in the pit, manages to distill the timeless score of Puccini with coruscant colors, a fluid sound mass and a simply irresistible momentum! well done Maestro !
Emmanuel Andrieu
Bohemian from Giacomo Puccini toMarseille opera house, December 31, 2020 (and to see in replay on the Youtube channel of the Marseille Opera).
Photographic credit © Christian Dresse
January 03, 2021
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