CONSIDERED OPINION OF THE OPERA CLEVELAND PERFORMANCE OF 4/18/08

Giacomo Puccini: La Bohème (Melody Moore, Mimì; Laura Z. Pedersen, Musetta; Mark T. Panuccio, Rodolfo; Michael Todd Simpson, Marcello; Kristopher Irmiter, Schaunard; Derrick Parker, Colline; Michael Ryan, Parpignol; Jason Budd, Benoit/Alcindoro; Dean Williamson, cond.)

The ongoing stalemate in the Korean War...negotiations to normalize relations with Franco's Spain...Khrushchev replacing Stalin as General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. President Eisenhower had plenty to deal with during his first year in office. But he could find the time, he decided, to take Mamie to an evening performance of Puccini's La Bohème. The Secret Service, charged with ensuring the president's safety, duly dispatched one of its agents to question opera impresario Rudolf Bing about the upcoming show. "We hear the girl dies," said the agent suspiciously. "How is she killed?" Bing, perhaps a bit irked by the thorough grilling, replied, "She dies of consumption. It isn't contagious at a distance."

Bacteriophobes at Friday night's La Bohème might have doubted that statement. The consumptive Mimì's onstage hacking seemed to elicit sympathetic coughing fits among members of the audience. And that circumstance points toward the particular virtues of Opera Cleveland's production, which is a dramatic success even when it is musically less than first-rate.

This was not a La Bohème for those interested in savoring precise textures of the human voice. The orchestra, led by conductor Dean Williamson, often overwhelmed the singers. That might have been a consequence of performing in the State Theatre, where the acoustics can, in my experience, be as weird as in a whispering gallery. But the opera's cast seemed, in any case, less concerned with technical tidiness or economy than with the opera's dramatic shape. Were Friday's La Bohème issued on CD, the vocal affectations of the production's Rodolfo—Mark T. Panuccio—would surely distract from his agreeable lyric tenor voice. But in a persuasive theatrical context they were easier to accept.

Opera Cleveland has mustered a good, sometimes excellent supporting cast. Laura Z. Pedersen is a fetching, somewhat manic Musetta, Derrick Parker an unusually buoyant Colline—though his coat, dark blue instead of the brown of Henri Murger's novel, didn't look nearly venerable enough to merit the aria "Vecchia zimarra."

But the real source of this Bohème's strength is its Mimì, Melody Moore. She brings the right air of youthfulness to the role, but there's a sense of gravity to her characterization as well—a recognition that Mimì is fundamentally more mature than her artsy friends. This Mimì is no featherweight angel. She is not even conspicuously fragile. The end result is that you can see, not just the consumptive young lady, but the dignified, middle-aged woman that she will never become.

It's a convincing performance: a tribute both to Moore and to the production's director, Tomer Zvulun. By the time you reach the final stage of Mimì's illness, you might be sufficiently involved in the show that you, too, will wonder if the young lady's contagious. Opera Cleveland's La Bohème is worth seeing...and also worth the price of a surgical mask...and a can of Lysol...and alcohol wipes...and antibacterial lip balm…

Jerome Crossley for WCLV 104/9.

Considered Opinions is WCLV's program that reviews performances by Cleveland-area music ensembles. Commentator Jerome Crossley offers an informed and witty perspective on performances by groups that include the Cleveland Orchestra, Opera Cleveland, and Red {an orchestra}. Considered Opinions typically airs at 9.45 a.m., 12.20 p.m., and 5.20 p.m. the Friday following a Cleveland Orchestra concert, and it repeats at 9.45 a.m. on Saturday. Other air-times depend on the schedule of the ensembles reviewed.

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