Atlanta Arts category interest

Viva la vie Bohème!

A big gamble by the Atlanta Opera has paid off splendidly. Opening its 45th season, the company is offering its Bohème Project, alternating Puccini’s ever-popular 1896 La Bohème with Jonathan Larson’s Tony-award winning 1994 adaptation of the same story, Rent.

These two dynamic and often poignant productions have been staged in an evocative warehouse setting at Pullman Yards. Both feature terrific casts of young singers.

Though a sharp contrast in styles, both follow a group of young artistic nonconformists seeking love, self-expression and freedom amid an epidemic.

For its Bohème Project, the Atlanta Opera has taken that backdrop to tell a story of three epidemics. It began last season with a La Bohème at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center that I called a dream production — and I stand by that warm memory. That was a traditional production, set in Paris amid the backdrop of the disease of the poor — tuberculosis.

The latest installment of the project involves the two productions alternating through October 6 at Pullman Yards. Rent is set in New York City during the 1990s HIV crisis. The current La Bohème, meanwhile, has been moved to New York City during the 2020 Covid crisis. The same creative team is responsible for both productions, and the same set is used for both.

La Bohème in the COVID era

This La Bohème doesn’t overplay its hand. On opening night, September 18, I wondered during the first two acts when signs of the Covid epidemic would emerge. They were not long in coming. The marvelously bustling Momus scene — the one set in and around a lively café — represented a last blast of public joy before the pandemic descended.

At the beginning of the third act, the large screens in the venue broadcast news accounts of the pandemic. Police patrolled the now-barren stage as two health officials in hazmat suits removed a body. Later, in act four, the principal characters actually sang while wearing surgical masks. It was an unexpectedly heartrending image.

La Bohème is played out on a thrust stage — with the audience on three sides — although several seats and couches in the middle of two stage walkways give a few dozen audience members a truly immersive experience.

Some listeners may object to the voices and orchestra being amplified in the cavernous Pullman Yards warehouse. It’s true that the sound is not as full, balanced and burnished as what one hears at the Cobb Center. Given that caveat, the sound is still quite good. The opera is sung, as usual, in Italian, with translations on several large screens.

Amanda Batista was a lustrous-voiced Mimi, the seamstress. She is capable of both full, gorgeous high notes and tender pianissimos. Kameron Lopreore played her lover, the poet Rodolfo, with a focused, ringing tenor. Cadie J. Bryan brought a sparkling soprano to the role of the flibbertigibbet Musetta.

Luke Sutliff, as the painter Marcello, exhibited a robust baritone. Allen Michael Jones’ deep, resonant bass made one wish Puccini had written more for the philosopher Colline, and Andrew Nolen played the comic roles of Benoit and Alcindoro with nimble aplomb. The chorus in both productions created a big robust sound.

Conductor James Lowe offered a vigorous reading of the score and the reduced orchestra sounded powerful, thanks to amplification, if not as warm as one hears in the Cobb Center.

As producer, artistic director Tomer Zvulun and co-director/set designer Vita Tzykun have done an excellent job of recreating a contemporary New York setting, from the bohemians’ sparse garret, to the ever-present orange construction cones, to the kids from an international day school marching with pride down the sidewalk.

Amy Sutton’s costumes, for both productions, seemed exactly right for their milieus.

‘Rent’ under the shadow of HIV

The Pullman Yards industrial setting works even better for Larson’s Rent, set on New York’s Lower East Side under the shadow of HIV/AIDS, and the cast delivered the show with passion and dynamite vocals.

At the center of the musical are guitarist Roger and club dancer Mimi. Swirling about this core are other bohemians seeking love in an unkind world of crime, poverty, addiction, intolerance and soul-crushing materialism.

They meet those challenges with a zeal for individuality and artistic expression and a devotion to carpe diem. As Larson famously says in the musical, “The opposite of war isn’t peace. It’s creation.”

Here, the directing team of Zvulun, Tzykun and Ricardo Aponte have endowed this production with an irrepressible spirit and momentum.

As for the cast, Chani Maisonet’s Mimi has a honeyed voice, and she offered a sizzling rendition of “Out Tonight.” Heath Saunders played the role of Roger with angst, ardor and an appropriately raspy tenor, singing a heartfelt “One Song Glory.”

Jake Levy, with solid vocals, was an earnest and sympathetic Mark, the budding filmmaker. Jonathan Christopher brought an appealing warmth and resonant bass to the role of the anarchist professor, Tom. His poignant account of “I’ll Cover You” was heartbreaking, one of this production’s transcendent moments.

Bligh Voth (Maureen) and Harper Miles (Joanne) soared mightily in their showstopper “Take Me or Leave Me.” That duet, one of the vocal highlights of the show, packed a wallop.

A couple of quibbles: On opening night, September 19, some of Larson’s words were not ideally articulated. It hardly needs to be said that the lyrics are absolutely essential, even if hard-charging rock riffs militate against vocal clarity.

As for the music, I thought a few numbers could have been pumped up a bit, such as “Out Tonight,” “What You Own” and the finale.

In a pre-performance talk, Zvulun said that Atlanta Opera prides itself on “breaking the boundaries of opera,” and that’s certainly true in this case. He noted that 60% of audience members had purchased tickets for both productions, despite striking differences in musical style. In this age of the cultural omnivore, both of these superb Atlanta Opera productions offer tremendous crossover appeal.

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Paul Hyde is a longtime arts journalist and English instructor in Upstate South Carolina. He writes frequently for the Greenville Journal, South Carolina Daily Gazette and Classical Voice North America.