La Bohème

Australian director Benedict Andrews may be something in the theatre world. However, a determination to impose his idiosyncratic style seems out of place in this contemporary setting of Puccini’s masterpiece for ENO. The result is a crude and, ultimately, unengaging.

The first act of ‘La Bohème’ is unrivalled in opera for its glorious sequence of arias and duets, as timid Mimì comes in search of a light for her candle and finds Rodolfo, her future lover. Only an opera-phobe would disrupt this romantic union with a vulgar scenario in which the hipster poet is about to jack up on heroin when his neighbour arrives, promptly falls for this smack-head and allows him to inject her, the pair then rolling about on the floor for the reminder of the scene.

Such sensational distraction might be forgiven if the drugs storyline were maintained, rather than fizzling out, with a coughing Mimì succumbing to the tuberculosis as in the original. Meanwhile, the contemporary updating is littered with anachronisms, such as the boys having a landlord in search of rent, but no heating or electricity, and Colline (a philosopher!) paying for medicine by selling his overcoat (to whom?).

The singing is mixed. As Mimì, Corinne Winters brings rich colour to a strong vocal performance, while Zach Borichevsky (Rodolfo) possesses a true lyric tenor but is wobbly at the top. As Musetta, soprano Rhian Lois is underpowered and rather inconspicuous during her show aria ‘When I Walk’. The other bohemians Ashley Riches (as Schaunard) and Nicholas Masters (Colline) turn in solid support, with baritone Simon Butteris terrific in the roles of lecherous landlord Benoit (‘I’m 60 but I’m sexy) and sugar-daddy Alcindoro. But it is beefy baritone Duncan Rock who seems to have the measure of the opera, turning in a believably vulnerable Marcello.

In the pit, conductor Xian Zhang coaxed an ebullient rendering of the score from the ENO Orchestra, though one occasionally overwhelming the singers. Just bring back Jonathan Miller’s inexplicably jilted 2009 production and we’ll pretend this didn’t happen.