La bohème 2: verismo of the highest order

After the premiere of Puccini's perhaps most beloved opera La bohème at The National Opera last Thursday, critics were divided in their reaction. Wed praised conductor Roberto Palumbo, who can "maximise Puccini's masterful effects", Place de l'Opéra chided the Italian for taking 'too much freedom in the phrasing of the melodies'. Colleague Henri Drost of Cultuurpers did not keep dry at this 'emotional rollercoaster'; according to him, the production could grow into a triumph, 'if Palumbo does not drive the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra as if he were sitting in a Ferrari for the first time'.

Apparently Palumbo has taken the criticism to heart, because yesterday there was hardly any unbridled ramping up and sudden slowing down. However, the orchestra did initially resemble a Teutonic steamroller, threatening to crush the singers rather than support them in their compelling lyricism. Puccini's colourful orchestral sound also regularly got into a tight corner and it took almost two acts before the drily gesticulating Al-Capone lookalike found a good balance between orchestra pit and stage.

[Tweet "The frail Grazia Doronzio moves as Mimì from the very first moment "] A pity, because the cast is exemplary. The frail Grazia Doronzio moves as Mimì from the very first moment with her full, warm soprano and empathic performance. Inexplicably, she was decked out in a frumpy dress over black construction boots - from someone who embroiders lilies and roses, one would expect more sophistication in her own attire. That Rodolfo (the equally beautifully singing tenor Atalla Ayan) falls for her like a log is therefore somewhat implausible. Perhaps her strength indeed lies in her 'occhi belli', as he sighs. - With his leather suit, he looks like an Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer-type poet.

Rodolfo's friends are equally well struck, as both singer and actor. With infectious pleasure, the artist Marcello (Massimo Cavaletti, dressed in pyjamas), the philosopher Colline (Gianluca Buratto, dressed as a drab office clerk) and the musician Schaunard (Thomas Oliemans, in rock star outfit) dart through Marcello's cold, white studio. Oliemans in particular impresses with his sonorous baritone and his ability to switch between youthful grouchiness and serious concern for Mimì within seconds. Joyce El-Khouri is overwhelming as the voluptuous femme fatale. In her - well-chosen - glitter gown, she brings the men to their senses while worrying about the fate of her lady friend.

Director Benedict Andrews made with La bohème an exemplary production that does Puccini's verismo justice. For once, no deconstruction or forced adherence to current events, with which many a director sacrifices the original story to his own 'vision'. In the first act, there are ice flowers on the windows and the students smother Rodolfo's manuscript in a real stove; in the pub, real waiters are walking around; in the third act, snow is falling and in the fourth, we see budding trees in the garden in front of Marcello's studio. It is the last image on Mimì's mind.

I too blinked away a tear as she silently breathed her last in a lonely corner. I involuntarily thought: 'Rodolfo, jerk! Even in her dying hour you warm Mimì's gelida mano not.' - In short: verismo of the highest order.

La bohème is a co-production of de Nationale Opera and English National Opera and can still be seen in Amsterdam until 30 December 2014.