Philisa Sibeko as Musetta with Fikile Mvinjelwa as Marcello
Dr Mamphela Ramphele, Cape Town Opera’s new torch-bearing patron, believes we can trump the Italians at their own art form if we innovatively infuse established conventional Western formats with local content. “Then we will be in the stratosphere,” she says.
The only cogent reason for transposing a work is to renew its currency and broaden audience appeal. We should certainly not be importing our directorial concepts, and stale ones at that. Shifting La Bohème from 1830s Paris to post-Nazi liberation is hackneyed even in the United States. The celebratory parade waving the Stars and Stripes felt bizarre and belonged to a remote time when Europe embraced Yankee regime change. I doubt the broader audience the CTO wants to reach would understand. Our own historical ‘Latin Quarter’ -Sophiatown – would have been perfect.
That said, the costumes and design are first-rate and suitably atmospheric, though the lighting – which is especially important in such a static opera – is perfunctory throughout.
Sure lyrical beauty makes it hard to go wrong with Puccini’s most loved, though almost plotless opera. Philisa Sibeko as Musetta the singer is the strongest in dramatic ability. The young band of Bohemians – who look more like bourgeois gentlemen – range from the powerful booming voices of baritone Fikile Mvinjelwa (Marcello, the painter) and bass Xolela Sixaba (Colline, the philosopher) – who draws applause for his rendering of the coat aria ‘Vecchia zimarra’, to the weaker baritone Gabuka Booi (Schaunard, the musician) – who does have a good stage presence though. Also soft are bass Marcus Desando (who doubles as Benoit the landlord and Alcindoro). Booi and Desando are often drowned out by the orchestra. The Cape Philharmonic play beautifully and excel under the baton of Francisco Bonnin.
In the leads Australian tenor Adrian Dwyer (Rodolfo) is tepid until the final act, while soprano Zanne Stapelberg rises to the occasion with her sensitive interpretation of Mimì’s many show-stopping arias – ‘Mi chiamano Mimì’, her third act farewell and the vitally important ‘Sono andati? Fingevo di dormire’.
I’m the last person to believe that local audiences won’t respond unless work is set in Africa and given indigenous spin, however the current production of La Bohème would have benefited from Ramphele’s advice.
Although unlikely to recur, I feel obliged to comment on one technical hitch: the surtitles – a luxury anyhow – went off in the second act. I hope the responsible technician was severely chastised – you simply cannot have that kind of thing going wrong on opening night.
