La Boheme Opera Theatre of St. Louis, 2001
Heidi Waleson - The Wall Street Jounal
… When they were actually doing Puccini, however, Opera Theatre came into its own. The traditional production of La Boheme, directed by Tim Ocel and designed by Erhard Rom (sets) and Robert Perdziola (costumes), flowed smoothly, and the singers knew exactly what they were doing. The standout was Pamela Armstrong, a warm-voiced Mimi with reserves of passion. An ardent if sometimes strident Rodolfo, Gerard Powers smoothed and rounded his delivery when he sang with her, to nice effect. Lester Lynch was a powerful Marcello, Kyle Ketelsen did a fine job on Colline’s solo turn, and Yali-Marie Williams was a lively Musetta. The production even improved as it went along: the fourth act, which can seem like a musical anticlimax after the heartbreak of the third, was the tightest and most moving of all. The St. Louis Symphony musicians who make up Opera Theatre’s pit orchestra played handsomely in all the operas, but in Boheme, conducted by Federico Cortese, they really shone.
Photo: Jeffrey Dunn
Derrek Taylor
La Boheme
Puccini
Boston Lyric Opera
2007
