To all my GlickArts readers, I beg forgiveness.
It has been several months since I have posted on my blog. The reason for this hiatus is because I have been involved in the arduous task of moving from my previous home in Michigan, to my new home in Overland Park (Kansas City suburb), Kansas.
Although my wife and I moved to Kansas to be closer to our family, the robust musical and artistic life of Kansas City also played a major role in our decision to move.
On Saturday, I got the first taste of Kansas City musical life, and it was sweet and flavorful.
I attended the opening of The Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s production of Puccini’s iconic opera La Boheme at their stunning Kaufmann Center for Performing Arts.
In another posting I will comment further on this unique performing arts center but suffice it to say that the opera was presented in the 1800-seat Muriel Kaufmann Hall which is a nearly perfect opera venue.
Premiered in 1896, it is no wonder why Boheme has been consistently popular for 130 years. It is filled with the most beautiful and lush melodies ever written, sung against a backdrop of a beautiful love story along with the fun of four artistic guys living in squalor in Paris while struggling to make a living but having loads of guy-fun along the way.
Directed by Garnett Bruce the first act moved along at a just-right pace. We first meet the four starving young artists in their grotto, beautifully conceived by set designer R. Keith Brumley.
The delightful scene quickly moves into the meat of the story. Three of the men leave their meager apartment and Rodolfo is left in the place by himself. Soon the beautiful but sickly Mimi knocks on the door, requesting a flame to ignite her candle. Soon, we are enveloped with some of the greatest love duets every to grace a stage.
As Mimi, soprano Gabriella Reyes bewitched the audience with a voice that was ravishing and expressive, but also simply beautiful to hear. Her tone was so dark and lustrous that it could almost be confused with that of a mezzo soprano. But her startling high range confirmed that she was, indeed, a soprano. At the height of her arias, that wondrous voice filled every cavity of the hall.
Her partner, tenor Jose Simerilla Romero playing Rodolfo, had a lovely, but younger voice than Reyes. His performance was impressive but could not equal the vocal splendor of Reyes.
The fact that the lead voices were not perfectly equal did not hinder the excellent quality of this production. The first act was swoon-worthy in every way.
Which brings us to the always spectacular second act, taking place at an outside restaurant on the streets of Paris. Dozens of local cast members were constantly moving around the spacious stage, including 20+ children scampering delightfully about.
The color, action and musical excellence of the scene was a total joy. New characters were introduced, old ones were developed, humor was exploited and the audience was enthralled.
In addition to the talents of Romero and Reyes, Luke Sutliff as Marcello and Cadie J. Bryan as Musetta added much to Boheme with their acting as well as superb voices.
The impressive Kansas City Symphony supplied the music (under the baton of Christopher Allen) making the marriage of voices with the orchestra complete. On occasion, the orchestra overpowered the singers, but generally the wonderful acoustics of the hall blended everything together just fine.
Experiencing the quality and beauty of this local production of one of the world’s greatest operas was an ideal way of being introduced to the arts scene of Kansas City.
The opera continues with shows on September 25 and 27. kcopera.org
Your review has prompted me to see if I can convince a friend to change our plans. Thank you,Ken.
I loved reading your review. Welcome to KC! ❤️