Mark Twain once wrote, “I have attended operas whenever I could not help it.” It is an art form that is rarely given its due in the mainstream and ignored by those who write it off as dull or boring, often without ever having attended a performance.
For those who have been too intimidated to give opera a try, Opera Orlando is launching their new season with one of the genre’s most beloved classics.
“If you are seeing an opera for the first time, La Boheme is the opera to go and see,” says Nathan Stark, one of the show’s performers. “It’s what they call verismo opera, meaning realism. It’s a story that people relate to and there are characters in the opera that people know and that they will see themselves in. It’s an easy story to follow and it is a really great introductory opera.”
La Boheme premiered back in 1896 and is the most famous opera by legendary composer Giacomo Puccini.
“Puccini is one of the greatest opera composers of all time,” says Brian James Myer, another of the show’s performers. “Of the top 10 operas performed around the world, half of them are Puccini operas. He is a master of not only creating beautiful music but of dramatically tying that music into a story.”
La Boheme, which is the most frequently performed opera in the world, is an Italian opera centering on the passion and romance of young artists in Paris. Poet Rodolfo (played by Ben Gulley) and artist Marcello (played by Opera Orlando’s executive and artistic director Gabriel Preisser) are trying to make it in this bohemian lifestyle as they and their friends struggle to pay their rent.
The story sees both Rodolfo and Marcello finding love with Mimi (played by Cecilia Violetta Lopez) and Musetta (played by Bridgette Gan), respectively. La Boheme may sound strangely familiar to you.
“If you don’t know the story of La Boheme but are fans of musical theater it is essentially the story of the musical Rent,” Stark says. “It’s about young love, and this rendition isn’t just about the two main characters, Mimi and Rodolfo. It’s about everybody; how there are different types of love and how love emerges in all sorts of ways. Sometimes love doesn’t last long but it can be very intense.”
Jonathan Larson’s Broadway hit Rent was the 1996 modern retelling of the famous, 100-year-old opera, but the story is familiar for more than that.
“La Boheme is the quintessential love story,” Myer says. “It is an opera, even if you’ve never seen it before, which will automatically feel familiar to you.”
Just as Larson did with his award-winning musical, Opera Orlando’s stage director Robert Neu is updating his version of La Boheme. He is keeping the story in Paris but moving it from the 19th Century to the 1920s.
“The ‘20s were a very socially progressive time,” Myer says. “There was a certain element of freedom that existed, especially in Europe and in Paris, which did not exist 20 or 30 or 40 years later.”
Europe in the ‘20s was a time of great sexual exploration and living life to the fullest, themes which Neu wanted to take advantage of in his version of La Boheme.
“[In the opera] we are living in a time period where sexual orientation was not that big of a deal,” Myer says. “You have these main couples who have this intense and passionate love, and then you have the characters of Colline and Schaunard (played by Stark and Myer, respectively). They are usually played as the buddies and they are just around to lighten up the mood and keep everything lively. In this production we have kind of pulled these two characters out of the background and we highlight their relationship with each other and what the times were like in the ‘20s. [Robert] wants to include as many different types of people and as many different expressions of love in this production as he can, and as we would have seen in the time period.”
La Boheme is a kind of reunion for Stark, Myer and Preisser. The three of them, collectively known as The Three Baritones (a play off the popular opera trio The Three Tenors), have done several concerts together, even completing an album last year.
“I had for many years wanted to do a Christmas album,” Stark says. “I wanted it to be something really fun and unique. I’ve known [Gabriel]for many years from working with him at Kentucky Opera about a decade ago and met Brian about two years ago at Opera San Jose. I knew I wanted to do something that involved these two guys.”
Myer and Preisser were on board immediately.
“I only just met Gabe last year,” Myer recalls. “It was funny because you always think ‘Oh, he’s a friend of a friend so I’m sure we will probably get along,’ but from the moment I met [Gabriel] I felt super comfortable with him, like I had known him for a long time. The three of us when we get together—it is a lot of personalities, I’ll tell you that.”
The Three Baritones got together in Orlando last year to record their Christmas album.
“It took us about seven or eight months to get everything arranged and put together, and we actually recorded it here in the middle of August. We were singing Christmas songs about winter and snow and we are actually sweating our asses off,” Stark says, laughing.
“Gabe knows everyone here in Orlando so he set everything up for us. It was just a wonderful experience,” Myer says. “Nate and I weren’t sure what we were getting ourselves into, but when we showed up everything was perfect. We each brought something to the table that helped to craft this album and it was better than I think we could have ever imagined it would be.”
The Three Baritones took the opportunity of being in the same opera to get together for a concert earlier this month, hopefully with more concert dates in the future. They are open for anything that helps to bring the friendly trio back together.
“When you come to the show you will see the three of us acting on stage not too far off from how we act in everyday life with each other,” Myer laughs.
Opera Orlando’s La Boheme plays Nov. 17-19 in the Alexis and Jim Pugh Theater at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are available at DrPhillipsCenter.org. The Three Baritones: Christmas Around the World is available on most music streaming services now.
