La bohème, or, The Strange Fascination of Angela Gheorghiu

For whatever reason, La bohème and I have just never got on. I know the rest of the world loves it madly, and believe me, I have tried but it is no use. From "Sono andati" to the end is fantastic, the rest leaves me cold or at best lukewarm. Go ahead and judge me, but I can't do anything about it. It does become a bit more tempting with one of my special favourites singing in it, I admit. Aldo di Toro as Rodolfo, Mirella Freni, Cheryl Barker or Antoinette Halloran as Mimi — I can't deny these are attractive prospects, but even they can't make me adore the opera as a whole. I'm sorry.

And this weekend's HD broadcast didn't even offer such a lure. My relationship with Angela Gheorghiu has never been a very happy one. Her singing has never moved or amazed me, and her antics and interviews don't exactly cast her in a very appealing light. Just as with La bohème itself, thousands adore her and for me it just isn't a happening thing.

Until today. Sort of. There was something strangely compelling and attractive about her Mimi. Strangely is the operative word. Hers was an unusual Mimi; maybe not a Mimi at all. She made vague mention of Murget during her intermission interview as her precedent for a less than pure and innocent portrayal of Mimi — that's as may be, but I suspect her characterisation was less about fidelity to the source and more about Angela doing what she was in the mood for. And yet, this is all a bit beside the point. I found her fascinating and really quite lovely. I felt myself falling under her spell, in fact.

But I also felt that I could see her casting that spell. She's a good actress but there's no way she's going to get lost in a character — Angela is first and foremost Angela, and that means a diva in the old fashioned and grandest sense. I think she knows exactly what she's doing — every turn of phrase, every vocal climax, every delicate, pathos filled gesture and adorable smile, it's all of it calculated to make her audience adore her. Somehow, though, seeing all this happen doesn't do much to lessen its effect. I knew I was being manipulated, but it still worked — in an odd way, seeing the mechanism of diva at work just added to its potency.

So the upshot of all this contradiction is that almost despite myself, I loved every minute of Angela's Mimi. She was downright strange, but mesmerising, and her voice, which has never moved me before, suddenly seemed the most gorgeous, fascinating sound this performance had to offer. But it was her performance I loved. The rest was harder to be bewitched by. Her interview with Renée Fleming was bizarre — like watching Betty interview Veronica. She seemed determined to show how much she adored Renée and to be as flamboyant and quirky as possible but it was all a bit undignified and insincere. She returned from her between-act curtain calls and every time played up for the camera, but it seemed a studied attempt to be adorable, a conscious imitation of the faces Anna Netrebko made for the camera, perhaps.  The most telling moment came as the cast prepared for their final curtain call. Ainhoa Arteta stood there actually crying, wiping away tears and obviously trying to gather herself together. Angela breezed past, humming merrily to herself. Ainhoa was emerging from real, sincere immersion in the emotion of the piece; Angela was emerging from a gala night of Being Angela.

The intangible magnetism she possesses does at times overshadow the rest of the cast. I felt this especially in Ainhoa Arteta's "Quando m'en vo" — as vivid as she was, somehow when Mimi joined in at the end, she took over. It almost seemed as if Puccini had written it that way simply because Angela had sent him a message from the future asking him not to let her thunder be stolen outright by such a showy aria. Ramon Vargas seems like a sweetheart and made quite an attractive Rodolfo but was not overwhelming. Ainhoa Arteta made a singularly unlikeable Act Two Musetta but was completely endearing in Act Four, and her vibrant and shiny voice is certainly the kind of voice I like. The rest of Rodolfo's bohemian circle were all very good and plenty of fun, though I couldn't ever shake the impression of a bunch of healthy, well-fed middle aged men who ought to have been living sensible, grown up lives, not huddling in a dingy Parisian flat and acting like teenagers. I'm sorry to use descriptions like "very good" and leave it at that — perhaps they deserve better — but I'm afraid I just can't get ravingly excited. It's La bohème. There it is.

The intermission feature was the same old thing. I adored Renée as always — she's without a doubt the hostess with the mostess. As always, I got teary at the sight of Natalie in the trailer for La fille du régiment. I liked that Joe Clark the technical director was wearing a tie which matched one of the Act Two canopies. I fell momentarily in love with Tatiana Troyanos during her brief appearance in the Zeffirelli montage. And of course, the quotable line of the night came from Maestro (and cartoon Italian) Nicola Luisotti during his chat with Hostess Renée.

Renée: This orchestra could play this opera in its sleep. How do you keep things fresh?
Luisotti: I sleep with them.

Comments

[tigtog]

I rather liked Mimi played as less of an ingenue. She's usually such a dishrag, after all.

I wonder whether I'd like Georghiu as much in another part. I appreciated a Mimi with backbone so much it's coloured my whole appreciation of the performance. On the whole I too prefer a voice like Arteta's.

Luisotti was adorable.

[David]

I find Georghiu's compulsion as you rightly point out to emerge from a gala to herself, a constant insult to the music, the composer's intention, the conductor, the director, the other cast members and the audience. She has no sense of ensemble at all, which is so important in an opera like boheme and thus loses the true meaning of what operatic singing is all about. I know that it is "horses for courses" in opera, but I am constantly amazed at the fascination with this highly overrated woman.

[Sarah]

Well yes, until now I've been similarly bewildered by the fascination with her, which is why it was so strange to find myself temporarily falling for it.

[Barbara]

Thank you. I loved this essay, especially since I couldn't think of anything to say myself. You do realize that practically all of Angela's fame rests upon this performance. Thus the missing of rehearsals in Chicago. She isn't really going to change anything for them, is she? Though, I did rather like her in La Rondine. I go hot and cold with her.

I just wish I knew who Betty and Veronica were.

[David]

Betty and Veronica from the Archie comics? Betty was the nice blonde who loved Archie and Veronica was the sexy, rich brunette who Archie lusted after to the constant dismay of Betty.

[Sarah]

Exactly right, David.
There's a theory that every woman is either a Betty or a Veronica. Though I do wonder if Angela might in fact be a Reggie.

[David]

Hi Sarah,

Youv'e unleashed the opera venom in me. I was opera u tubing as I am wont to do and after listening to a stupendous Turandot("in questa regia")excerpt with Eva Marton from Vienna in 1984 I came across the dreadful Georghiu on u tube also singing "in questa regia"!! It was dreadful!! Utterly out of her fach but so supremely arrogant!!

Tell me that if you listen to her Puccini disc and then listen to Cheryl Barker's Puccini disc you can only conclude that the far less lauded Ms Barker simply outclasses Ms Georghiu on every count!!!!

Sorry to all her fans, but she is my big ultra dislike in opera!

Speaking of Tatiana Troyanas, check her out on u tube doing Norma with our Joan!!!

[Sarah]

Don't worry, Angela's Puccini CD holds the dubious distinction of being one of the only (possible the only) recital disc I simply gave up on halfway through. I'd borrowed it from the library. My CD player malfunctioned halfway into it and I realised I actually felt zero desire to hear the rest, so didn't bother trying again. It just seemed like Generic Puccini Heroine all the way through to me, and not a particularly attractive Generic Puccini Heroine at that.

Whereas Cheryl's Puccini makes me swoon with total trembling delight. I have to listen some or all of it every day more or less, she's too addictive to go without. Not many people make me react to Puccini the way Cheryl does. I love the fact she is a Famous Mimi and yet in her own very Cheryl way, pretty much nails "Quando m'en vo" as well. Completely fabulous.

[dze]

I LOVED Angela singing in La Boheme. I can totally understand the folks who don't like her for being too much of a Diva, but on that given night she was smashing. Her singing was great, she was acting and she really showed how that role should be sung (even Freni was amazed FYI ;)

Whatever... People may like one singer or not. I just want to say that I share the opinion of those who dislike Angela for her last-minute cancellations and disrespectful behavior towards the opera fans, but I LOVE her as a singer ===> A schizo - I KNOW :)

[Gert]

I don't like Boheme. Once che gelida manina is out of the way, it's time to go home. But I resent Che gelida manina in a recital, because it's stealing time that could be used for something - anything - better

[Sarah]

Better Che gelida manina in recital than Nessun dorma in recital, though. Just.