La Boheme @Liceu, March 16, with PHOTOSAngela Gheorghiu

This was my first La Boheme live with Angela singing the title role. And I liked very much what I saw and heard. Giancarlo del Monaco's production is traditional. Maybe too traditional, being very similar to Zefirelli's style.

What I liked most...

act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3, act 3. Ok, you got it :) The sets (in the street, with some homeless people sleeping in the corners, the facade of the house on the right), the lighting (light coming for lamplights, early in the morning), and especially the voices. Each note built the intensity, created the tragic atmosphere, which made the perfect ground for the highlight, Mimi's Donde lieta usci. Soft, lamenting, emotional, velvet tone in Angela's voice growing from the first line to the saddest goodbye possible: Bada, sotto il guanciale c'è la cuffietta rosa. Se vuoi serbarla a ricordo d'amor! Addio, senza rancor. (Pay attention, on the pillow there is a pink bonnet. If you want, keep a memory of love! Goodbye, without resentment). Yes, crying is allowed.

Lots of drama in this act. In the end, according to the length of the applauses, I bet everybody would have loved to listen again to the entire act. It was a-ma-zing!

Puccini though of sensitive hearts when he wrote the opera. So the drama alternates with some moments of happiness, which justify the paper fight in the beginning of the fourth act. Good idea, but way too many papers. It was a mess on stage. The bass drum note coincides with Musetta and Mimi's entrance. That sound suddenly terminates the fun and makes place for drama. Mimi is back but it's too late. Colline's aria, Vecchia zimarra, was so full of sorrow. Then the duet, the theme song of the first act, then... she dies. Whyyy? Not "why does she die", but "why did it end sooooo soon".

It was a very intense ending. The tenor has the final line. His "Mimi, Mimi" should break the heart. For me it did about 80%. There's place for more.

I disliked the fact that the conductor was booed at the curtain call. Maybe the audience didn't noticed his effort to keep everything together. And maybe the audience didn't know that this was his 16th La Boheme in a row with the fourth cast. I felt like he adapted very well. I said it many times, don't like it, don't applaud. Boo and opera don't get along, as everything here is extremely subjective.

Happy to be there. Happy that the audience at Grand Teatre de Liceu was so generous with the applauses after each aria and especially in the end, at the curtain call. Well deserved standing ovations for the entire cast. In my seat, dashing away the tears, up on my little fluffy cloud, away from the everyday life and deep into the magic of music, I couldn't think of anything else but how lucky I was to be there.

Dear Angela, thank you so much for another beautiful evening!