“La Boheme,” Giacomo Puccini’s masterful blend of gorgeous music and affecting story of young love and loss, is for legions of opera lovers, quite simply, perfection.
Starving artists, snow falling on Paris, the ardent young poet Rodolfo and the dying seamstress Mimi: Puccini pulled out all the dramatic stops in “Boheme” while writing some of the most popular arias of all time. “Boheme” is the opera-of-choice for opera buffs and an appealing introduction for newcomers.
But don’t take my word for it. Check out the Seattle Opera box office, where strong ticket demand for the “Boheme” that opens Saturday night induced the company to add two additional performances for a total of 12.
Seattle Opera has rounded up a roster of international singers in this double-cast production, led by Nuccia Focile, one of opera’s busiest lyric sopranos, as Mimi. It’s a signature role for Focile, who has sung Mimi around the globe. Her Seattle performance marks her 24th “Boheme” production. “Boheme” devotees keep track of her schedule just to hear her sing the part.
The tubercular Mimi dies tragically at the end of “Boheme” in one of opera’s most heart-rending moments. The audience cries. Sometimes the performers cry. Even Puccini is said to have wept when he wrote the final chord signifying Mimi’s death.
Nuccia Focile knows all about those tears – she is moved, too – but on this day our Mimi is full of sunshine and warmth, taking time before final rehearsals to talk about “Boheme.” The Sicilian-born artist studied music in Turin, Italy, and made her professional debut in 1986. The same year, she won the international Pavarotti Singing Competition – concerts and performances with the famed tenor followed.
Focile is petite, very pretty with lustrous dark hair and expressive brown eyes. She is gracious, animated in a lovely Italian way as she talks with her hands always in motion. When she sings lightly, as she does to illustrate a point about the music, it’s a moment of stillness and beauty.
She has a very personal “Boheme” story but, unlike Mimi’s, hers has a happy ending. Focile was scheduled to sing the role in Seattle Opera’s 1998 production and had prepared right up to the final dress rehearsal. Then, in a dramatic moment worthy of grand opera, she called Seattle Opera general director Speight Jenkins to withdraw days from opening night.
Focile was pregnant, and even though she felt lousy in rehearsal, she kept on singing. The drama deepens when we learn that Focile had lost a baby two years earlier. In an added plot twist, her husband, British tenor Paul Charles Clarke, was singing the role of Rodolfo opposite his wife.
“I wanted to do it so much but I followed my heart and my body,” Focile said. “I decided I wasn’t going to sing any more until I have this baby.”
Jenkins’ response was to offer his congratulations, release her immediately from the role and begin looking for a new Mimi.
Jenkins found his replacement Mimi. Focile gave birth to a baby girl – Antonia is now 8 and is already displaying gifts for music and performance, according to her proud mother – and today Speight Jenkins has the Mimi he wanted in 1998.
Focile brings her youth and vitality to the role, as well as a voice praised for its beauty and clarity. Mimi is a good fit vocally, Focile said. Much of the music sits in the mid-range “then blooms and goes up to this beautiful glorious singing.” A voice that’s too light doesn’t work. Too dramatic and it isn’t believable, she added. “Not too light, not too heavy.”
There’s plenty of wonderful music to go around in “Boheme.” Even if you don’t know the opera, you’ll know many of the arias, a greatest-hits of Italian opera showcase.
This opera sings to the heart. Mimi is a frail seamstress. Rodolfo is a struggling poet. They meet, famously, when her candle blows out and she knocks at his door. In the dark, their hands touch and they fall in love. Alas, it’s not to be. Mimi is dying of tuberculosis and Rodolfo cannot save her.
“Singing Mimi is a journey of discovery,” Focile said. What Mimi says to us is, life is short, grab every moment and make it special. “She can see that tomorrow can never come. Every single moment is so intense.”
In the end, Focile says, Mimi touches everyone in the opera. And the audience.
“Puccini goes straight for the heart,” Focile said.
Bill Mohn photo
Nuccia Focile as Mimi in early staging rehearsals for “La Boheme.”
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