Search - Puccini - La Boheme on DVD

Fine, Not Spectacular, BOHEME

Randy Buck | Brooklyn, NY USA | 10/21/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Nothing wrong with this Zurich mounting, but no world-beater, either. An attractive, competent cast, with Gallardo-Domas a touching Mimi, and Giordani in fine voice as Rudolpho (although perhaps a trifle fleshy for a starving Bohemian). The direction and design are straightforward and unobtrusive, with the usual modern updates physically. The transition between Acts I and II is swiftly and nicely handled, but the bare-bones Cafe Momus set is too stripped-down -- many of the objects and activities referred to in the libretto are simply abandoned, in favor of general happy-villager milling-around. And what's with those costumes? Wayyyyyy too many bare arms, thin dresses and t-shirts on display for outdoors in a Parisian winter. The only real clunker here is a would-be coup de theatre at the final curtain, which begins as an unnecessary flourish and rapidly turns into a major howler, with the visibly irritated cast ambushed in the curtain call by ... see for yourself. Or not. If you're fans of these singers, or a Puccini completist, no reason to hesitate, but not a necessary acquisition by any means."