At the Capitole de Toulouse, a “Bohemian” under the sign of youth
The Christmas market has settled on the Place du Capitole, and it is a cool temperature that envelops the Toulouse spectator, like the protagonists of Bohemian, by Puccini, which the Théâtre du Capitole presents, this November 26, in a new production by Barbe et Doucet. Little known in France, but appreciated in Europe for twenty years, the scenographer and costume designer André Barbe and the director Renaud Doucet produced the work in 2017 for the Scottish Opera in Glasgow. With a particular sign, respect for the work and concern for the public.
This is how the Quebec duo located Puccini’s masterpiece in the 1920s, in the heart of a Latin Quarter whose small streets and cafes overlap the flea markets of the Saint-Ouen flea markets. On a square, a shambles of old furniture, where four destitute young artists live. Among them, the poet Rodolfo, who fell in love with his next door neighbor, the seamstress Mimi. We see the poor girl in the prologue, a pale lunar figure levitating from chair to chair, her skull bared by the products, while a street singer and an accordionist beg for Mistinguett’s hits: That’s Parisand the famous Kid from Paris.
Puccini’s music will enter the orchestra at the same time as an old recording of the opera that the unfortunate woman has just put on a gramophone. A somewhat long prelude whose relevance is justified at the end, Mimi’s body vanishing from the sofa where she has just passed away. As if Bohemian had been a dream or a nightmare – or both.
A double cast
A scrupulous realism in postcard decorations, a directing of actor without surprise, but without dead time, lightings and costumes at the service of the dramaturgy, the times parade with the extras: the cell phone of the escort girl, the security guard in black, the passers-by who freeze while the synopsis reveals the implacable tragedy of the Scenes from bohemian life, by Murger. In front of the Momus café, the ghosts of Picasso, Diaghilev, or even Karl Lagerfeld on the arm of a muse, while Musetta looks like the grisette of Mistinguett.
Known and recognized for his lyrical appetite, Christophe Ghristi, the artistic director of the Capitole, gave his chance to a double alternating casting of young singers, many of whom take roles. This is the case of the soprano Vannina Santoni, Mimi by candlelight, whose flame is surrounded by a part of shadow, humble and loving, courageous in illness as in death. A little on his reserve in the first tableau (the famous “Mi chiamano Mimi”), the singer revealed herself in the love duets with Rodolfo, with an art of line and breath, a variety of subtle and shimmering colors.
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