Photo by Chip Ford [Order this photo]

La Boheme's stage director at Opera in the Ozarks, Amy Axelson, received post-graduate training at the Second City Training Center in Chicago in Improvisational Comedy. It has obviously served her and her audiences well.

This reviewer has seen many productions of the opera La Boheme but has never been so deliciously delighted with the many comedic moments Puccini threw into his sensuously rich opera. The mock duel in Act IV, when Colline chooses a limp fish as his weapon, is hilarious and provides a dramatic foil to the entrance of the distraught Musetta and dying Mimi.

Act II's Paris street scene by the Cafe Momus is a tour de force of color, choreography of crowd activities, fabulous costumes and choral counterpoint. It's as if Axelson has brought every Impressionistic Paris street scene painting to life and invited us in to share the party. Kristin Knutsen was a vibrant vixen of a Musetta whose charms entice the audience as well as her ex-lover Marcello.

An exquisite soprano

Soprano Katy Gentry as Mimi really stole the opera away from Rodolfo with her exquisite voice and thoroughly believable acting. Tenor Francisco Rendon as Rodolfo did the role proud with his exceptional voice but only became believable as a lover of Mimi in Acts III and IV when he touched the audience with his tender attention to Mimi. Rendon needs to focus more on how to enchant Mimi in Acts I and II and pay less attention to the their height issues.

Loren Battieste is a heart-throb of a Marcello and a dramatic stage presence. He will learn to trust his own sense of the moment and not be so dependent of looking at the conductor for direction. The audience can't take their eyes off him, he will take confidence in his own instincts.

You can listen to recordings of La Boheme and be transported by Puccini's gorgeous vocal and instrumental music, but only seeing a live performance can let you understand the emotional power of this opera. Opera in the Ozarks is the perfect venue to really experience La Boheme. The youthful cast makes the opera make sense as a whole and brings real understanding to the story. You totally believe in the characters. The set design is perfection. From the great representation of a Paris artists' garret apartment in the opening and closing scenes to the very upfront street side cafe in Act II, the credibility is awesome.

The complete package

Opera in the Ozarks gives the audience the complete package of opera and makes it extremely accessible to everyone. A wonderfully relaxed venue with great acoustics for the music, helpful but unobtrusive subtitling set the scene for a very talented orchestra led by a dynamic conductor, Roger Cantrell, and the excitement of the energetic and charismatic young opera stars of the future.

La Boheme will be presented again at Opera in the Ozarks on July 18. I highly recommend you make plans to see it.