Love Between Winter and Spring: A La Boheme Review

Have you ever been in love? Love is a form of art. And without it there would be no passion and beauty. This is what La Boheme teaches us. “The most beautiful poems teach us how to love,” states Rodolfo, played by Jose Simerilla Romero in Lyric Opera’s production, currently onstage at the Kauffman Center. Thanks to the director Garnett Bruce, we truly feel the story come to life, both through the words as well as other theatrical elements.

As we first see Rodolfo and Mimi meet, their love is instant. Mimi, played by Gabriella Reyes, is portrayed as a gentle spring and bright like a sunrise. Her love for flowers brings out her personality and the character she is. Rodolfo is so infatuated with her and sings, “For I am the poet, she the poetry,” and “I’m a millionaire in dreams, and you are all of them.” Through words we can feel their love so obviously. There's power not only in words but also in their voices. The power of their voices is ear-ringing–literally. These amazing actors have so much voice control, whether they need to be “whispering” or be as dramatic and loud as possible. Yet words are not everything. We also need to see love through actions and body language. Though these actors have amazing voices, I didn’t feel their faces always matched the words. As Rodolfo and Mimi are speaking of their love for each other, I saw distressed looks. Love should be easy and joyous, but I saw expressions that were stressful and dark.

Emotions are not only portrayed by actors but also through technical aspects. As love is being shown we see warm light coming from candles, giving a gentle and sweet feeling. Not only do the lights by designer James Sale turn warm, but colorful and cheery as well, while snow falls. While out on the town, colors dance across the stage along with the people. The orchestra plays lightly and dramatically at times as well, playing in different octaves to help set the mood. Through this, we see the love everyone has for each other during hard times, and emotions throughout the story as well. In the set, we can also see the snow correlating with the music. Even though things can be great, we also have to be reminded of the hard things too in life. That is just the balance of the world. Like spring and winter. To have one, you must have the other. 

We continue to see more of this duality as Mimi becomes increasingly sick. She is no longer beautiful like a sunrise but now a sunset. And finally, she receives a beautiful gift: a hand warmer to warm her cold hands. Yet her friend, Mussetta, had to sacrifice something for her to have that. Mussetta gave up her earrings to buy a hand warmer for Mimi. That action shows the love between friends. Love is not always romantic.

I enjoyed this production of La Boheme, and finding the symbolism and foreshadowing truly brings out all emotions.