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 | Title : Baz Luhrmann's La Boheme (Highlights from the 2002 Original Broadway Cast)
Author : Giacomo Puccini
Release Date : 20021210
Binding : Audio CD
Regular Price : $19.98
Amazon.com Price : $9.98
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Editorial Reviews :
With the visually dazzling efforts of his 'Red Curtain' film trilogy behind him (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge), director Baz Luhrmann set his sights on Broadway and a reworking of his triumphant, career-forging 1990 Australian Opera production of Giacomo Puccini's evergreen tearjerker, La Boheme. With it now set in 1957, six young voices alternate in bringing the tale of the doomed love affair between the seamstress Mimi (Lisa Hopkins, Wei Huang, Ekaterina Solovyeva) and the writer Rodolfo (Alfred Boe, Jesus Garcia, David Miller) to life in its original Italian on this cast album. Other than using the vocal dream-team gambit, Luhrmann has played Puccini's music surprisingly straight in this production, a sharp contrast to the dizzying musical cut-and-paste of Moulin or his tellingly titled pop album, Something for Everybody. It's a wise tack, and wholly in step with the director's stated goal of emphasizing the story's timeless drama while keeping the operatic masterpiece true to itself for a new audience. The staging may showcase Luhrmann's dazzling production, but the music here is still pure Puccini.
Buyer Reviews :
I know nothing about opera, and knew nothing going into see this show on Broadway a week and a half ago. But the experience of seeing this show was in no way unfulfilling or confusing, in fact quite the opposite, I felt as though I had been missing out on a great secret for years. This is a passionate, joyfully and emotionally colorful show that had my tears flowing readily in every act, whether or not something sad was happening. I fell in love with it, and the story, by the end of Act I, and was simply swept up into the joy and pain and electricity of the characters, the story, and this production.
But as much as I loved the occurrences onstage, it was the first time I had experienced anything even slightly related to La Boheme, or any opera for that matter, and naturally, it was a bit of an overload in terms of absorbing everything. Thus, though I was easily able to keep up with the storyline thanks to supertitles and skillful, emotional acting and singing, I missed most of the beauty of the music itself, save 3 or 4 arias and pieces that no matter what, will stick out no matter how new you are to the music. After the show was over, I wanted to see it again (didn't get the chance), but found I didn't care much for the music, though I was pretty sure that was because I wasn't used to it, and had never been exposed to this form of musical style before. I shrugged it off as such.
The CD, then, was one of the best things I could have done to fulfill the experience and appreciate the opera completely. I already knew the style, tempo, and (most of) the voices from seeing the show. So far I've listened to the CD 3 or 4 times straight through hardly using the libretto. It goes really quickly for a soundtrack/recording of a show, with hardly a slow or boring spot. It flows with emotion, this story is told through the notes, if you can imagine such a thing, but whether or not you understand what's being said, the sound of the Italian sounds poetic, the lush and aurally eloquent orchestrations, the vibrant young singing, and the melodies blend to create a truly beautiful musical experience, a symphonic tapestry, if you will. It fleshed out and colored in much of what I saw onstage, and allowed me to enjoy the music for what it is. There are moments, even mere orchestrations and instrumentals, that can bring you to tears and give you goosebumps sheerly because of the emotions expressed through the music.
The CD is a Highlights album, featuring 16 tracks, but all of the 3 leading couples, and they are very evenly spread out over the 4 acts, starting with Boe/Huang, then Miller/Solovyeva, and last Garcia/Hopkins. The Marcello & Musetta numbers are divided between Brancoveanu/Comeau for Act II, then Davis/Wright for Act III, then back to Brancoveanu/Comeau for Act IIII. For someone who's only seen one pair of singers, it's great to hear how the others perform, and I must say they are all incredible. I'm fairly snobby about singers, especially classically trained ones, and I found all these singers to have exceptional voices.
I highly recommend this CD to anyone who could relate to what I said in my first paragraphs, it greatly helps.
I'm sure this recording isn't for everyone, especially people who are used to more professional singers and versions, but I'm grateful for it, and Mr. Luhrmann's inspired production. I'm a Gen- Y student, opera neophyte, who was afraid of opera, but this vibrant and beautiful production gave me an accessible seat to experience Mr. Puccini's masterpiece: a piece of storytelling that defies language and time barriers and hits directly at the soul through the universal language of music and the human experience.
(by mmbell)
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