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This weekend just past the Fargo Moorhead Opera performed Giacomo Puccini’s famous opera La Boheme. There were two performances, on Friday night and Sunday afternoon.  I accompanied some college aged friends of mine and viewed and heard the opera in the cheap rush seats, two rows from the back of Festival Hall on the NDSU campus.

I’m not a frequent opera attendee, but I must remark on the contrasts.  When I first started attending the Arts in the F-M area in the early 70’s, Festival hall was a wooden structure just north of Old Main, also on the NDSU Campus.   Yes, this is where the concerts were performed, and the acoustics were, well, awful.  The F-M Symphony as well as the Opera company were, well, awful.  But better days are here: the new Festival Hall, built with private donations, is first rate with wonderful acoustics and comfortable seating and there literally isn’t a bad seat in the house.  The performance, described somewhat below, was enjoyable, but I did not expect the Metropolitan Opera of New York.

The choice of La Boheme is interesting given the current national debate about, among other things, health care.  The first time I saw/heard La Boheme performed it was a few years ago, also performed by the Fargo-Moorhead Opera.  In my experience, the story lines of most operas are pretty thin.  The attraction is the music, and La Boheme is no exception.  Simply put, it is the story of a group of artists(I’m using art in the general sense) in the Bohemian artist community in Paris around 1840.  They don’t have any money nor much food or heat.  But they live a carefree, fun life.  There is one problem, however.  One of them has consumption(tuberculosis) and, of course, they can’t afford medical care for her, and she eventually dies.  The Bohemian life has its price.

Now, about the performance.  I could go into more detail about the story, but don’t think that would add anything to this review.

The major characters were sung competently by nationally known, but not well known,  performers.  They included Claire Kutler, who sang Mimi, the consumptive.  Marc Shreiner sang Rudolfo, her boyfriend.  Marcello and Musetta, another artist and his lady friend, were sung by Mark Walters and Sonya Hedlum.  Other performers were Ashraf Sewailam, Paul HIndemith and Peter Halvorson(who sang two roles of one appearance each) rounded out the major cast.  All of these performers have journeyman credentials, having performed similar roles in performances of about this level, some a little more prestigious, some less.  It seemed to me from reading the program that Halvorson was the most qualified, but I find in Opera and Ballet it is sometimes the case that the best performers sometimes have important but not major roles.

The opera was sung in Italian with subtitles displayed above the stage.  I wasn’t able to read the subtitles very well from my nest to the last row seat, but I could read some, already knew the story, and understand enough French and Spanish, which are similar languages so that I was never out of sync with what was going on on stage.

The soloists, while not major league calibre, were very good and a joy to listen to.  I did feel both the chorus and orchestra, conducted by Italian Anthony Barese did leave a bit to be desired, in my opinion.  In particular, it seemed the chorus was shouting as opposed to singing(maybe it was supposed to be that way, but I don’t think so) and I thought the string section of the orchestra was weak and loose, as opposed to having the tight string sound good orchestras produce.  But, this isn’t the Met.

As usual when reviewing arts events particularly at NDSU, I must complain about the lack of attendance.  Fully half the balcony was empty, including what used to be the President’s box, as it has been since Laurel Loftsgaard was NDSU’s president.
Of course, there was a football game the next day.

I ffelt this was an entertaining evening, and think we in the area are fortunate to have such a company, as well as a place to perform, in our nudist.  I’ll probably go to more of these performances.

The next performance of the Fargo Moorhead Opera is Amahl and the NIght Visitors, December 12th and 13th at the Fargo Theatre.