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Review: Franco Zeffirelli's 'La Bohème' Revisits a Take on Love and Loss

Ana María Martínez portrays Musetta, and Levente Molnar, left, is Marcello in Franco Zeffirelli’s production of "La Bohème" at the Metropolitan Opera.Credit...Karsten Moran for The New York Times

The Metropolitan Opera revived Franco Zeffirelli’s 34-year-old production of “La Bohème” on Monday. Well, “revived” may be too strong a word. It implies a quality of animated freshness that didn’t much characterize this tired performance.

This was the 1,275th time the Met had put on Puccini’s classic melodrama. More than 400 of those performances have taken place among Mr. Zeffirelli’s naturalistic sets, depicting a Latin Quarter peopled with crowds of Parisian streetfolk, revelers, merchants and children. A military parade marches by under a giant Tricolore. A live horse is hurried across the stage. And, yes, in the midst of the rush are principal singers, too. On Monday these were led by the soprano Barbara Frittoli as Mimì and the tenor Ramón Vargas as Rodolfo.

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Barbara Frittoli as Mimì and Ramón Vargas as Rodolfo.Credit...Karsten Moran for The New York Times

Ms. Frittoli first sang the part of this consumptive ingénue at the Met in 1995, and she is a reliable conveyor of the meek pathos with which Puccini has her expire in Rodolfo’s attic apartment in the final act. But after a mild-mannered and muted performance in earlier scenes, there wasn’t much life left to drain out of her. Mr. Vargas acted and sang with wooden efficiency.

This lead couple should not be an afterthought. The pair of lovers sits at the center of concentric circles of growing bustle and noise: Rodolfo’s bohemian friends, a crowded cafe, all of Paris. It takes a special kind of magnetism to focus the audience’s sympathies on their fragile love affair. On Monday, neither Ms. Frittoli nor Mr. Vargas was able to summon it.

The soprano Ana María Martínez was much more interesting — bright, sharp and versatile — as Musetta. The baritone Levente Molnar made a fine company debut as a charismatic Marcello. The bass Christian Van Horn brought sardonic elegance to the part of Colline; as Schaunard, the baritone Alexey Lavrov proved a gifted dancer and comedian. The conductor Paolo Carignani navigated the score with a steady hand.

“La Bohème” continues through May 5 at the Metropolitan Opera; 212-362-6000,
metopera.org.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section C, Page 2 of the New York edition with the headline: A Familiar Tale of Love and Loss Unfolds in a Bustling City. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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