Bohemians in Chaos, With Flair and Drama

In his book “Opera as Drama,” the musicologist Joseph Kerman, who died last week, defended opera against what he described as “the frankest assault” from “certain dramatic critics of particular literary bent, who tend to question the dramatic efficacy of any nonverbal artistic medium.”

The dramatic efficacy of text and music is certainly compromised in the astonishing hubbub of the Café Momus scene in Franco Zeffirelli’s staging of Act II of Puccini’s “La Bohème” at the Metropolitan Opera. The cast is dwarfed by the swirling chaos onstage in a scene described in the libretto as a “vast and motley crowd of citizens, soldiers, serving girls, children, students, seamstresses, gendarmes, etc.”

There is a “Where’s Waldo” element to watching the main singers blend into the milling throngs, their voices competing with the myriad activities unfolding around them. But the lavish sets (which require long intermissions to assemble) and vast numbers of extras onstage invariably elicit applause and appreciative gasps when the curtain rises, as occurred when the production returned to the house on Wednesday evening with the second cast of the season.

The rich-voiced soprano Jennifer Rowley made a splash in her house debut as Musetta, maneuvering flirtatiously through the crowds and singing with a vibrant, agile voice in “Quando me’n vo.” Also making her house debut was Anita Hartig, an admirable soprano who has sung the role of Mimi recently at Covent Garden and La Scala.

Ms. Hartig is the latest in an estimable lineup of Romanian sopranos, including Angela Gheorghiu, to sing Mimi. She imbued her singing with both a shy plaintiveness and ardency in “Mi chiamano Mimì.” Some high notes went alarmingly awry at the end of “O soave fanciulla,” the first act duet with Rodolfo — sung here by the energetic tenor Vittorio Grigolo — but for the most part they proved convincing as the ardent young lovers. Mr. Grigolo’s physical exertions meant that he occasionally sounded strained, but he sang with warmth and vigor, in his element as a passionate, boyish Rodolfo.

The other three bohemians were all excellent: Massimo Cavalletti as Marcello, Patrick Carfizzi as Schaunard and Nicolas Testé, making his house debut as Colline with an elegantly sung “Vecchia zimarra.”

There were some inconsistent tempos from the pit under the baton of Stefano Ranzani, but he elicited colorful and sensitive playing from the Met Orchestra.