"Operatic opening for music season"
La Bohème
Shrewsbury Music Hall
Shrewsbury Chronicle - 04 Oct 2007
SHREWSBURY'S Music Hall welcomed The Mid Wales Opera Company for their performance of Puccini's La Bohème the opening event in an exciting and innovative Shropshire Music Trust season.
This is the latest in several opera performances by MWO in Shrewsbury and, once again, Keith Darlington's direction with the now accustomed reduced orchestral format was excellent.
Dramatically, this production worked extremely well with its reduced touring set and some very good stage direction including some inventive back-projection.
The pairings of the young lovers Rodolfo (Christopher Steele) and Muni (Rebecca von Lipinski) alongside the fiery Musetta (Alycia Fashae) and her partner Marcello (David Stout) were pleasingly contrasted with well placed humour bubbling alongside the more passionate intense expressions of young love.
The dramatic contrast between the first three acts and the intensely sad final scene was superb, ending in total silence as the drama faded away on the death of the heroine.
One of the lasting memories of this performance will be the sense of seamless continuity by the whole cast but particularly Christopher Steele, whose voice had power and penetration without ever appearing forced, and Rebecca von Lipinsky whose seemingly effortless vocal agility and depth matched her partner so well.
What a pity that circumstances only permit a single performance of these operas -surely Shropshire has more than 400 people who would enjoy such a deeply moving and enjoyable work.
The next music trust concert is once again in the Music Hall, Shrewsbury, with the Grand Union Band Spirit of Carnival, on October 13.
Richard Duncan
Last Updated : 07/12/2007