La Bohème
April 24 & 25, 2010
REVIEW
Rimrock Opera does it again by Dr. Ken Mueller
‘La Boheme’ becomes family affair for participants
Record
number of students attend local opera
Study
Guide
Rimrock Opera presents “La bohème,” beloved tale of tender love and
bitter tragedy, on April 24 and 25 at the Alberta Bair Theater. Amy
Logan, soprano, as the ill-fated Mimi, and Jeffrey Grant Kitto,
tenor, as Rodolfo, the poet who loves her, are central characters
amid the counterculture of young, undiscovered artists living in
Paris attics, circa 1830. Puccini's incomparable masterpiece has
inspired audiences for more than 100 years with its glorious
melodies illuminating the eternal story of starving artists and
star-crossed lovers in the Latin quarter of Paris. Fellow bohemians,
Laura Loge, Jan Michael Kliewer, Dennis Rupp, Chris Sheppard, and
Daren Small sing the tragic plot to its bittersweet conclusion with
ravishing melodies and direct emotional appeal.
Barbara Day
Turner conducts the Rimrock Opera Orchestra, Douglas Nagel is
producer-director, and Sheppard prepares the chorus. Rimrock Opera’s
Chorus for Kids (ROCK) performs as Paris street urchins. The opera
is sung in Italian, with English projected above the stage.
Purchase your opera tickets for the Saturday evening, April 24, 7:30
show, or Sunday April 25, 3:00 PM matinee, at the Alberta Bair
Theater box office, online at www.albertabairtheater.org
Schools Invited
RO offers a student matinee performance of La
bohème, Thursday, April 22, at the Alberta Bair Theater. Individuals
may also purchase tickets to the school matinee, beginning at 9:00
AM
Cast:
Douglas Nagel, director and producer
Barbara Day
Turner, conductor
Amy Logan, Mimi
Jeffrey Grant
Kitto, Rodolfo
Laura Loge, Musetta
Jan Michael
Kliewer, Marcello
Dennis Rupp, Colline
Chris
Sheppard, Schaunard
Parpignol, TBA
Daren Small,
Benoit
Daren Small,
Alcindoro
Synopsis
Composer: Giacomo Puccini
ACT I. Paris, Christmas Eve, c.
1830. In their Latin Quarter garret, the painter
Marcello and poet Rodolfo try to keep warm by burning
pages from Rodolfo's latest drama. They are joined by
their comrades — Colline, a young philosopher, and
Schaunard, a musician who has landed a job and brings
food, fuel and funds. But while they celebrate their
unexpected fortune, the landlord, Benoit, arrives to
collect the rent. Plying the older man with wine, they
urge him to tell of his flirtations, then throw him out
in mock indignation. As the friends depart for a
celebration at the nearby Café Momus, Rodolfo promises
to join them soon, staying behind to finish writing an
article. There is another knock: a neighbor, Mimì, says
her candle has gone out on the drafty stairs. Offering
her wine when she feels faint, Rodolfo relights her
candle and helps her to the door. Mimì realizes she has
dropped her key, and as the two search for it, both
candles are blown out. In the moonlight the poet takes
the girl's shivering hand, telling her his dreams. She
then recounts her solitary life, embroidering flowers
and waiting for spring. Drawn to each other, Mimì and
Rodolfo leave for the café.
ACT II. Amid shouts of street
hawkers, Rodolfo buys Mimì a bonnet near the Café Momus
before introducing her to his friends. They all sit down
and order supper. A toy vendor, Parpignol, passes by,
besieged by children. Marcello's former lover, Musetta,
enters ostentatiously on the arm of the elderly, wealthy
Alcindoro. Trying to regain the painter's attention, she
sings a waltz about her popularity. Complaining that her
shoe pinches, Musetta sends Alcindoro to fetch a new
pair, then falls into Marcello's arms. Joining a group
of marching soldiers, the Bohemians leave Alcindoro to
face the bill when he returns.
ACT III. At dawn on the snowy
outskirts of Paris, a Customs Officer admits farm women
to the city. Musetta and revelers are heard inside a
tavern. Soon Mimì walks by, searching for the place
where the reunited Marcello and Musetta now live. When
the painter emerges, she pours out her distress over
Rodolfo's incessant jealousy. It is best they part, she
says. Rodolfo, who has been asleep in the tavern, is
heard, and Mimì hides; Marcello thinks she has left. The
poet tells Marcello he wants to separate from his fickle
sweetheart. Pressed further, he breaks down, saying Mimì
is dying; her ill health can only worsen in the poverty
they share. Overcome, Mimì stumbles forward to bid her
lover farewell as Marcello runs back into the tavern to
investigate Musetta's raucous laughter. While Mimì and
Rodolfo recall their happiness, Musetta quarrels with
Marcello. The painter and his mistress part in fury, but
Mimì and Rodolfo decide to stay together until spring.
ACT IV. Some months later,
Rodolfo and Marcello lament their loneliness in the
garret. Colline and Schaunard bring a meager meal. The
four stage a dance, which turns into a mock fight. The
merrymaking is ended when Musetta bursts in, saying Mimì
is downstairs, too weak to climb up. As Rodolfo runs to
her, Musetta tells how Mimì has begged to be taken to
her lover to die. While Mimì is made comfortable,
Marcello goes with Musetta to sell her earrings for
medicine, and Colline leaves to pawn his cherished
overcoat. Alone, Mimì and Rodolfo recall their first
days together, but she is seized with coughing. When the
others return, Musetta gives Mimì a muff to warm her
hands and prays for her life. Mimì dies quietly, and
when Schaunard discovers she is dead, Rodolfo runs to
her side, calling her name. -- courtesy of Opera News
LARRY MAYER\Gazette Staff
Amy
Logan, who performs the role of Mimi, has two children who will
also be on stage in the Rimrock Opera production of “La Boheme”
— 9-year-old Jacob and 7-year-old Alyssa. The children’s father,
Eric, is also involved in the staging as a prop builder.
LARRY MAYER\Gazette Staff
Rimrock Opera is staging La Boheme
with Jeffery Grant Kitto, as Rodolfo and Jan Michael Kliewer as
Marchello. April 2, 2010.
CASEY RIFFE/Gazette Staff
Amy Logan as Mimi and Jeffrey Grant
Kitto as Rodolfo perform “La Boheme” for a special student
matinee show at the Alberta Bair Theater on Thursday
CASEY RIFFE/Gazette Staff
Chorus members from Rimrock Opera's
Chorus for Kids (ROCK) perform "La Boheme" for a special student
show of the opera at the Alberta Bair Theatre Thursday, April
22, 2010.
CASEY RIFFE/Gazette Staff
"La Boheme" cast
members, including Laura Loge as Musetta, center, and Daren Small as Alicindoro,
center bottom, perform a special student show at the Alberta Bair Theatre
Thursday, April 22, 2010.
CASEY RIFFE/Gazette Staff
Skyylar Staton rehearses the music
of “La Boheme” with the Rimrock Opera Chorus for Kids. In
addition to joining singer Rita Coolidge for her holiday show
tonight at the ABT as well as its own concert on Saturday at
Skyview High, the youth singing group will perform in the
Rimrock Opera production of “La Boheme” this spring.
JACI WEBB Of The Gazette Staff | Posted: Friday, April 16, 2010
12:00 am
Nine-year-old Jacob Logan threw himself on the floor one
night, thumping his fists in anger when his mom kissed another
man.
Jacob wasn’t really upset that Jeff Kitto kissed his
mom, Amy Logan, because even at 9, Jacob knew it was all acting.
Amy says being around the high drama of opera for the last three
years has rubbed off on Jacob, who is rehearsing for his third
opera with Rimrock Opera Company, “La Boheme.” It opens next
week at the Alberta Bair Theater.
“He got a big laugh,
which is what he was going for,” said Amy, who plays Mimi in “La
Boheme.”
His younger sister, 7-year-old Alyssa is also
performing in “La Boheme” and their father Eric is building
props.
Now in its 10th season, ROC has become a tradition
for several families and a way for them to spend time together.
Usually it starts when one family member dips a toe in, then
another joins and pretty soon, the whole family is hooked.
For the Logans, it was Amy, choir director at Skyview High
School, who first got interested in opera, but it was as a
clarinetist in the orchestra pit.
“I was always the
clarinet player who also sang,” Amy said. “I never thought I had
that much to offer vocally. I was sort of surprised.”
Coincidentally, the first time she sang in an opera was in the
chorus of “La Boheme” in 2005. Now, she’s playing one of the
leads in the Puccini opera.
“It’s a total body sport.
It’s so powerful, you sing from your toes,” Amy said. “It
absolutely fills you from the inside out.”
For the Ryan
family, it was Kate, now a senior at Senior High School, who
lured her folks, Shelly and Mike, onto the stage. “La Boheme” is
the first opera all three will perform in and it will likely be
their last as a trio because Kate is moving to Missoula to
attend the University of Montana in the fall. Kate moved to
Billings after finishing the eighth grade in California and was
a bit put off by the serious choral music she was singing in
high school. But then she discovered Rimrock Opera Chorus for
Kids.
“I love to see the eyebrows raise when I say I’m
going to opera rehearsal,” said Kate, 17.
Now Kate plans to
minor in music.
In “La Boheme,” Kate plays three roles,
including an ensemble number as a milk maid, her biggest role
yet. Her parents each have about a half-hour on stage, but
they’ve been working on that 30 minutes of music for almost half
a year.
“Chris Sheppard created a CD for each of us
enunciating all the Italian words. It sounds kind of goofy now,
but it really helped in the beginning,” Mike Ryan said.
The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles
projected above the stage. The Ryans have been attending operas
for years and have seen productions in San Francisco, Sacramento
and Denver. But they believe the ROC productions rank right up
there with larger companies’ work because of the preparation and
the guidance and commitment of general director Douglas Nagel.
“I appreciate things that are well done, and Billings operas
are extremely well done,” Mike said. “We both come from
blue-collar backgrounds — my dad’s a plumber — but our families
all appreciate opera. I’d say, if you’ve never seen an opera
before, this is the one to see. If you don’t like this one,
well, you don’t like opera.”
The Bertin family, of
Colstrip, was so excited to get involved in opera that they
committed to driving over from Colstrip for weekday rehearsals
starting in the middle of winter.
“The music is so
exciting,” said Kate Bertin. “We’re tired and we’re driving and
then we get there and say, ‘This is so amazing.’ ”
Like
the Ryans, the Bertins got caught up in opera because of a son,
Thain, who sang in “Carmen” and “The Barber of Seville.” Thain
is now a student at Northwest College in Powell, Wyo., and his
schedule won’t allow him to perform in “La Boheme,” but his
younger brother, 13-year-old Kian, was ready for his shot. So
were Kate; her husband, Jim; and their German exchange student,
Finn Carlson. At least a couple nights a week, the foursome
packs into their passenger car and makes the almost-300-mile
round trip from Colstrip to Billings to sing. There is also
plenty of singing going on en route.
“It is a big time
investment and it is a financial investment, driving back and
forth with gas at $3 a gallon,” Kate Bertin said. “But it’s been
a great experience. It’s so fun to be doing it together.”
JACI WEBB Of The Gazette Staff | Posted: Thursday, April 22,
2010 9:09 pm
A local star was born Thursday at the Alberta Bair Theater.
Skyview High School choral director Amy Logan brought in a
large group of fans for the matinee performance of “La Boheme.”
About a third of the 800 people who took in the production — 240
students — were from Skyview’s music program, and several said
they were proud of Logan, who sang the soprano lead Mimi.
“Amy Logan is definitely an inspiration to us,” Skyview
senior Stephen Seder said. “She’s quite a hero to the students.”
Even students who weren’t from Skyview were roaring their
approval of Logan’s tender aria in the second act. Logan
performed alongside another Montana native, Jeffrey Grant Kitto,
who played Mimi’s suitor Ruldolfo.
“It’s way cool. I
thought it was going to be kind of boring, but I really liked
it,” said Rocky Mountain High School senior Melanie Wahlbrink.
Bass Dennis Rupp, a frequent performer in Rimrock Opera
productions, played Colline the philosopher. In that role, he
had a few comedic moments that made a nice respite from the
tension of Mimi’s worsening condition as she grows weak from
tuberculosis.
Rupp encouraged Logan to move from clarinetist
in the orchestra pit to vocalist in the production. And over the
last four years, Logan has taken on bigger and bigger roles.
Baritone Chris Sheppard, choral director at Montana State
University Billings, also moved from chorus director to one of
the leads, Schaunard, in this production. Other leads were Jan
Michael Kliewer as Marcello and Laura Loge as Musetta. Barbara
Day Turner conducts the 27-piece orchestra.
More than two
dozen Skyview students performed on stage and in the orchestra
pit, including 12 members of the marching band, who wore their
blue falcon uniforms and played music as they marched around the
stage.
Thursday’s matinee set attendance records for the
largest audience at an opera school show.
“People were
all the way into the upper balcony, which has never happened
before at an opera school performance,” said ABT education
director Bess Fredlund. “I think that it is because of the star
Amy who brought hundreds of kids. And the word is getting
out that people can come to this show. St. Vincent Healthcare
had 125 volunteers here.”
Students came from across the
region, including Billings and Lockwood, Big Timber, Bridger,
Cody, Wyo., Red Lodge, Rosebud, and Byron, Wyo.
ROC
general director Douglas Nagel chatted to the audience during
set changes Thursday, giving insight into what it takes to put
on such a big production. Sets are trucked in from Utah, and the
costumes were made for the cast by Westendorf Costume Emporium
in Iowa. Henrietta V. Johnstone, who had a walk-on part in the
café scene, has underwritten the cost of costuming and sets for
ROC for many years, Nagel said.
“Just wait until you see
the snow fall in the next act,” Nagel said.
Even though the
audience knew it was coming, when the first flakes flew, one
girl in the back row gasped, “Cool.”
CASEY RIFFE/Gazette Staff Amy Logan as Mimi and Jeffrey Grant
Kitto as Rodolfo perform "La Boheme" for a special student show
of the opera at the Alberta Bair Theatre Thursday, April 22,
2010.
CASEY RIFFE/Gazette Staff Amy Logan as Mimi and Jeffrey Grant
Kitto as Rodolfo perform "La Boheme" for a special student show
of the opera at the Alberta Bair Theatre Thursday, April 22,
2010.
CASEY RIFFE/Gazette Staff Students, including Olivia Bochy, 11,
from Lockwood Middle School, enjoy a special performance of
Rimrock Opera’s “La Boheme” at Alberta Bair Theater on Thursday.
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