MUSIC REVIEWS : WESTERN OPERA SINGS ‘BOHEME’ IN ENGLISH

When you have an ensemble of creditable, hard-working singing actors, as Western Opera Theater (the touring/training company of San Francisco Opera) put on display Monday evening, the theatrical verities of opera are placed solidly center stage. In a work like Puccini’s “La Boheme,” such attention to dramatic and musical detail pays off with dividends.

As experienced in Ambassador Auditorium, this intimate, small-scale “Boheme” may have lost a bit of power in the massed comings and goings in the Cafe Momus episode. The performance lacked a chorus, after all, and Bernard Uzan could only do so much with six extra bodies, even though his deft direction brought the work’s comedic touches to the forefront as a sharp contrast to the later tragedy.

But such occasional lacks were dispelled with spirited singing, committed and believable acting and alert leadership from the pit, thanks to conductor Evan Whallon. This “Boheme” was a theatrical experience first and a vehicle for operatic grandstanding last--just what one has come to expect from the this company.

Our four Bohemians established their rough camaraderie with the opera’s first notes, and throughout the night the four men--Doug Wunsch as Rodolfo, Victor Ledbetter as Marcello, David Pittsinger as Colline and Stephen Eisenhard as Schaunard--impressed with their easy rapport. Fine voices were here, too: Ensemble work and solo passages were handled with impressive professionalism and--occasionally--telling lyricism.

Wunsch seemed occasionally overwhelmed by his role--and he wasn’t helped by orchestral overplaying--but his light tenor voice at least found no problems with the poet’s exposed high notes. Ledbetter overcame a tendency to sing only forte early on, and his interpretation of the painter was sympathetic and tender. Pittsinger’s “Vecchia zimarra” (or, in this English-language performance, “My dear old colleague”) was moving and pointedly sung, and Eisenhard’s deft comic touches and informed musicianship delighted throughout.

The women, too, gave much pleasure. Ann Panagulias’ dark looks and frail physique embodied Mimi aptly, but there was no frailty in that polished, highly focused soprano voice. Her arias were examples of fine singing informing a characterization. Donna Zapola has the vocal potential to do it all, but her Musetta has, at this early stage, not quite jelled, either musically or dramatically.

The attractive, economical sets were by Jay Kotcher, and the costumes, which were borrowed from the San Francisco Opera, were by Walter Mahoney.