Director Focuses on Tenor of Opera Acting

“Think of the moment,” the director says to his young cast. “And--action!”

But this isn’t a sound stage, and there are no big cameras rolling. The action unfolds instead in a large, mostly bare rehearsal room at the Washington Opera Studio here.

Members of the Vilar/Domingo Young Artists Program are being put through their paces by Baz Luhrmann, the Australian director whose films include “Strictly Ballroom” and a nominee for the 2001 best picture Oscar, “Moulin Rouge.”

This master class on acting is the kind of starry venture you might expect in the inaugural season of the Opera Studio, funded by a $5-million grant from mega-philanthropist Alberto Vilar. Washington Opera artistic director and superstar tenor Placido Domingo selected 11 singers and two pianist/coaches. Those here today get to sample the energetic, amiable Luhrmann’s combination of old sayings (“The future is in your hands”) and almost maniacal analysis of words and gestures.

Looking like one of the Bee Gees in his casual-chic black suit and unruly mop of blond/gray hair, Luhrmann forces the singers to think about each move in scenes from Puccini’s “La Boheme,” an opera particularly associated with him.

In 1990, he staged a remarkably appealing production of it for the Australian Opera, with the action updated to 1957; a film of it was broadcast on TV in this country. Come December, Luhrmann’s “Boheme” is due to hit Broadway, where it will be presented like a traditional musical in daily performances.

“You can’t not be deeply affected by ‘Boheme,’” Luhrmann, 39, says before plunging into the master class. “Living for the moment, falling in love at an impossible pace--we’ve all done it.”

Touching an audience, especially those who “have a fear of the grand temples of opera,” is the goal of Luhrmann’s art--and this class.

“The experience I love above all is where true life and true drama were on stage, united with the music, and you could hear a pin drop,” he says. “Imagine if we could do that every day. I think we owe folks that. You cannot get casual about this mission. If you deliver that magic, they’ll follow you forever.”

Luhrmann then tried to unleash some of that magic within the confines of the rehearsal studio. He had one advantage going into the class: Today’s opera world may not boast voices of golden-age caliber, but most vocalists now--including the Washington Opera Studio members who got a chance to work with Luhrmann--could act rings around the stand-and-sing types of old. Still, Luhrmann wants a lot more from them.

Matthew Wolff, a 22-year-old tenor from Virginia, and baritone Hung Yun, 32, from Korea, go through the opening duet of Act 4, as the director watches intently through nearly squinted eyes. Then he pounces.

“What are you saying?” he asks both men. Haltingly, they translate their lines into English. Luhrmann still isn’t satisfied. He asks Yun to switch to his native tongue and speak the whole scene. Suddenly, the baritone is communicating more deeply, as if he means every word.

“When it is in Italian, it has to be the same,” Luhrmann says.

Later, in the opening scene of Act 3, the director works on one of Yun’s gestures--pointing out to a shivering Mimi the painting that the baritone’s character, Marcello, has done. Yun keeps walking away from Mimi (soprano Eugenia Garza, 26, from Mexico) and spreading his arm wide, a stereotypical operatic motion Luhrmann won’t abide.

He urges Yun to tone things down, to keep his focus on Mimi, and not play to the balcony.

“If you believe what you’re saying, don’t add things on top of it,” the director says.

Each time a singer follows his advice, the thrice-familiar snippets of “Boheme” come to life in surprisingly effective ways.

The last singer up is Valeriano Lanchas, a 25-year-old bass from Colombia, who has clearly been absorbing the class. As he sings the Act 4 “Coat Aria,” he keeps his movements to a minimum, internalizing the music.

“There was a moment there when I believed it,” Luhrmann says, before continuing the process of digging for still more nuance, more truth.

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Tim Smith is music critic at the Baltimore Sun, a Tribune company.