Philippine Opera Company La Boheme Manila Posts

La Boheme at the CCP from Fritz Tentativa on Vimeo.
Video Courtesy of fritzified.com

Karla Gutierrez of the Philippine Opera Company has kindly listened to my suggestion of having open rehearsals of La Boheme, and has generously allowed all bloggers who are willing to write a post about their reactions and thoughts to observe the first run through rehearsal of La Boheme on 01 October 2008 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Here’s a list of the La Boheme posts in no particular order:

David of Davidplatz is so enamored of the opera La Boheme and its modern counterpart Rent that he has written a three part series covering the subject.

Part 1 is a teaser for the Philippine Opera production of La Boheme.
Part 2 describes his La Boheme experience.
Part 3 is a visual comparison of the opera La Boheme and the groundbreaking musical Rent.

Anton Diaz of Our Awesome Planet advises audience members, “[I]t is your responsibility to read the synopsis of the 4 acts.”

Philippine Entertainment Portal or PEP focused on soprano Ana Feleo and interviewed the opera singer on how she prepared for the role of Musetta, “I trained with W. Stephen Smith in Juilliard School of Music to prepare me vocally for the role. And then I also had several acting classes with my mother (Film director and acting coach Laurice Guillen), along with the other cast members for the emotional and character obligation of each role. We also had weekly training with Maestra Helen Quach to master the score of Puccini since June of this year.”

Fritz Tentativa of Fritzified began his post by describing his aversion for opera, “[W]henever I hear an aria being played anywhere, my eyeballs would suddenly shoot sideways without warning and stay there for a good 10 seconds minimum in protest.”

Blogger and Photo Blogger Juned Sonido found numerous details he found fascinating that resulted in four posts on Baratillo and DilisMedia

Images of the Powerful Conducting Hands of Maestra Helen Quach
Images of the Opera Singers
A Discovery about the Human Voice
Two Amazing Things

Photo Courtesy of Juned Sonido

Trina of crackingdays admitted to a Pretty Woman moment, “I wanted to know if I could understand what it was all about just by watching the actors act and just by listening to the music and songs. In a sense you could call me romantic – I wanted to know if the acting and especially the music could communicate with my soul even if I don’t understand Italian.”

Jepoy Go of Toilet Thoughts of a Toxic Mind made a complete turnabout from being dismissive, “I knew nothing of this opera and shrugged it off as another one of those plays. But after watching some acts, and hearing from Floy mentioning it as one of the greatest love stories ever sung, all I could do was nod.”

Stephen Rojas of ArtsAreKewl described the dramatic Act 3 set, “A backlit broken carousel and tents, apparently an abandoned carnival, metal wire fencing, melancholic and heartbroken singing was what greeted me…”

Francis of Stir Fried Crazy shared personal photos of his barkada that mirrored the La Boheme gang and said, “Someone once told me that the secret to appreciating opera is to let the emotions of the music carry you away and that I managed to experience first hand while watching the rehearsal.”

Joriben Zaballa of Jori’s Entertainment Journal makes a direct comparison of La Boheme and Rent characters, “The poetic Rodolfo became the rocker Roger Davis, his friend painter Marcello is transformed into the filmmaker Mark Cohen, Muzetta the singer became Maureen Johnson, Schaunard the musician sheds his manliness to the character of a gay drag queen– Angel Dumott Schunard, and Mimi the seamstress retains her name but instead of having a Tubercolosis, Mimi in Rent is a Heroin addict and HIV positive.”

Shar Bareng of Female Network raved about the performances, “”With a timeless classic like La Boheme, where we expect little comprehension of the language (which is purely in Italian), the cast’s performance can spell the difference. We were lucky to have witnessed Gary del Rosario, one of the youngest Filipino tenors to make waves overseas, rehearsing his role as Rodolfo (which he has done five times in different opera houses) and heard how his voice overpowered the orchestra.”

Fran Haw of Flipflopping My Way Around Town marveled what has been touted as the greatest love story ever told, “In just a couple of hours, you will witness love growing, love bringing out the best and worst in a person, love making it harder for one to let go, love reuniting two people and finally, you’ll see the tragic death of love.”

Karen Manalastas of safranin proclaims she’s an opera virgin no more and admires the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, “I also recommend that you take deep breaths while you listen. The resonance produced by the expansion of the chest cavity seems to enhance the experience. (It’s either that or the increased oxygen making me inordinately happy.)”

Patrick Quezon of gettingimpatient found himself getting teary eyed, “I nearly teared up during that uber long goodbye scene, even though I did not understand one word of it. Nada.”

Spanky Enriquez of Manila Boy gave five tips how to enjoy La Boheme, one of which is, “Get rid of your pre-conceived notions based on the sexy characters in the poster. Italian or Filipino, Opera Singers were never know to be waifish.”

Cheska of cheskavisperas made a startling discovery, “Well, I didn’t get to hear Musetta’s Waltz. But what did I get? I found that I do like operas. I found that I would spend thousands to see one, hehe. It was a great learning experience. And, most importantly, I have even more appreciation now of the tremendous talent of Filipinos.”

Watch La Boheme CCP- Quando Me’n Vo (Musetta’s Waltz) Better Resolution in Entertainment Videos  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Video Courtesy of David Platz

Patrick Salamat of Missing Points perceptively wrote, “The egos are really just manifestations of their perfectionism and will match eventually because there is a method to opera’s madness.”

May Tilos loves the theater, and, hopefully, will become a future full fledged blogger. For now, she shares her thoughts on the Pinoy Exchange forums, “I was told once before that if I were to choose to watch one opera in my lifetime, it will have to be Puccini’s La Boheme.”

Hogi Cadlum of Simply Tymeless was the only blogger who was able to watch the La Boheme rehearsals from start to finish, and picked a favorite scene, “I love the quartet of Mimi, Rodolfo, Musetta (yep, you got it–Maureen) and Marcello. One couple reconciles, while the other quarrels.”

Jester of The Journal of the Jester In Exile decided after watching the rehearsal partially, “I’m certain I’m going to make the effort to watch the Philippine Opera Company’s staging of La Boheme.”

Fred Hawson of 3xhcch marveled, “[A]ction was stopped quite a number of time. But that is part of the uniqueness of this experience. Watching these opera singers just stop and then relaunch into song at cue all at full voice.”

Lalah of Always Anxious recounted her reaction to the music, “It won’t just give you goosebumps. Sagad sa buto ang tama at dagundong ng musika.”

Watch La Boheme- Mimi’s Death Scene in Entertainment Videos  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Video Courtesy of David Platz

Polaris of Notes from Elsewhere pointed out, “The fact that the show is conducted in Italian does not detract from its enjoyment. Music is the only true universal language and Italian, one of the most mellifluous, romantic, and beautiful languages in the world, certainly does not hurt the show, either.”

Dementia of Bury Me In This Dress said, “I was delighted with the video backdrop which Furball created although I learned that there will be some changes to it during the run itself.”

Pablo Manalastas wrote on his Yahoo 360 and Multiply blogs, “On Monday night, I saw a sneak preview on TV of La Boheme as it will be shown at the CCP, and I watched “Mimi” singing one of the most beautiful love songs that I have ever heard.”

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