Now 11 years old, David McVicar's staging of Puccini's realist classic returns in fine fettle for Glyndebourne on Tour. Transferring the original setting of 1830s Paris to the here and now causes a few historical references, tucked away in the Italian text, to be discreetly dropped in the English surtitles. But the characters, relationships and ambience all adapt convincingly.
A young cast adds credibility to a narrative focused on impecunious youth, on/off relationships and untimely mortality. Rodolfo's laptop malfunctions and the lights fuse, but however broke they may be, the four lads kick around their grubby flat with carefree exuberance. Outside the Café Momus on what could be a colourful Saturday night in London's Old Compton Street, the tightly wrapped Musetta (Natasha Jouhl) makes a fool of Richard Mosley-Evans's pimp-like Alcindoro while bobbies arrest the dodgy street-hawker Parpignol.
The singing is largely excellent. Brazilian tenor Atalla Ayan's Rodolfo keeps his line buoyant on a rich flow of authentic Latin tone. Vincenzo Taormina's brash but sentient Marcello has plenty of heart at the centre of his baritone. Nicholas Lester creates his own sensitive identity as Schaunard, and Polish bass Lukas Jakobski makes his mark in a finely sculpted account of Colline's Coat Song. If Keri Alkema's vocal colours are too dark for Mimì, they will surely find more suitable employment in other repertoire.
Conducting this revival is Glyndebourne on Tour's music director, Jakub Hru˚ša – recently snapped up by the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen. He provides a well controlled reading, strong on momentum and detail, though he is not always fully engaged at those crucial moments when Puccini punctures your emotional carapace with a sudden telling gesture. But there is enough dramatic truthfulness on stage to make up for any lack of it in the pit.
