Making the most of Puccini’s Mimi

Young Chang

You could say Mimi is the younger Marschallin, the more

contemporary Christine, the role women opera stars would love to

sing.

True, the Bohemian character isn’t the middle-aged Marschallin of

“Der Rosenkavalier,” who runs around with a young lover in a show

full of disguise and intrigue. She’s not necessarily Christine,

either, in the shadow of the “Phantom of the Opera.” But Mimi is a

“wonderful woman,” according to the two sopranos who will sing her

for Opera Pacific’s production of “La Boheme,” opening Tuesday at the

Orange County Performing Arts Center.

“She’s such the embodiment of womanhood,” said soprano Robin

Follman of Tustin. “She has all the wonderful qualities that define

women. She’s empathetic, courageous, intelligent, sensitive and she

always has everybody’s best interests at heart and puts them above

her own.”

Rachel Cobb, a resident artist at Opera Pacific who will alternate

with Follman in the role of Mimi, calls the tragic character

“heroic.”

“She accepts her death and she keeps going,” the Long Beach

resident said. “She wants to comfort everyone else all the time.”

The Puccini opera, which is part of the Eclectic Orange Festival,

tells the classically sad tale of Mimi and the poet Rodolfo’s

relationship. Ukranian tenor Misha Didyk makes his debut in the role

of Rodolfo, alternating with Scott Piper, an American tenor. The

characters live among artists in Paris in the 1830s. Mimi has

tuberculosis, called consumption at the time, and dies in the end.

The biggest challenge in playing the character is balancing a

vocal maturity with a youthful attitude, the 32-year-old Follman

said. Mimi is 20 years old and should be sung with a voice that isn’t

so freely full but big enough and with enough stamina to accompany

the very large orchestra Puccini intended.

“The music is so lush and full and the orchestration is so thick

that the tendency is for us to sing it very big,” Follman said. “But

the first act and second act should be youthful and beautiful ....The

goal is not to wallow in my maturity.”

The third act allows for bigger and more dramatic singing, as Mimi

discovers she is dying.

“Act three is very exciting, very emotional,” Cobb said. “It’s

such an emotional revelation to her.”

There has been a popular interest in “La Boheme” in recent years

with the popularity of the musical “Rent,” which is based loosely on

the Puccini opera.

“I was very intrigued because I found so many Broadway people had

spent so much time researching and seeing ‘Boheme’ because they were

exposed to ‘Rent,’” Follman said. “A lot of people who go see ‘Rent’

see ‘Boheme’ It’s a win-win situation.”

The rock-musical’s younger appeal has also drawn more teenagers

into fan-hood, as ‘Rent’ has been known to attract groupies with its

rock-concert like feel. Follman also credits the Three Tenors and

Charlotte Church for drawing growing numbers of younger audiences to

the opera world.

“Anything that makes opera more accessible to the public is a good

thing,” she said.