Erika and I watched the Canadian Opera Company’s la bohème today at the Four Seasons Centre using our subscription tickets, a revival of John Caird’s production that we saw in 2013 and again in 2019. As it was the closing performance this may seem pointless. It’s not really a review. In point of fact productions like this one are the best argument for renewing our subscription. Although she saw Fidelio with me two weeks ago, this was the one that really works for her. Puccini is her favourite and judging by the full house, rapturous at the end, she’s not alone.

Driving home under a full moon, it was inevitable that Moonstruck would find its way to the television. As Erika watched with the soundtrack drifting down to me, I thought I’d share some thoughts.

I could hear Loretta (Cher) lambasting Ronnie (Nicholas Cage).

This opera is indestructible, so well written that it always works whether the cast are as young as the characters they portray or much older. It helps if they sing well.

The COC gave us a wonderfully inclusive cast, persons of colour. Tenor Kang Wang faced a special challenge, singing but one performance near the end of the run with each of the Mimis (Amina Edris this week, Jonelle Sills last week). He sang well (as did they all) fitting into the ensemble shenanigans as though he had been there all along.

Speaking of Jonelle whose work I admire, I recently watched Against the Grain’s youtube version that was originally broadcast in 2019, a translation / adaptation (or what they call a “transladaptation”) into modern English by Joel Ivany employing a really young cast playing the opera in a tavern setting. It’s available online until tomorrow. Although they cut out some parts, it mostly works.

I was impressed by a couple of Canadians. Conductor Jordan de Souza created a superb interpretation. When there were big set-pieces such as in the Second Act with the toy seller, or in the last act dances and play-fights, he whipped up the orchestral sound, brisk and energized. For arias and duets, he sometimes proceeded very slowly showing great care and sensitivity, allowing silences and following soloists. It was the best sounding boheme I’ve heard in awhile.

I’m conflicted.

Speaking of inclusivity, the Canadian Opera Company are not as Canadian as they could be if they really put their minds to it. Yes the orchestra and the chorus did amazing work. Charlotte Siegel (Canadian) was a superb Musetta vocally and dramatically. Justin Welsh (Canadian), the Schaunard today in COC’s bohème, has played the larger role of Marcello in the AtG boheme that we saw a few years ago in Toronto. Maybe I’m old-fashioned but I remember when Canadians progressed at the COC, when a singer who sang Schaunard would later sing Marcello.

I feel I can say this as a long-time COC subscriber, who puts his money where his mouth is. There are singers who have left the profession because there’s not enough work. That the COC gets funding from arts councils while bringing in foreign talent really bugs me. When there’s no competent singer available to sing the role, sure, you need to import. But that’s not the case with this opera. It’s especially true when you consider that the bohemians are supposed to be young, yet in this production many of the singers are looking somewhat long in the tooth (not naming names). Please give me young Canadians. Stratford Festival is almost completely Canadian talent. National Ballet is mostly Canadian talent. If those companies –who began with the colonial model of bringing in European mentors and teachers —could do it, surely the COC can too. Speaking of colonial, it doesn’t help that the COC keep hiring foreigners for their management. I’m looking forward to the day that the COC make the bold step of putting a Canadian into the role of General Director. I don’t believe these goals have been properly articulated to the powers that be at the COC.

I understand that the COC has a charter stating that the company is supposed to employ Canadians when possible. But perhaps the piece of paper is stuck in a filing cabinet somewhere, that is if it wasn’t shredded.

I’m wishing the COC would follow through a bit more with their Ensemble Studio, a concept begun under Lotfi Mansouri that offers training and employment opportunities to young singers. It’s a bit like the internships we see at universities, where teaching assistants are paid to work in supporting roles, as they train in hopes of being professors. It’s definitely a win-win, in the sense that both sides benefit. The university saves money with these young teaching assistants, who don’t cost nearly as much as professors, and take some of the load off the professors, and the TAs get paid for work that serves as part of their training.

But it’s an imperfect analogy if we recall that Teaching Assistants are on a path to becoming professors. The COC Ensemble Studio train people who may work elsewhere but rarely seem to come back to the COC except in small roles, OR after making it big elsewhere.

John Gilks of Opera Ramblings said the following, in his write-up of the recent Ensemble Studio event.

Realistically, success at Centre Stage is less a guarantee of stardom than an opportunity to get a grip on the very bottom of the long, greasy pole that may, sometimes, lead to stardom.

I know far too many singers who have to take a day-job, who give up their dream, who are struggling. The pathway currently being taken by the COC makes me sad and frustrated.