La Boheme is being presented at the Redwood Theatre on Friday September19th 8:00 p.m., a co-production with The Redwood Theatre including a silent auction in support of Daily Bread Food Bank.

I talked to Holly Chaplin who sings the starring role of Mimi and Ryan Hofman who will sing the role of Schaunard the musician. Ryan Hofman is also co-producer.

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Barczablog: La Bohème is often spoken of as a comedy with a tragic ending. Do you think of Bohème as more comic or more tragic?

Holly Chaplin: There are definitely comedic aspects, but I wouldn’t call it a comedy. Maybe dramma giocoso at best. I once heard a colleague sum up the plot of La Bohème like this: “A bunch of dudes try to skip out on their rent and some girl dies.” Factually, not wrong. But what makes La Bohème so moving is the way it pushes past that cold description. It doesn’t dismiss the hardships of poverty, disease, or death like my colleague’s summary—it humanizes them. Rodolfo knows he can’t provide the care Mimi needs, and shows you his fear of her demise. Mimi is so sweet and loving. She has found the love of her life, and what does she get? A terminal illness. Yes, there are lighthearted moments when the guys are clowning around with their drinks, or Musetta is being a brat, but beneath that is a story about people who fall through the cracks of society.

Ryan Hofman: I actually think of La Boheme as more of a tragic romance with comic relief. The love story of Mimi and Rodolfo is such an epic love story, only to be thwarted by death (spoiler, this is opera!). Who doesn’t want that great love story! The comic relief comes from several moments of the opera:
1) the bromance between Rodolfo, Marcello, Schaunard and Colline
2) Musetta and Alcindoro
3) Musetta and her jilted loved Marcello

Holly Chaplin: I think La Bohème is a rite of passage for every artist, because it hits so close to home. Directors often say, “You’ll need to imagine what this kind of poverty feels like.” But for artists, there’s no need to imagine—we live it. Loving music enough to pursue it often means sacrifice. Rodolfo burns his writing for warmth; I’ve done the singer’s version of that—reusing old recordings instead of investing in new ones, cancelling coachings or lessons just to pay the bills. It hurts, because it feels like your art is suffering, but it also forces you to be resourceful and resilient.

So, is it comedy or tragedy? To me, it’s neither. It’s just life.

BB: Do we maybe need to dispense with genres, when they confuse us?

Holly Chaplin: Everything gets its own annoying box. Mostly it’s capitalism, but in a world where people have little time and even less money, they want to have an idea of whether they can expect to spend their afternoon crying or not.

BB: Does genre matter? or do you sing the same whatever the genre, for comedies vs tragedies?

Holly Chaplin: The short answer is yes. You’re not going to sing Gilbert & Sullivan the same way you’d sing Verdi. The longer answer is that it depends on the palette you have and what you need to create within the piece. With Mimi, for example, there are massive legato lines but also delicate pianissimos—and those have to shift depending on whether she’s crying, in pain, or simply living in the tenderness of love. Every genre demands its own colors, but all of them rely on solid technique to be presented well.

BB: Imagine you’re Musetta tormenting Marcello in Act II (comedy) or Schaunard observing Mimi’s illness (tragic). You may want to react (to laugh or cry) but have to stay in character, to make the comedy or tragedy work. What strategies do you use to stay in character, to keep your focus?

Holly Chaplin: I think the key is to remember that your character is experiencing the world for the first time. Most people in real life aren’t hyper-aware of others, so many “funny” situations don’t feel funny to those actually living them. Have you ever watched a sitcom without the laugh track? It feels bizarre. Comedy works the same way: after enough rehearsals, the joke just becomes another part of the day. Of course, I’m not immune—when I sang HMS Pinafore with Ryan Downey, I completely cracked during Ralph’s speech where he called himself “a living ganglion of irreconcilable antagonisms.”

Ryan Hofman: I find the best strategies to stay in character are not only eye contact with your colleague on stage but asking yourself what story is your colleague trying to tell on stage? What can I add to this scene? What would Schaunard do? Who is Schaunard in this scenerio and does can I do with the text to add to the character onstage (through body language, facial expression, etc).

Holly Chaplin: For me, tragedies are harder. I try to pace them by pulling from my own life experiences or those of people I know. The situations may be imaginary, but the emotions are real. I save the high-intensity feelings for dress rehearsals and performances, and in early rehearsals I focus on the moving parts—staging, technique, and play with my colleagues. That balance helps me stay grounded without losing the emotional truth.

BB: The public perception of roles will usually focus on a big aria. When you’re learning how to sing, especially the arias are a great starting point. But they aren’t necessarily the toughest parts of your role either vocally or dramatically. What part of your role is toughest?

Holly Chaplin: For me, the dramatic arc is the most challenging. Every singer learns arias before they’re ever cast—those pieces are audition staples, and the choices you make there are often “turned up to 11” to show your range. But once you step into a full production, the real challenge is pacing. In a role like Mimi, you can’t give everything away too early.

Ryan Hofman: I really believe the toughest part of any role is the interjections that take place with other characters. You have to be so focused on what the other characters are saying in order to be able to have the most authentic reaction.

Holly Chaplin: What I find hardest is her sweetness in the face of her circumstances. In the practice room, she breaks me. She’s a simple woman who loves with her whole heart, and through no fault of her own, she just has to fade away. That reality exists for so many people, and it makes me want to scream. I spend a lot of time searching for the version of myself who could meet that fate with grace instead of fury. I suppose Mimi finds strength in surrender—and that’s what makes her so devastating to portray.

BB: Using La Boheme as a fundraiser for the food bank seems like a natural. Are there any particular lines of your role or of anyone else onstage, where you are reacting to the challenges of life (as Marcello or Mimi) that you would highlight, that we should notice?

Holly Chaplin: I appreciate the focus on the simple things that our Bohemians want; shelter, heat, crema, or a pink bonnet! These are basic joys and necessities, not luxuries. It reminds me of how people living on the margins of society are often misunderstood or turned into political fodder.Those who rely on support programs live with immense shame and are too often painted as greedy or taking advantage, when in reality most are just hardworking people struggling to afford food and rent. La Bohème captures that humanity—the way survival and dignity can hinge on the smallest comforts.

Ryan Hofman: I think Colline’s Coat aria and Musetta in Act 4 are the perfect examples. They are both willing to sell their prized possessions in order to help their friend, Mimi. This showcases the reality in their time and what they were willing to sacrifice for their loved ones.

BB: I understand that in addition to the opera, there have been some cool gifts that have been donated to be part of the silent auction. What can one expect?

Ryan Hofman: Here’s a preliminary list.

Elmwood Spa $200 gift card.
Canadian Opera Company Orchestra Seats
Toronto Symphony Orchestra 2 tickets to 1 of 3 possible concerts
Opera Revue Tickets
3 Separate Redwood Theatre Shows
GOOD THINGS:An Evening with Samin Nisrat @ Massey Hall
2 Tickets to SOLO’s upcoming performance of TOSCA on Saturday, October 4th
National Ballet-Signed Pair of Pointe Shoes

BB: Wow! So La boheme is one of the most popular operas of all, a great first opera, a terrific opera for people who don’t know opera. Why do you think that’s the case?

Ryan Hofman: I think La Boheme is timeless and has stood the test of time because of the music and the message. The romance, whether it is a tragedy or comedy, opera most of all is an escape where it allows us to be transported from everyday life. 

Holly Chaplin: The music is simply beautiful. I love the intensity of verismo, and I think right now we all crave the chance to “feel fully.” Audiences are drawn to the chemistry of the four lovers in the first two acts—falling in love and being in love, especially in those early stages, is thrilling. Pair that universal experience with Puccini’s lush, emotional score, and it’s no wonder La Bohème is such a perfect first opera.

Ryan Hofman: La Boheme has it all! Comedic moments, romance, tragedy! It has the recognizable classics, such as “Quando m’en vo” and “Che gelida manina”: having the familiarity of this classics, allows for the audience to be taken into the bohemian world time and time again.

BB: Is there anyone out there who hasn’t seen Moonstruck (one of my favourite films)?

BB: …complete with a Toronto connection. Do you have any acknowledgements you’d like to make?

Holly Chaplin: I’d like to thank you, Leslie! Also, my parents and entire family for raising me, my neighbors for putting up with all my practicing these past couple of months, my fiancé, my colleagues and friends, and Frederique Vézina.

BB: What do you have coming up?

Holly Chaplin: I have a few things. Obviously La Boheme, then I sing a Mozart Requiem in November in Brantford. In the new year I am excited to join the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra for New Years Day concert, and on Valentines Day I will be singing with the Georgian Bay Symphony Orchestra. After that I get to sing Lucia in Lucia Di Lammermoor with Opera York, which I am so happy to explore the role again after its success with Southern Ontario Lyric Opera last season.

I have some other gigs and giglets in the works; check out my website www.hollychaplin.com, instagram or blog https://uselessnewsgoddess.blogspot.com/ to see what I have going on!

Ryan Hofman: After this, I am still in the thick of it. Returning to the SOLO stage as Sacristan/Sciarrone (more Puccini, this time in Tosca) and pulling double duty, working behind-the-scenes as Artistic Consultant and Outreach Officer. 

After, Tosca, it slows down briefly before a busy November with concert work (Brahms, Duruflé Requiem and Dvorak Te Deum in Ottawa and Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem with RESOUND Choir in Oshawa). 

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But first, Holly sings Mimi and Ryan sings Schaunard as part of La Boheme On Tap Friday 8 pm September 19th at the Redwood Theatre, 1300 Gerrard St East.

Tickets start at $50.00. Click for info & tickets.
For 30% off enter F&F at Check-Out.