Star-Advertiser – Classic opera set in 19th century Paris will resonate with audiences in 21st century Hawaii

Opera is known for setting its stories in unusual, foreign locales, like “Aida” in Egypt, “Turandot” in China, or “Madame Butterfly” in Japan, or in unusual circumstances, like “Tosca,” set amid the ruling class during political upheaval in Rome.

“La Boheme,” the popular Puccini opera that opens the Hawaii Opera Theatre season this week, isn’t quite so exotic. It’s set in a grungy artistic community of Paris. The story involves characters with whom we readily identify, especially in a creative community like Hawaii: young artists, struggling to make ends meet or to make a name for themselves, preferably both.

“It’s a realistic story,” said stage director Chuck Hudson. “It’s set in Paris in the 19th century, so it’s all about romanticism and love. It’s a story that tells itself very cleanly. Puccini is a brilliant storyteller as well as composer.”

So universal is the story — a “boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back” plot that incorporates both noble sacrifice and tragedy — that it was adapted for Broadway in “Rent,” with AIDS substituting for tuberculosis, the deadly scourge in “Boheme.”

Hudson identifies strongly with the story. He spent part of his 20s studying with mime Marcel Marceau in Paris, living in an old apartment with a view of the Eiffel Tower and windows that wouldn’t close.

“The 19th century arts studio in Paris, where a bunch of people are sitting around in these salons talking about art, talking about philosophy, that’s what this show is all about — but they’re also you and me,” he said. “We can really see ourselves— young, idealistic, in love, with a vision to change the world.”

Musically, Puccini’s work is considered one of the finest in the repertoire. Tenor MacKenzie Whitney, making his HOT debut, said his character, the poet Rodolfo, “is probably one of the top five tenor roles in all the repertoire — very demanding, because as an expressive man, you have to be able to sing with such gusto, be loud and heroic, but also be very sensitive.”

For Whitney, whose big aria is “Che gelida manina” (“What a cold little hand”) in the first act, it’s the pure pleasure of singing opera that drew him to the art. “The sensation of singing opera is like nothing you’ve ever felt in your life,” he said. “Your whole body is involved, and you create this sound, and just go, ‘Wow! I can’t believe I just did that.”

Soprano Elizabeth Caballero returns to HOT to portray Mimi, a fallen woman who becomes Rodolfo’s ill-starred lover. She especially enjoys the third act, when Mimi learns of the extent of her illness.

All of the lead characters have arias, including a rousing quartet at the end. “Musically that entire act is just so perfect,” she said. “From the beginning of that act, from where you hear the snow falling, it really sounds just like the way snow would sound.”

Caballero faces the challenge of singing beautifully while portraying a character with a fatal illness, but she said Puccini cleverly wrote that into the music. “Puccini wrote it very perfectly in act four, where he’s just asking Mimi to sound more faint of voice, and the orchestration for her is very faint and light. It’s really beautiful how he wrote it.”

It’s fitting for “La Boheme” to open the season for HOT, which is rolling out the red carpet for guests for today’s performance. “It’s the great first opera for people to see,” said conductor Karen Keltner, who waxed enthusiastic about the cast that HOT assembled for her debut here.

She expects newcomers to opera may see “La Boheme” and think, “Oh my god, these are people who feel the things I feel and go through some of the same things I go through.”