English National Opera’s decision to abandon Benedict Andrews’s rootless and contemporary 2015 La Bohème and revert to Jonathan Miller’s 2009 production is the right one. This company needs surefire productions of core repertoire to rebuild its audience, and Miller’s Bohème, which is set in 1930s Paris, goes to the heart of Puccini’s masterpiece while making you think about it afresh.
Miller’s interwar setting, played out around a revolving set, contains no shocks to the system. The Bohemians’ garret scenes are timeless, and the power cut that triggers Mimi’s appearance with a candle at Rodolfo’s door, is a neat touch. Act two in the Cafe Momus is its headily indestructible self. Only act three, relocated to the streets in front of the Momus, loses focus, though in this scene, above all, Natalya Romaniw’s Mimi touches the heights.
Romaniw’s is the standout performance in this revival. She phrases with a near ideal mixture of conviction and taste, and she is well matched with Jonathan Tetelman’s handsome Rodolfo, who makes his ardent most of the role. Fresh from her success in Porgy and Bess, Nadine Benjamin is a charismatic Musetta, while Nicholas Lester’s Marcello oozes vocal charm. David Soar’s fine Colline and Božidar Smiljanić’s Schaunard make up the quartet of Bohemians; Simon Butteriss provides a double cameo as Benoît and Alcindoro. Alexander Joel conducts carefully but idiomatically and draws fine playing from the ENO orchestra.
Yet the real achievement is Miller’s. Helped by Amanda Holden’s translation, he steers his audience from the boisterous and tear-jerking rewards of act one towards the recognition that Puccini’s opera is not just Mimi’s tragedy, but that of four young men who, when confronted with women, prove to be entirely out of their emotional depth.
At the Coliseum, London, until 22 February.
