By Mort Levine

Opera review

It is said that when Giacomo Puccini penned the final notes which accompany Mimi’s tragic death in “La Boheme,” he wept copiously. Audiences forever after have been doing the same thing.

It was no different last month when West Bay Opera presented a well-balanced and spirited staging of what is still, after 106 years, the world’s favorite opera. Staffed by a set of outstanding young singer-actors, the production was further enhanced by innovative direction and an imaginative set design.

“La Boheme,” set in Paris’ Left Bank in the early 19th century, is about four young bohemians - a poet, painter, musician and philosopher - sharing a raggedy, chilly studio. Poet Rudolpho (sung by tenor Jonathan Boyd) meets neighbor Mimi, a young seamstress (soprano Shana Blake Hill) who comes in looking for a light for her candle. It is love at first light.

Alas, she suffers from the health scourge of the 19th century, tuberculosis. After a romantic fling in a Parisian cafe, they separate because of his unwarranted jealousy. They reunite when she is terminally ill and struggles to that studio room. In a subplot, painter Marcello (baritone Joshua Benaim) is reunited with a former lover, the saucily flamboyant Musetta (mezzo soprano Malinda Haslett).

West Bay designer Jean-Francois Revon grew up in Paris, so his sets have a special French flair. The company makes the most of the small stage at Palo Alto’s Lucie Stern Theatre. Turntables and modular designs made the scene changes quick and seamless.

Among the clever special effects was a scrim which is the shabby back wall of the studio, and then with a lighting change we see the lovers strolling out onto the boulevard. The Cafe Momus set enabled a huge number of choristers, on-stage musicians, vendors and jugglers, as well as the singers to interact smoothly.

Veteran director Kenneth Tigar returned to the company after staging last year’s successful “Tartuffe,” to capture all of the pathos and comedy with which Puccini endowed this masterwork. Despite having to double cast all of the principals, West Bay proved how deep the pool of outstanding young singers is in the region.

Two of the lesser roles include Benoit, an aged landlord (baritone Jesse Merlin). Musetta’s flustered and abused sugar daddy, the rich Alcindoro, was well played by Eric Coyne. Unlike the too-youthful looking Merlin, he looked the part.

Bass Kurt Eichelberger was especially moving in his heartfelt farewell to an overcoat he was pawning, and baritone Roberto Gomez gave an outstanding rendition of Schaunard, the musician and charming scrounger.

Tenor Jonathan Boyd, who looks like a youthful Jussi Bjoerling (one of the legendary Rudolphos), has a strong lyric instrument which easily filled the confines of the intimate theater. His robust voice at times overpowered his frail lover’s, especially as her health failed.

But in the first act, Blake Hill showed her warm and velvety dramatic soprano to good advantage. The couple excelled in the most famous love exchange in opera, with Rudolpho singing “Che gelida manina” about her cold little hand and she responding with “Si, mi chiamano Mimi.” The hushed monotones of the beginnings and endings made the melodies magical.

West Bay music director David Sloss led his forces with just the right balance and pace to maximize the singers’ effectiveness.