{"id":45326,"date":"2017-05-17T20:39:47","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T00:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=45326"},"modified":"2017-05-18T09:21:06","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T13:21:06","slug":"feature-how-a-toronto-neighbourhood-inspired-a-homegrown-la-boheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2017\/05\/17\/feature-how-a-toronto-neighbourhood-inspired-a-homegrown-la-boheme\/","title":{"rendered":"FEATURE | How A Toronto Neighbourhood Inspired A Homegrown La boh\u00e8me"},"content":{"rendered":"

Against The Grain Theatre brings Puccini\u2019s La boh\u00e8me back to the dive bar<\/h3>\n
\"(Illustration:
(Illustration: Jessie Durham; Design: Eitan Zohar)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A<\/span>fter hearing Giacomo Puccini\u2019s La boh\u00e8me, <\/em>the French Symbolist composer Claude Debussy remarked to Manuel de Falla, \u201cIf one did not keep a grip oneself one would be swept away by the sheer verve of the music. I know of no one who has described the Paris of [the 1830s] as well as Puccini in La boh\u00e8me<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Few opera composers held as much fascination with musically depicting a place as the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini. From his pentatonic, modal depictions of Japan and China in Madama Butterfly <\/em>and Turandot<\/em> respectively, to the French usage of fragmentary, elided cadences, seventh harmonies, borrowed scales and suggested, rather than overt tonalities in his musical portrait of Paris in La boh<\/em>\u00e8me<\/em>, few have captured the spirit of a place not their own quite as well as Puccini.<\/p>\n

Yet while Debussy\u2019s comment praises Puccini\u2019s depiction of Paris, it also touches on the layer of remove present in La boh\u00e8me<\/em>: Puccini\u2019s overt, Italianate style of composition, or \u201csheer verve.\u201d The sense that La boh\u00e8me<\/em> is written by a foreigner prevails throughout the opera, both in its compositional style and its use of an Italian libretto.<\/p>\n

Toronto\u2019s acclaimed Against the Grain Theatre has added yet another layer to this Italianate depiction of Paris in the 1830s. Joel Ivany, the mastermind behind AtG\u2019s Ayre, <\/em>the Canadian Children\u2019s Opera Company\u2019s Brundibar<\/em> and the Canadian Opera Company\u2019s Carmen <\/em>last season, has trans-adapted the libretto of La boh\u00e8me <\/em>into English, making it focus around Torontonian struggling artists and writers and setting the scene in the Toronto Annex in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve grabbed onto the sense that this story is about young artists who are great friends who don\u2019t have enough money to live on their own and are sort of madly in love each other, whether they\u2019re friends or whether they\u2019ve found their soulmate,\u201d Ivany explains in an appropriately bohemian alleyway behind the Tranzac Club. \u201cThat is sort of a universal theme and unfortunately applies today in Toronto, with rent and real estate skyrocketing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Against
Against the Grain Theatre Founder and Artistic Director, Joel Ivany (Photo: Nikola Novak)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ivany sees Toronto\u2019s downtown neighbourhoods as perfect places to glean inspiration for a modern-day Boh\u00e8me.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been lucky enough to walk everyday on Augusta to get here,\u201d he continues, describing the Kensington Market Street in Toronto, \u201cand that is so La boh\u00e8me<\/em>. If you want to character study, just stop in one or two places and walk along that street. That\u2019s them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adding yet another layer of change to Boh\u00e8me, <\/em>Christopher Mokrzewski, Against the Grain Theatre\u2019s music director, will play Puccini\u2019s score on piano, rather than using the full orchestration for which the opera is scored. Mokrzewski believes playing Puccini\u2019s score on piano lends a degree of intimacy to the piece.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a lot more flexibility without an orchestra,\u201d he describes, \u201cwhich has made the musical process quite fascinating. Applying the orchestral lens to an art song-like mentality gives you a greater degree of flexibility. It\u2019s more collaborative in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

This production of La boh\u00e8me <\/em>has become something of a signature for AtG, as its 2011 production firmly established the company as a new, vital force in Toronto\u2019s cultural scene. Ivany\u2019s libretto has gone on to be used by Cowtown Opera in Calgary and Opera Columbus in Ohio. AtG\u2019s remounting of their Boh\u00e8me <\/em>establishes the company as having a repertory of its own, something Joel Ivany calls a \u201cmilestone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a new production of the same show going into the Four Seasons Centre,\u201d Ivany explains, laughing. \u201cBut instead, it\u2019s a new production of our Boh\u00e8me<\/em> going into the Tranzac Club.\u201d<\/p>\n

Against the Grain\u2019s production of Boh\u00e8me <\/em>has undergone various changes since its 2011 premiere, mirroring the changes Toronto has undergone as a city.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertain references [from 2011] no longer applied,\u201d Mokrzewski slyly notes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt referenced our former mayor,\u201d Ivany continues, \u201cwho is no longer even alive. Buildings have been reinvigorated\u2026 It\u2019s crazy how quickly the city can change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watching a small portion of AtG\u2019s rehearsal, the production\u2019s accessibility to Toronto audiences is unmissable, with references to familiar locations like Future\u2019s Bakery and William Lyon MacKenzie on the Canadian currency.<\/p>\n

A cast member and I muse on how watching Boh\u00e8me <\/em>set in our day feels strikingly like watching a production of Rent<\/em>, Jonathan Larsen\u2019s famous adaptation of Boh\u00e8me, <\/em>which makes me wonder what a newly composed Boh\u00e8me <\/em>for Toronto might sound like. \u00a0<\/em>Streetcar sounds portrayed by woodwinds, as in Barber\u2019s Knoxville: Summer of 1915<\/em> come to mind, as well as the mimicking of bike bells by percussion, or multi-tonal musical languages to depict Toronto\u2019s many multiethnic neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n

I ask Ivany and Mokrzewski if they would ever consider commissioning a new work for Against the Grain<\/em>, to which they respond positively.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love doing everything,\u201d Ivany imparts. \u201cI think it\u2019s just giving ourselves enough time to plan that process out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our mandates is that we would not limit the scope of the process,\u201d Mokrzewski adds. \u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Against
Against the Grain Theatre founding member and Music Director Christopher \u201cTopher\u201d Mokrzewski (Photo: Darryl Block)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a way, AtG\u2019s multi-layered take on Boh\u00e8me <\/em>feels appropriate for Toronto, a city filled with immigrants and different cultures. It seems plausible that characters named Mimi, Rodolfo and Marcello, who sing in passionate, Italianate manners (with a bit of a French sensibility encircling them musically), and who speak in the Torontonian vernacular, might find themselves falling in love over beers in Toronto\u2019s Tranzac Club.<\/p>\n

From what I briefly witnessed in rehearsal Monday night, Toronto audiences are sure to get swept up in the magic of Against the Grain\u2019s ingenious production against the backdrop of Puccini\u2019s glorious music.<\/p>\n

I can only imagine how Debussy would react to the \u201csheer verve\u201d of this production.<\/p>\n

Against the Grain Theatre’s runs May 19 through June 2, 2017<\/a>. All dates are sold out<\/strong>, but rush tickets\u00a0will be available each night of the performance, at the door.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n

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