From Newsday, October 2004

A stark tale of poverty, disease and the desperate compromises sometimes needed to stay alive, Puccini's La bohème often is played as nothing more than a sweetly sentimental love story. When Franco Zeffirelli's Metropolitan Opera production premiered nearly 25 years ago, his Mimì and Rodolfo were Teresa Stratas and José Carreras: both as graceful and romantic as any idols of the silver screen, but keen to the anguish at the heart of Puccini's 1896 score. Their unforgettable performance is now available on DVD.

Since then, Zeffirelli's picturesque staging has become a cash cow for the Met. With few exceptions (notably the wondrous 1988 revival under Carlos Kleiber), it also has been a dumping-ground for poorly rehearsed debut artists and B-list singers. This season, though, the company has assembled a number of glamorous Bohème casts, the first of which bowed Friday.

Making her local role debut as Mimì was Ruth Ann Swenson. A decade ago, the Bronxville-born soprano gamboled about the stratosphere in such helium-infused roles as Strauss' Zerbinetta. As her silvery voice has ripened, however, she has moved carefully into the fuller lyric soprano repertoire. Wholesome and ladylike, Swenson's Mimì sometimes resembled the Little Match Girl more than a Parisienne of easy virtue. Still, her vocalism suggested the flower-maker's doomed sensuality: in Act I, the wan, sickly tone of her entrance and the lush, caressing phrase with which she promised to stay close to Rodolfo; and at opera's end, the soft singing of heartbreaking poignancy when the dying Mimì recalled that first meeting with Rodolfo.

Swenson found a worthy partner in the Rodolfo of tenor Marcelo Álvarez. In seasons past, Álvarez has appeared decidedly ill at ease on stage, and in "Che gelida manina" he still seemed more concerned with projecting to the gallery gods than with seducing Mimì. He was winning and animated, though, in his horseplay with his bohemian friends, and a few rushed phrases aside, his ingratiating tone rang out with ease.

Peter Mattei gave a performance of overwhelming brilliance as Marcello. Lanky and fair, he moves with the naturalness of a seasoned trouper, and his mellow, cultivated baritone is a joy to hear. The mixture of sadness, pique and besotted haplessness with which he regarded Musetta at the Café Momus utterly dominated the teeming stage. (Please, Met powers-that-be, sign up Mattei quickly for Onegin, Rodrigue and anything else he cares to sing.)

Ainhoa Arteta was the bright-toned, devilishly charming Musetta, and Evgenij Nikitin and Patrick Carfizzi were effective as Colline and Schaunard. Paul Plishka turned in two sharply etched cameos as Benoît and Alcindoro. Daniel Oren's conducting was best while traversing the bleak, icy soundscape of Act III. Overall, this was a Bohème of the sweet, sentimental variety, but no less captivating for that.

LA BOHÈME. Music by Giacomo Puccini, libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. Metropolitan Opera, Daniel Oren conducting. Through Nov. 27 and in February 2005 at Lincoln Center. Tickets $26 to $315. Call 212-362-6000 or visit www.metopera.org.