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A stellar review in Opera News raves: “It’s probably fair to say that this Bohème is one of the best filmic realizations of an opera since Francesco Rosi’s 1984 Carmen. Although the entire production was filmed within the confines of studio sound-stages, it is very much a movie, rather than an embalmed theater presentation. [The] camera sweeps the viewer right into the center of the action with decisive tracking shots and intimate close-ups; languid dissolves, superimpositions and subtle split-screen effects emphasize the sensuality of the plot, and of Puccini’s score.”

Discussing the differences between live performance and film, Netrebko remarks, “…the camera is very intimate. It’s coming really close to you. Your expressions…the eyes opening, the mouth, it’s reduced here to minimal. But instead of that, you have to put a lot inside your eyes, so you have the expression inside yourself.”

The theatrical film is helmed by director Robert Dornhelm, Oscar nominee for The Children of Theater Street and more recently Karajan, or Beauty as I See It, which aired on Great Performances in August 2009, offering a fascinating career retrospective of the great conductor Herbert von Karajan on the occasion of his 100th birthday.

Produced by Jan Mojto, Kurt J. Mrkwicka and Jeffrey D. Vanderveen, with Andreas Kamm and Oliver Auspitz as executive producers, La Bohème is a production of Unitel Classica and MR-Film Production, with the support of ORF Film-/Fernsehabkommen, Osterreichisches Filminstitut, and Filmfonds Wien, in association with IMG and Deutsche Grammophon in co-production with ZDF.

Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the Anna- Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, Vivian Milstein, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers and PBS.

For Great Performances, John Walker is senior producer, Bill O’Donnell is series producer and David Horn is executive producer.

Photo: ORF/Ali Schafler

The intoxicating strains of Franz Lehar and other masters of the operetta and zarzuela stage dominate Domingo, Netrebko & Villazón: Three Stars in Vienna, an icon-studded concert gala from the Imperial Park of Vienna’s Schönbrunn Summer Palace, this December on GREAT PERFORMANCES on PBS (check local listings). Tenors Plácido Domingo and Rolando Villazón join soprano Anna Netrebko in the evening of highlights from such favorite works as The Merry Widow, Land of Smiles and El Gato Montes.

Presented by Thirteen/WNET New York in high definition, the broadcast is led by noted French conductor Bertrand de Billy, directing the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

From its opening vocal salvo, Domingo’s thrilling account of Lehar’s “Gern hab ich die Frau’n gekuesst” from Paganini, through Netrebko’s swirling Gypsy rendition of “Heia in den Bergen” (from Emmerich Kálmán’s Die Csárdásfürstin) to Villazón’s heart-breaking “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz” (Lehar’s Land of Smiles), the program is a welcome reminder of the glittering lost world of operetta.

The genre (first cousin to the zarzuela of Spain) is a precursor to today’s modern musical and once dominated the world’s stages, thanks to “light music” composers like Lehar, Johann Strauss Jr., and Léo Delibes. Domingo, Netrebko & Villazón: Three Stars in Vienna offers a rare opportunity to re-examine some of their gems. (A complete list of telecast selections accompanies this release.)

Recorded in the Austrian capital June 27, 2008, Domingo, Netrebko & Villazón: Three Stars in Vienna is a co-production of ORF, ZDF and Unitel Classica, in association with Thirteen/WNET New York. Heidelinde Haschek directs, with Heidelinde Rudy and Sandra Marchart as Producers.

GREAT PERFORMANCES is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers, and PBS.