Boston.(North America)(La Vie Parisienne)(Opera Review)

If young people today had friends like Gardefeu and Bobinet in La Vie Parisienne, internet dating might become a thing of the past. After all, how can staring at a screen in search of a hookup compare with the promise of champagne, can-cans and private supper rooms? At least, so Opera Boston's season-opener (October 15) seemed to suggest. Directed by Rick Lombardo, this was a delightful production, exuberantly sung and wonderfully acted.

The fun begins once Gardefeu and Bobinet, played by Frank Kelley and Aaron Engebreth, tired of the fickleness of demimondaine Metella, decide it best to seek their pleasure with women of the upper class. A hundred years ago, Kelley and Engebreth would have made a great vaudeville team. What a pair of schemers --Kelley, the well-oiled wolf, and Engebreth (bearing an uncanny resemblance to Nathan Lane), his sly and cunning sidekick.

As the Swedish Baroness and Baron targeted by the playboys, Kathryn Jennings and Robert Honeysucker were charming; their Swedish accents were a hoot and could have given Mrs. Olsen of Folger's Coffee a run for her money. Honeysucker, in vocally splendid form, shone especially brightly. His Baron von Gondremarck was endearing--a wide-eyed boy in a candy shop, earnestly wishing to get a piece of the action.

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