MusicalCriticism.com
By Delia Casadei
"...has the possible side-effect of shifting the focus onto Marcello —who, accessing the canvas from a small ramp, is the focus of the opening scene—and away from Rodolfo, who is more discreetly hunched over his papers on the centre-right of the stage. This is not helped by the fact that Grant Doyle’s Marcello has charisma to match his oversized canvas.
But all is well: for these two performers are as well matched musically as their on-stage personalities. Doyle’s agile, speech inflected (but still very much sung) Marcello is complemented by Aldo di Toro‘s strong, quivering tone—one of the finest I have heard in a while. And as soon as the two start bantering, their on-stage chemistry is too absorbing for us to decide, or care who the main character is."
