Lisa Hopkins' No. 1 goal has always been opera. "It was never one of my goals to end up on Broadway," she said.
But goals and dreams can shift, change directions or even merge. And now, Hopkins is starring as one of three alternating Mimis in innovative director Baz Luhrmann's critically acclaimed production of Puccini's "La Boheme." The show opened at the Broadway Theatre last month to rave reviews and strong advance ticket sales. Her contract with the production runs through next September.
Born in Simi Valley, Calif., Hopkins lived in seven states with her family, eventually landing in Utah. She served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Vienna, Austria — a city considered to be the center of the universe for classical music and opera — where she and several others put together a touring multi-media show, combining elements of drama, dance and, of course, music.
Due to this exposure, she has a standing invitation to audition for the Basel Opera House in Switzerland. Other auditions have brought her to the attention of the renowned Chicago Lyric Opera Company, where she's been invited to sing in 2003-04.
Hopkins first auditioned for Luhrmann's production about a year and a half ago, shortly after returning home from Austria. "My voice coach asked me if I'd seen 'Moulin Rouge' and said that the same director was holding auditions," the 24-year-old Hopkins said during a telephone interview from New York City. "She said I 'looked like what's-her-name.' I didn't take it all that seriously, but I was trying to get more experience in auditioning.
"Auditioning is not really 'performing,' and I treated the tryouts as an experience. I auditioned for the role of Musetta, a more flamboyant character — the one in the bright red dress — and they asked if I had some of the other arias. After that, I basically thought nothing of it. Six months went by, and then I had a hunch that I might be getting a call from the company."
Hopkins checked her answering machine one evening and was told that the producers wanted to hear her audition again — but for the role of Mimi, the young Parisian who is dying. "This was six months later and, by that time, my technique was much, much better. Then I had seven callbacks."
During the early stages of rehearsal, Hopkins said Luhrmann "was very free in how he directed us, gently nudging us toward his vision of the show. By the time we got to San Francisco (for the show's pre-Broadway previews), we had become very specific, concentrating on hitting our marks."
Unlike the rock-opera production of "Rent" (also based on "La Boheme" — and also playing on Broadway), the new Luhrmann production is, basically, a "re-imagined" edition. Puccini's text is sung in Italian, with English supertitles, but Luhrmann (probably best-known for his splashy film musicals "Moulin Rouge" and "Strictly Ballroom") has shifted the action to Paris in the 1950s. Think "Roman Holiday" and all those romantic movies from the '50s — but performed as an Italian opera.
"This is exactly what opera needs and what Broadway needs, too," Hopkins said. "It's been quite amazing."
The production's two leads — poet Rodolfo and seamstress Mimi — are both triple-cast. Due to a lot of illness among cast members, all three sopranos got a chance to sing with all three tenors at some point during the Oct. 1-Nov. 11 San Francisco run.
Hopkins said she is normally paired with tenor Jesus Garcia, who has been characterized as "a young Pavarotti." She feels "really blessed to be paired with Garcia. We have a good chemistry together. The cast recording just came out, and his voice just puts me in ecstacy. It's a true gift to be able to play across from him so often."
She has also enjoyed playing opposite the other Rodolfos, however. "When I sang with Alfred Boe, we had never even rehearsed together before. That turned out to be one of the most exciting performances; we were thrown together for a sold-out show. It was like an exciting game of tennis."
The transition from San Francisco to New York was a little more difficult than anticipated, Hopkins said. "We've been thrown into the world of trying to find apartments, and we're still in boxes."
"La Boheme" is the "Romeo and Juliet" of opera, according to Hopkins. "Especially the way Baz has set it in Paris during the 1950s. It has a sort of Rita Hayworth-Marilyn Monroe look to it — like an old black-and-white romance, with beautiful men and women in a romantic setting. The story is also very accessible to the New York audience. It's about starving actors who cannot pay the rent."
She said that one aspect might be slightly out of touch for today's audiences, however — the fact that Mimi is dying of tuberculosis. "It's about love and learning how to survive and not letting your dreams shatter. It's about people who, despite being poverty stricken, understand their priorities. There's a humility that pervades their Bohemian spirit."
Hopkins trained with Jo Ann Ottley and Ariel Bybee, both of whom have strong Utah connections. Most recently she has been studying with Marlene Malas, considered by some (including Beverly Sills) to be the top vocal coach in New York.
A former valedictorian from the Waterford School in Sandy, Hopkins later attended Yale College in New Haven, Conn., where she was a founder of the school's opera company. She now attends the Manhattan School of Music.
Her first performance in a fully staged opera was playing Cleopatra in Yale College's production of "Julius Caesar." She also performed in "The Threepenny Opera."
Her senior thesis project was a one-woman opera called "The Human Voice."
E-mail: ivan@desnews.com