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2008-05-29

by Ed Rampell

'Tosca'

Summary

Puccini and terror at LA Opera

Article

Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca may have been set in the Eternal City in 1800, and premiered in 1900 at Rome, but a century-plus later, it is now more apropos than ever. The fifth word in this opera that takes place during the Napoleonic Wars is “terror,” and its plot about secret police, warrant-less surveillance, torture and a brutal prison could be ripped from today’s front pages. It’s interesting to note that LA Opera’s version debuted only about five weeks after Errol Morris’ Abu Ghraib gritty Standard Operating Procedure was released.

Tosca is, however, an opera, not a documentary, and Puccini, who also gave us La Boheme and Madame Butterfly, penned its libretto. This can mean only one thing: a tragic love story with lots of overwrought passions is at the heart of this tale of intrigue, espionage and revolution, accompanied by arias that reach for the heights.

Scenery designer John Gunter’s set in Act I is a feast for the eyes, recreating the Roman church of Sant’ Andrea della Valle, which is rendered with great realism and artistry, from its pews to its frescoes. Orson Welles and his cameraman Gregg Toland may have strived for depth of focus in Citizen Kane, but hey, this set really is three dimensional, with actor/singers in the foreground and, at the end of the first act, an ensemble stretching to the background. And incredibly enough, they’re all in focus!

The plot is exciting, and as noted, actually quite contemporary. Having just escaped from the Castel Sant’ Angelo (Rome’s Gitmo), revolutionary Cesare Angelotti (bass Robert Pomakov) sneaks into a side chapel of the church. There, he finds Mario Cavaradossi (tenor Neil Shicoff, who alternates with Gwyn Hughes Jones) – an artist and political sympathizer – at work painting the image of a beautiful woman. Enter Floria Tosca (soprano Adrianne Pieczonka, who alternates with Georgina Lukacs), an actress and Cavaradossi’s lover; they plan a romantic assignation.

Hot on the trail of Angelotti, the heavy of this piece arrives, Baron Scarpia (baritone Juan Pons), a scorpion-like secret policeman, accompanied by dapper, well-coiffed Gestapo agents. As Tosca pithily puts it, “All Rome trembled before him.” Scarpia not only plots to capture Angelotti, who has eluded him again, but to bed Tosca. Like Jimmy Swaggart, Ted Haggard, Senator David Vitter or Governor Eliot Spitzer, Scarpia is a holier-than-thou sexual hypocrite secretly brimming with lust, and he sets out to ensnare the voluptuous Tosca. This involves eliminating the competition – Cavaradossi – all in the name of national security.

Like Iago, part of Scarpia’s scheme is to enflame Tosca with jealousy, and turn the actress against her lover. In Act II, Scarpia imprisons Cavaradossi and inflicts torture on him that would warm the cockles of what’s left of Dick Cheney’s heart. The second act takes place in Scarpia’s quarters (an unremarkable set), where the two-faced law-and-order fanatic attempts to rape Tosca – but is in for a rather rude surprise.

The final act takes us to a dramatic recreation of the exterior of Castel Sant’ Angelo’s courtyard and parapets. The lovers are briefly reunited, and sing a rhapsodic ode to the glories of amore, with poignant lyrics. But fate, that practical joker, has something else in store for this pair up its fickle sleeve, and the denouement is tragic and somewhat spectacular, with its twists and turns.

Opera is a melodramatic medium with its own idioms of expression. For instance, the performers sing their asides aloud, even though their antagonists stand right beside them, as if they can’t be heard. The nonstop singing is usually in a foreign language (Tosca is in Italian). The lyrics (excellently projected in English via supertitles at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion), acting and storylines are often florid and over the top. Contemporary audiences accustomed to videogames, movies and heavy metal, especially those not familiar with this centuries-old mode of expression, must translate and accept this medium’s stylized attributes on their own merits in order to appreciate and enjoy that which is operatic. However, doing so is well worth the effort.

On opening night Pieczonka wowed the full house with her soaring solo. But unlike great numbers from other Puccini operas, such as Madame Butterfly, Tosca has no memorable toe-tapping tune whose melody you just can’t get out of your mind. There are some witty lines, such as when Sacristan (bass-baritone Dale Travis) mocks Cavaradossi in the chapel, noting that “annoying an atheist earns an indulgence.” (Take that, Christopher Hitchens!) Cavaradossi, who displays courage in the face of his torturers, has a few fine lines about fighting for freedom (one can never quite get enough of those). It is the resonance of this 108-year-old opera set 208 years ago to today’s political situation that is the most compelling thing about this revival of one of the great operas.

World-renowned tenor Placido Domingo, who is LA Opera’s General Director, will replace Richard Armstrong as conductor for the final three performances of Tosca on June 11, 14 and 21.

Tosca runs at LA Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., 7:30 p.m. on May 29, 31, June 4, 11, 14 and 21; at 1:00 p.m. on May 25 and June 8. For more info call 213/972-8001 or log onto www.laopera.com.