Tosca – Review of 2024 Revival of McVicar’s Production Live from the MET

Puccini’s Tosca is back on the stage at New York’s posh Met Opera and brought to a movie theater near you, Live in HD, as they say. It  is a revival of David McVicar’s redoubtable 2017 production that replaced the earlier and highly controversial staging by Luc Bondy. Seeing an opera by Puccini is a reminder that with is death in 1925 came the demise of opera as we know it from the standard repertoire. There are many brave and notable attempts to insert a post-1925 opera into the hearts of opera lovers but none has succeeded completely.
McVicar with Set and Costume Designer John Macfarlane has chosen a traditional approach following the precise locations of the three acts of the opera. The monumental Church of Sant’Andrea della Valle in Act 1 is displayed in all its grandeur and beauty. When the choir sings the Te Deum, we are immersed in physical and choral splendor. Similarly, Scarpia’s residence in the Palazzo Farnese in Act II is big, dark and the abode of a man who wields power. A clue to the type of power he wields is provided by the painting of Peter Paul Rubens’ Rape of the Sabine Women hanging on the wall.  
The final act takes place on the ramparts of Castel Sant’Angelo and the set resembles a faithful reproduction of the place of execution of Cavaradossi and the revenge of Tosca.
Tosca has four main characters and its main arias, duets and choral pieces, are well known and most opera lovers have probably seen and  heard numerous recordings. The pivotal role is that of the beautiful, jealous singer Floria Tosca. Lise Davidsen takes on the role with assurance and delivers a performance with vocal prowess and beauty. She is a tall lady and no one can mistake her for a wilting flower but her passion for Cavaradossi leads her to “betray” him when he is being tortured. It is a delight to hear her intone “die, die” over Scarpia’s body. My slight complaint is that when the guards realize that she has killed Scarpia and they rush to capture her she hurls her famous last words “O Scarpia before God” as she jumps over the parapet. In this production she sings those words and then runs up the few steps to the edge. I think she should say them as she jumps.
Tenor Freddie De Tommaso has a sonorous voice that sounded bigger than it probably is especially in the first act where the theatre I was in played the broadcast at  an uncomfortably loud volume. They reduced it after several complaints at the intermission. But he was fine as the lover, good friend and defiant victim of torture and finally in his swan song “E luevan le stelle” when he thinks he is about to be executed. Beautifully done and emotionally sustained.
The brutal Police Chief Scarpia steals the show with his unbridled evil and his misogyny that spills over into a desire to rape. Baritone Quinn Kesley exudes all those traits with frightful force and conviction. It is hard to imagine him as the loving Germont in La  Traviata asking his son to return to the beautiful land of Provence or one of the boys in La Boheme. Superb performance.
A tribute to bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi, a comprimario singing the role of the Sacristan. It is a small role but he sings it well and invests it with humour in an opera that is not known for too many laughs. A bow to Mr. Carfizzi.

Tosca by Giacomo Puccini was shown Live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera on November 23, 2024 at the Cineplex VIP Don Mills, Shops at Don Mills, 12 Marie Labatte Road, Toronto Ontario M3C 0H9 and other theatres across Canada. For more information:
www.cineplex.com/events

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Photograph: A scene from Act III of Tosca. Photographer: Marty Sohl/Met Opera

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