If you go
What: Central City Opera presents Puccini’s “Tosca.”
When: 8 p.m. Friday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday, July 30, Aug. 3, 5, 7
Where: Central City Opera House, 124 Eureka Street
Tickets: $31-$108. 303-292-6700 or centralcityopera.org
Central City Opera has a special way with the standards of tragic opera, especially the Italian repertoire. The small confines of the house and the immediacy of the stage somehow make the action and the emotion more visceral and raw.
That was on display in last season’s marvelous “La Traviata,” for example. That spirit imbues this summer’s second repertory production, Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca.” The reputation of the 1900 score has fluctuated over the years, but its popularity never has. The pacing of its dramatic arc over three tightly-argued acts is legendary, as are the memorable melodies.
Unlike Puccini’s other popular operas, “La Bohème” and “Madama Butterfly,” where the heroines die but the rest of the cast soldiers on, “Tosca” is utterly unforgiving. All the principals, good and evil, end up dead, and in the most vicious possible ways. In the space at Central City, the impact is even more shattering.
Wednesday was the first matinee performance, and the second overall. A thunderstorm unfortunately scrapped the projection effects in Act I, which is set in a Roman church. The set was impressive, and it was hard to miss the projections—until they were restored for the next two acts.
They are beautiful and breathtaking, especially at the end of Act III, where a fortress recedes into the background and a virtual flock of sheep moves around a live shepherdess (soprano and apprentice artist Ashley Fabian). At that point, it was hard not to wonder what the church effects looked like, but the drama onstage really was not diminished.
Soprano Alexandra Loutsion makes her role debut as the legendary titular heroine Floria Tosca, a character whose archetypal, iconic status is only rivaled by Carmen and perhaps a few others. Tosca, the character, is of course an opera singer herself. She runs a gauntlet of emotions few operatic heroines are asked to traverse. Initially coquettish and doting in Act I, she then sees her lover tortured in Act II, where she is presented with the choice between either her lover’s death or her own sexual submission (certainly a common trope, but “Tosca” is the most familiar example).
Finally, after taking matters into her own hands and thinking she has escaped fate, it catches up to her in the worst possible way. Loutsion’s performance is riveting. Every turn of emotion is believable and intense. Her singing is both forcefully stirring and piercingly beautiful. The famous Act II aria “Vissi d’arte” actually makes dramatic sense when sopranos such as Loutsion resist making it into an indulgent moment.
Tenor Jonathan Burton as Tosca’s lover, the revolutionary painter Mario Cavaradossi, creates a highly sympathetic figure and ideally matches Loutsion during their big duets in Acts I and III. His aria “E lucevan le stelle” in Act III soars through the house. It is a notoriously difficult aria to conduct, and conductor John Baril followed Burton perfectly, one of many excellent moments from the pit.
Baritone Michael Mayes relishes his role debut as the amoral, lustful and vicious chief of police Baron Scarpia. CCO audiences might remember his tremendous performance as Joseph De Rocher in 2014’s “Dead Man Walking.” Mayes is a dominating presence both vocally and physically. His line “Tosca, you make me forget God” at the end of Act I is chilling. In his hands, Scarpia’s lust for Tosca and hatred of Cavaradossi is both frightening and convincing as he tortures them in both physical and emotional ways.
The three leads are dominant in this opera. Of the smaller roles, Donald Hartmann’s comic relief Sacristan is enjoyable. Apprentice artist Stephen Clark does a fine job as the escaped prisoner Angelotti, a character important in setting the drama in motion, but who is last seen halfway through Act I. Scarpia’s henchmen, especially Peter Lake as Spoletta, are both slimy and scary. The small but significant choral contribution is excellent.
Director Joachim Schamberger creates diversity and unity in the three acts and their separate locations within Rome. Perhaps the most impactful moment is Tosca’s killing of Scarpia at the end of Act II, whose graphic depiction exactly matches Tosca’s desperation. The “fake” execution of Cavaradossi in Act III also packs a wallop. Tosca’s final leap, a moment subject to parody and ridicule over the years, is highly effective here.
The 1800 setting amid the Napoleonic wars (Puccini intentionally set it 100 years before its composition) is accurately portrayed, but audiences need not be too familiar with it.
Baril, the CCO music director, typically conducts each season’s “standard” opera, and his artistry cannot be underestimated. His sensitive and intelligent musicianship, and that of his orchestra, are absolutely vital here. Puccini’s habit of doubling vocal lines where singers routinely stretch out the rhythm is just one challenging aspect of the score which Baril has totally mastered.