Tosca

The City of Perth's Opera in the Park played to a capacity crowd at the Supreme Court Gardens and was simulcast to ten venues throughout Western Australia.

This free event, supported by Lotterywest, was an excellent taster for trying opera as a genre and to experience the beautiful voices of the West Australian Opera and the excellence of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

Semi-staged very effectively by director Stuart Maunder, the acting performances were extremely convincing, even as evidenced by extreme close-ups by the big screen coverage throughout the park.

While the principals were all excellent, a beautiful relationship was established between Anke Hoppner's Tosca and Angus Wood's Cavaradossi. Douglas McNicol was outstanding as a deliciously evil Scarpia.

Anke Hoppner's performance of Vissi d'art was a showstopper, an exquisite performance.

The West Australian Opera Chorus did not have a lot to do in this production, but contributed admirably as did the children playing altar boys and other extras.

This was a lovely experience, a wonderful community event with a beautiful atmosphere, capped with an excellent production.

Kimberley Shaw