Tosca

Tosca
By Puccini. Opera Australia. Director: John Bell. Conductor: Andrea Battistoni. State Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne. April 24 – May 10, 2018.

I’d seen this lavish production before, and it still wears well. In Act 1 the church of Sant' Andrea della Valle looked magnificent with layers of gold on the walls, and in the gaol of Act 3 a guard patrolled the upper level as some frightened Jews try to sleep below.

Setting the opera in Nazi Germany worked well. I particularly liked the “shepherd boy” being a young Jewish lad inside the gaol, with an uncertain future. In the second act Scarpia molests an embarrassed female officer in front of the other soldiers.

 

Diego Torre returned as the romantic hero, Cavaradossi, and this time they found a shorter Tosca in the African-American, Latonia Moore. Neither had a matinee idol figure, but the singing was glorious and they made a passionate couple. It was pleasing to observe a return to voice as opposed to looks being the primary criteria for casting.

Italian baritone Marco Vratogna was the big voiced Scarpia, though he tended to push his voice. Russian bass Gennadi Dubinsky was an impressive Angelotti and Luke Gabbedy returned as a comic Sacristan.

The chorus sang magnificently in the Te Deum and the orchestra was in fine form.

This was a production the national company could be proud of.

Graham Ford

Photographer: Jeff Busby.

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