Tosca in Sacramento

The Sacramento Opera Company finished a very good season with Tosca - guaranteed to fill the house but also an opera that is hard to do well. Tosca is performed so often that it is easy to get into the cliche of Puccini rather than getting to the substance of the story. When I was on the Opera Board many years ago we were doing another production and my then young son went to a dress rehearsal of the performance. We finally had to leave, before the third act, and as we were driving home he asked about how it came out. I explained the rest of the story to which he concluded "That is a dumb story." In many ways I agree - it can easily come out sappy - like so many productions of Boheme. I am not by nature a Puccini fan. My parents had a long discussion about who was better - Verdi or Puccini and I sided with my father (Verdi) over my mother.

Cornell McNeil argued that Tosca should only be two acts. He did, IMHO, the definitive Scarpia. And when Scarpia is laid out at the end of the second act, the opera might well end. In this production Rod Nelman is an excellent Scarpia and you could have made the McNeil case. He was menacing but cunning at the same time. And more importantly his voice could carry the role. In the second act Scarpia shows himself as a lecher when he boasts "The violent conquest has a stronger flavor. " Nelman had a subtle mix that was wonderful.

The other main characters in the opera are Tosca (Marie Plette) and Cavaradossi (Dinyar Vania). Both were excellent. Tosca's jealousy, which sets up the opportunity for Scarpia to make his move, was well expressed. Cavaradossi was ever the artist but with a strong reaction to the evil of Scarpia.

One other character deserves mention (although all of the lead voices were wonderful). A young student plays Spoletta - the aide to Scarpia. In this production Jonathan Hansen plays him almost as an Igor - a devoted abetter of Scarpia. It is a characterization that I had never thought of but I think the young Hansen carries it off.

I have never enjoyed the third act of this opera before. There are some great arias there, some reprises of earlier themes. The Sacramento production begins with the garroting of Marchessa Attavanti (Rebecca Plack). It adds a bit of horror to the production but also heightens the drama in the prison. In this production the interaction between Tosca and Cavaradossi is wonderful. Even the seemingly trite jump from Castle St. Angelo was well done.

The company only has one more performance (Tuesday) but if there are tickets available they should be snapped up.