Opera Holland Park makes its first foray outside its Kensington home for this revival of Stephen Barlow’s acclaimed production of Puccini’s classic thriller.
Yannis Thavoris’ designs are a major asset. The opera is moved forward to the Rome of 1968 - a year of social unrest and student revolt. The ambience and period are finely suggested in a lively Roman street scene with a bar and the portico of the church outside which Cavaradossi works on his pavement art representation of Mary Magdalene. An abandoned car becomes a crucial element in the last act, when Tosca’s suicide is re-enacted in a novel and shocking way. The first act works brilliantly, though the lack of an interior robs the great Act II confrontation between Tosca and Scarpia of a sense of claustrophobia.
The strongest element of this first of two casts is the Scarpia of David Stephenson. A cold and calculating presence right from his first entrance, he grips the attention with his trenchantly sung and dramatically dangerous characterisation. The young Welsh tenor Adriano Graziani shows considerable promise and a genuine sense of style as Cavaradossi. Julia Melinek acts Tosca astutely, though her voice sounds workaday in the glamorous central role.
Strong standouts from John Lofthouse’s nerdy Sacristan and Paul Reeves’ suave revolutionary Angelotti give the first act impetus, while Scarpia’s henchmen are impeccably menacing in the persons of Benjamin Segal’s Spoletta and Henry Grant Kerswell’s Sciarrone. Conductor Phillip Thomas’s reading of the score registers strongly.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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