Tosca The Gaiety Dublin April 2004

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On Monday night last I had the good fortune to see Opera Ireland’s production of Puccini’s Tosca. This is a fabulous melodramatic tale of love and hate, power and intrigue, jealousy and deception. Littered with passionate duets, with famous arias of regret and of what might have been, it is easy to sympathise with the plights of the all too human characters that Puccini has created.

Alexander Annisimov conducted this production. Something of a larger than life character, he is always great to watch in the pit. On this occasion, though, the orchestra seemed functional rather than inspired, and in certain critical areas the tempo seemed to drag a little.

Tosca was played by the fiery and exciting Italian soprano, Stefania Spaggioni. The role was her prize for winning last year’s Veronica Dunne European Union Singing Competition. It was very brave for so young a singer to take on so demanding a role, as comparisons with those that have immortalised Floria Tosca were inevitable. Dramatically she played the role of Cavaradossi’s jealous lover with enthusiastic passion. Her voice was a little guttural in places, but this is certainly a voice for the future. With a great stage presence, she carried off a proud and exacting Tosca superbly.

Marcel Vanaud, who we had seen in Dublin in 2002 as Gérard in Andrea Chenier, stole the show as a brilliantly vile Scarpia. His carriage, his intonation, his facial expression, the inflection that he lent to his voice- he married every trait of character under his control to fashion an inspired chief of police. The malicious pleasure that he derived from his position of control, his capacity to exploit an ensnarled Tosca, the fundamental corruption of his character that had resulted from his unchecked power- all of these aspects were captured in his Scarpia.

Cavaradossi, sung by Mario Diaz, filled his demanding arias well. Though his ‘E Lucevan le Stelle’ was held back by a lack of orchestral pace, his love duets with Tosca were wonderful, and the attention to detail in his acting was superb. As an example, in Act 3 Cavaradossi goes along with Tosca’s scheme, in spite of perceiving the duplicity of Scarpia’s deal. Diaz realises this dilemma with subtle intelligence, imbuing a beautiful pathos into the rest of his prison duet with Tosca.

The chorus are not called on too often in Tosca. The staging and singing of the Te Deum was clever, and the genuflection of the congregation to reveal the benediction was very well executed.

The sets, imported from Klagenfort in Austria, were imposing, so tall that you could not see the top of them from the stalls. They were simple but not bleak, dominating but not overpowering. The set for the office of the chief of police in Act Two was dramatic and imposing in brilliant red, reflecting Scarpia’s fiendish intent in that act.

What did they get wrong? The Choirboys church riot in Act One was a little too boisterous, to the point that the onstage clattering of chairs and shoes swamped the music. Cavaradossi, having collapsed in the interrogation cell, is dragged unconscious to Scarpia’s office in Act Two. In order to revive him, one of the henchmen throws a bucket of water over him. Dramatically and musically, the act had built up to this moment of menace, but all was lost in a ripple of audience mirth when less than a thimbleful of water came from the ten-gallon pail. Finally, in Act 3, a company of police dressed in riot uniform threateningly surround Tosca and Cavaradossi before dispersing harmlessly. The point being made was unclear, and the contrived theatre served only to obscure the lover’s voices.

However, the final crescendo of drama was well worth waiting for. Having discovered Scarpia’s body, Spoletta and his thugs come thundering onstage baying for Tosca’s blood. She bolts up the scaffolding-like steps to a gate in the battlements. Half way up, she pauses and turns around. “O Scarpia, avanti a Dio!” she cries out threateningly before ascending the remaining steps pulling the gate closed behind her. Through the dirtied glass windows of the prison yard, we see Tosca throw herself to her death from the battlements.

In a terrifying and rousing climax, Spaggioni had won herself another houseful of admirers.