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Tosca sizzles at the Madrid, June 27 and 28
By Elizabeth Wellington
If you’ve never seen an opera, Tosca is a fine choice for an introduction to the art form. No absurd plots or grand pretensions here—just thrilling drama, as sexy and scary as a James Bond movie, all wrapped in Puccini’s glorious, lavish, late-Romantic score, like a handgun dipped in crème anglaise.
Certainly, the thriller side of Tosca is evident in the production that comes to the Madrid Theatre in Canoga Park this Saturday and Sunday, June 27 and 28. Mounted by the San Fernando Valley’s own opera company, Center Stage Opera, this production had a preview in Diamond Bar last Saturday, June 20. The story plays out with gut-wrenching suspense, on a set that funnels toward an ever-narrower vanishing point as the action moves from church to palace to prison. The sense of imminent danger from a sadistic police state is palpable from the moment the first character bursts onto the stage.
In a pointed and controversial move, director Dylan F. Thomas has made the opera’s arch-villain, Scarpia, no longer the chief of police, but a cardinal of the church. The switch makes Scarpia’s blatant use of violence and psychological manipulation that much creepier, as he seeks to bend the beautiful singer Floria Tosca to his lust and to snuff out her lover, the rebel Cavaradossi.
Dramatic soprano VanNessa Hulme delivers a spirited Tosca with a powerful yet supple voice. She delineates the arc of the character, from jealous lover to victim to avenger, with emotional force. By the time she sings the celebrated aria, “Vissi d’arte,” she is already one pissed-off dame. As Scarpia, baritone Alex Britton portrays a gleeful sociopath, never so happy as when he has someone by the throat—figuratively or literally.
Australian tenor Liam McLachlan is that rare item, a genuine heroic tenor, with the ringing high notes and tender passages of melting lyricism to prove it. Remember his name—you’ll hear more from this emerging singer. His Cavaradossi alone is worth the price of admission.
The principals are ably supported by a talented cast of secondary characters.
The Center Stage Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Brian Onderdonk, puts to rest any doubts about whether 22 players can do justice to Puccini. In the relatively intimate space of Diamond Bar’s high school theater—about the same size as the Madrid—the brass section swelled and the strings soared. Quiet moments, like the mournful clarinet solo of “O dolci baci,” were delivered with finesse.
In this particular production, makeup artist Brianna Lindsey should also be recognized for making off-stage torture horribly believable.
Tosca comes to the Madrid Theatre for this weekend only, with principal roles sung by different casts on Saturday night (7:30) and Sunday afternoon (3:00 pm). The opera is sung in Italian, with English supertitles above the stage. For information or to purchase tickets, visit www.centerstageopera.org or call the Madrid box office at (818) 347-9938.