OPERA REVIEW JANUARY, by Frank Raso

Tosca
A Revival of Sir David McVicar’s production of Tosca opened on Dec 2. A Revival already happened of this production and a scheduled one got cancelled. So, a revival of this production, or Tosca in general, wasn’t very rare so it just seemed a typical revival along with so many others in the season. Yet, it was terrific. It was probably the best Tosca I’ve ever seen. The intensity in passion of the singers and the orchestra was extreme, perfectly suited for Tosca’s melodrama.
Here is an outline of the plot. Mario Cavarodssi hides the fugitive Angelotti from capture and hides this secret from his jealous lover Tosca. Mario and Angelotti flee the church, while Tosca comes back but is confronted by Baron Scarpia. Scarpia manipulates Tosca into thinking that Mario has cheated on her and she runs to confront which leads to Mario being captured and tortured. Scarpia tries to rape Tosca which results in him being killed by Tosca, and Mario is executed, and Tosca commit sucide.
The Conductor Yannick Nezet-Seugin brought a thrilling urgency to the score very appropriate for the high melodrama. The two leads as Mario and Tosca had terrific chemistry with each other and George Gagdnize’s Scarpia had a chilling tone, in contrast with his bourgeois front. This brought about a thrilling evening, in Sir David McVicar’s grand, elegant, production. Tosca closed December 18 and is returning this month and in March with different casts. Hopefully those performances will be just as thrilling.
Tosca runs until Jan 29 this month, and runs until March 12 in it’s return to the stage.

Rigoletto
The Met unveiled a new production of Rigoletto this month, Verdi’s opera of abuse of power, and revenge. The opera must be a very powerful experience for the audience and the Met’s previous production did not supply this. Luckily this new production, set in Weimar Germany, delivers a terrific punch. The sets contrast between elegant red marble and cold grey stone. The production makes use of a revolving turntable which is used to make cinematic transitions between the scenes
The musical performance was spectacular with Qinn Kelsey giving a searing portrayal of Rigoletto. Piotr Beczala brought back his celebrated portrayal of the depraved Duke, and Rosa Feola had perfect high notes and beautiful legato as Rigoletto’s daughter, and the Duke’s victim, Gilda. The rest of the cast is rounded out terrifically with Andrea Mastroni as the assassin Sparuficile and Varduhi Abrahamyan, in her Met Debut, as his sister. As Rigoletto has such urgency and tension I will not give away the plot. But this new production is truly excellent, with a cast which is extremely good
Rigoletto runs until Jan 29 and then returns for performance May 28 – June 11

Next Month: La Bohème and Le Nozze Di Figaro