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Tosca
Giacomo Puccini
Lyric Opera of Chicago
January 10, 2010
Lyric's Violeta Urmana, a truly ravishing Tosca fits nicely in one of the truly great diva roles.
Photo from Lyric Opera's website.
By R. Todd Shuman
OperaOnline.us
Lyric Opera of Chicago continues its 2009-2010 season with a marvelous production of Puccini’s beloved “Tosca”—one of the truly great diva operas. This production, in particular, is well known to opera lovers around the world as it is the famous 1964 Covent Garden production created by Franco Zeffirelli for Maria Callas. Lyric acquired this production several years ago.
Making her Lyric Opera debut, Violeta Urmana was an utterly ravishing Tosca. Her gloriously rich tones and finely nuanced performance made this a performance that will not soon be forgotten. She performed magnificently in the first act duet, and her performance of “Vissi d’arte” was the show stopping moment that it should be. While there have been many great Toscas through the ages—Callas, Scotto, Caballe, Marton—Ms. Urmana clearly stands alongside those performances. She ranks among the greatest interpreters of this role.
Marco Berti, also in his Lyric Opera debut, was a glory as Cavaradossi. With a gorgeous tenor that was reminiscent of Franco Corelli, Mr. Berti was born to sing this role. His performance in the first act duet was beautiful, and his “E lucevan le stelle” was very moving.
Lucio Gallo’s Scarpia was pure evil incarnate. His performance in the first act finale (“Va, Tosca”) along with the entire second act was utterly chilling. This was certainly one of the finest performances of Scarpia in recent memory.
This historic production is, naturally, haunted by the ghosts of past Toscas, notably Maria Callas. The performances of Ms. Urmana, Mr. Berti, and Mr. Gallo were so rich and exquisite that it was easy to forget those past performances. Renzo Mongiardino’s sets and Marcel Escoffier’s costumes were stunning, and it was pleasant to experience a performance of “Tosca” where the sets closely resembled the actual locations in Rome.
“Tosca” is, of course, one of the best loved operas of all time, and this production reminds one why that is. “Tosca” continues at Lyric Opera of Chicago through January 29.
Conductor—Stephen Lord
Original Production—Franco Zeffirelli
Stage Director—Garnett Bruce
Set Designer—Renzo Mongiardino
Costume Designer—Marcel Escoffier
