United States Puccini, Tosca: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York / Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor). The Met Live in HD broadcast to Cineworld Basildon, Essex, 23.11.2024. (JPr)
I was able to first see Sir David McVicar’s Tosca for the Met courtesy of a Live in HD cinema relay after it had premiered in late December 2017. A beloved 1985 Franco Zeffirelli Tosca was replaced in 2009 by a Luc Bondy version which was swiftly replaced by this new one by McVicar even though – as far as I can recall – Bondy had only a few directorial divergences from a typically traditional Tosca of any time this – or last – century. All any Tosca really needs is a recognisable church; an office of sorts with adjoining torture chamber for Scarpia at the Palazzo Farnese; and the upper reaches of a castle for the execution with a wall for Tosca to jump off.
McVicar’s Tosca is reverential, very traditional and continues to show how opera’s former enfant terrible has morphed in recent years – depending on the opera – into the new Jonathan Miller or Elijah Moshinsky (who are much missed); not necessarily a bad thing of course. John Macfarlane’s three opulent sets evoke the real Roman locations of the plot with some exquisite details. In 2018 Macfarlane revealed how ‘the columns are absolutely the ones in Sant’Andrea della Valle. It’s, I think, the only church in Rome that has columns like that … and the altarpiece is the chapel Tosca is meant to take place in.’ When interviewed by Live in HD host Ailyn Pérez, comprimario Patrick Carfizzi – who was singing his 61st Sacristan in the 468th performance of a 25-year Met career involving 37 roles – revealed how he has ‘had the luxury of visiting Sant’Andrea della Valle on multiple occasions … to see how glorious that church is for real and then to recreate it here is absolutely magical’. I am old enough to have seen the 1992 Tosca shown on BBC2 and Channel 4 with Catherine Malfitano, Plácido Domingo and Ruggero Raimondi, which was initially performed live in the actual Roman settings and at the appropriate times of the day! McVicar’s Met production is – as I wrote previously – like seeing that recreated on the stage.
To begin with I wasn’t sure whether Pérez’s suggestion that ‘the Met has assembled a cast for the ages’ was simply mere hyperbole but having watched innumerable Toscas over 40 years I can’t remember being quite as transfixed by a performance as I was on this occasion. As ever with these Live in HD broadcasts, the closeup camerawork helps draw you directly into the drama of it all; especially with a cast as adept at acting as they are at singing their roles.
Lise Davidsen and Freddie De Tommaso are near the end of a mini world tour of Toscas with only two to come in Vienna, after those in Berlin, Munich and now at the Met. Davidsen looks a regal Tosca, perhaps without the allure of her diva character, although she came into her own when revealing Tosca’s vulnerability – and subsequent jealous anger – when believing (wrongly) that she had been deceived by Cavaradossi. Davidsen’s emotional anguish over the choices Scarpia offers her in the second act was so impressive, and totally believable, and recalled headlines in the news about women faced with men in positions of power. Have I heard a more beautifully phrased, heartfelt and affecting ‘Visse d’arte’ as Davidsen’s, I cannot be sure. Never has Tosca’s moral dilemma about killing Scarpia been so palpable, nor the subsequent stabbing the expression of so much repressed rage.
Making his Met debut Freddie De Tommaso’s was perhaps not as ardent as some Cavaradossis, but you could believe he was deeply in love with Tosca despite her evident possessiveness. He brought to the fore the painter’s republican sympathies in attempting to save the escaped political prisoner Angelotti and showed his character’s resilience to the torture he suffers in Act II, as well as surprising stoicism when facing execution in Act III. Does he believe it really is the sham one the guileless Tosca tells him it is, he seemed to? Only 30, De Tommaso has a robust baritonal tenor voice fully capable of producing some refined tones at times. His impassioned ‘E lucevan le stelle’ was better than his entry aria ‘Recondita armonia’, however – perhaps because of the size of the Met – he trumpeted both as if he was singing ‘Nessun dorma’ and he tended to enjoy his top notes rather too much.
Over those four decades I have seen and heard many wonderful Scarpias but how many have so clearly lived the part as Quinn Kelsey did or sang it with an oleaginous charm so chilling in its masking of wicked evil. Rarely has Scarpia’s lascivious sexual advances to Tosca appeared so real and it was a magnificent Met role debut, something Quinn said he had been waiting for since 1997 when singing in the chorus of a Tosca in Hawaii.
As usual, the Met fielded an accomplished ensemble including its magnificent chorus. Kudos to the children who thoroughly deserved their own interval film highlighting Anthony Piccolo, the director of the Children’s Chorus, and young Luka Zylik who was a plaintive Shepherd boy at the start of the third act. Patrick Carfizzi was a suitable grumbly, irascible busybody Sacristan with a tendency to make more of the role then there actual is. Kevin Short impressed as the defiantly desperate Angelotti, the Act I fugitive; and Tony Stevenson’s Spoletta was Scarpia’s craven, eager-to-please, conniving collaborator.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin began with the necessary crash-bang-wallop and – supported by the excellent Met Orchestra – maintained the intensity, passion and grand dramatic sweep Tosca demands as it went on. The Met’s music director provided the perfect accompaniment for what we saw on screen – even if he clearly indulged his cast at times – since it was the vocal and dramatic abilities of Tosca, Cavaradossi and Scarpia which truly brought the opera to life.
Jim Pritchard
Cast:
Tosca – Lise Davidsen
Cavaradossi – Freddie De Tommaso
Scarpia – Quinn Kelsey
Sacristan – Patrick Carfizzi
Spoletta – Tony Stevenson
Angelotti – Kevin Short
Sciarrone – Christopher Job
Shepherd boy – Luka Zylik
Jailer – William Guanbo Su
Production:
Director – Sir David McVicar
Revival Director – Sarah Ina Meyers
Set and Costume designer – John Macfarlane
Lighting Designer – David Finn
Movement director – Leah Hausman
Chorus director – Tilman Michael
Live in HD Director – Gary Halvorson
Live in HD Host – Ailyn Pérez