Puccini’s "Tosca" remains one of the most popular of operas, partly because of its jam-packed melodramatic plot (don’t blink — every line is essential), but also because it serves as a parable about the struggle between good and evil.
Title character Floria Tosca is an innocent caught in a cruel world — rather how life can sometimes feel for all of us. She is the opera’s core and the sole female on stage: beautiful, passionate, religious and talented, living for her art (music, of course — she’s a well-known singer).
But her life is buffeted by evil forces, including not only the usual operatic fare of deception, intrigue and lust, but also by politics and the historical sweep of war. Like all of us, she is vulnerable because she loves: For the sake of love, she endures torture (the psychological torture of her lover being tortured) and is eventually driven to murder and suicide, the greatest of cardinal sins.
Set during the Napoleonic wars in Italy, the opera pits Tosca against evil incarnate, the chief of police Baron Scarpia, whose leverage against Tosca is the love of her life, the painter Cavaradossi.
Hawaii Opera Theatre’s production begins slowly, but the pace picks up when soprano Jill Gardner (Tosca) sweeps in. Gardner (whose husband, Jake Gardner, sang Scarpia in 2006, HOT’s last production of Tosca), is dynamite, in voice and acting. She embodies Tosca, flirting with Cavaradossi one minute, devout the next, pleading with Scarpia, then murdering him. She is powerless, yet the most powerful of all. Gardner has a large, richly toned, burgundy voice, and her performance in this very demanding role is worth the price of a ticket all by itself.
She is paired not with her lover, but aligned against Scarpia, sung by baritone Michael Chioldi. Brilliantly cast, he has a rich, clear and almost equally powerful voice, with a dark edge that made his threats real and the audience want to boo him. Chioldi and Gardner fashioned Act II into the highlight of the evening: two perfectly matched adversaries, dueling for their lives.
As Tosca’s lover Cavaradossi, tenor Ta’u Pupu’a rounded out the trio, a linchpin between adversaries. NFL tall and imposing, Pupu’a was the classic heroic tenor — reliably loving, loyal and lamented. Pupu’a and Gardner looked good together on stage, and their Act I repartee was charming. Less experienced in dialogue acting, Pupu’a was strongest in his arias, especially the famous Act I "Recondita armonia" ("Strange harmony"), comparing the woman he’s painting to Tosca, which showcased his bright, heldentenor tone.
The three main characters loomed so large that secondary characters had to work to be noticed. Young Sophia Stark sang the offstage shepherd’s song at the beginning of Act III (you only get to see her during curtain calls — she’s the girl who takes the solo bow), and tenor Tracy Wise molded his police agent Spoletta role into an oily, skulking hunchback.
One of the most enjoyable aspects was director Jay Lesenger’s excellent staging, which added much and flowed naturally. The fullness of his staging distracted only in Act I, when supernumeraries walked across stage more quickly than the foreground action was unfolding.
The production’s visual design made it easy for the audience to slip smoothly into the story. Scenic designer Miguel Romero’s sets echo the opera’s progression: warm golden browns of a sandstone cathedral in Act I for the lovers’ bantering; brutally stark reds and blacks for Scarpia’s apartment in Act II, with the torture chamber behind a hidden door; and in Act III, the cool blue-grey-black of night atop the castle’s parapet, its landmark avenging angel towering above in silhouette.
On Friday, the orchestra sounded good, but loose. Even as he struggled to keep singers and orchestra together, conductor Steven Osgood captured the beauty of one of the most stunning operas ever composed.
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Ruth O. Bingham received her doctorate in musicology from Cornell University and has been reviewing the musical arts for more than 25 years.
