Tosca

Synopsis

It is the eve of the Battle of Marengo. Napoleon's army has caused chaos and disarray throughout all Italy. Against this background of political turmoil stands Floria Tosca, Rome's famous and most beautiful opera singer. To save her lover, Cavaradossi, she must sacrifice her virtue to the evil Baron Scarpia. Can the power of love and honour ever prevail against the forces of corruption and betrayal? Tosca is a moving and passionate exploration of personal freedom, the cost of ideals and the choices forced on us by love.

Our Review:

20 May 2010

In recent months, English National Opera has experimented with novel production concepts, film directors, theatre directors, video projections and, memorably, a giant naked woman with singer-sprouting orifices for Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre. But in the month the Conservatives triumphed at the polls, a coincidence of timing sees conservatism of a different stripe emerging victorious at the Coliseum. Little in recent memory has hit the mark so consistently and so truthfully as the simple, traditional storytelling of diva-turned-director Catherine Malfitano.

Malfitano was once a formidable Tosca in her own right. A 1992 TV version partnered her with Placido Domingo in the opera's actual locations at the precise times specified in the plot.

Malfitano doesn't go quite this far for her own production - conservatism no doubt reared its head in the budget too. Frank Philipp Schlössmann's spare, naturalistic sets evoke no more than a sense of original place as defined by ke...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

Harbord - 2 June 2010:

Completely wonderful evening with the highest musical standards....

Read more and add your own review