Tosca’s kiss in Kensington: a superb revival at Opera Holland Park

Opera Holland Park last gave this production of Tosca when it was new back in 2008. Stephen Barlow directed it and has returned to revive it 16 years later. The altered stage layout required some changes, but it is broadly the same and has worn well. The same soprano, Amanda Echalaz, who sang Tosca then, has returned to the title role. Playing the famous diva for OHP was her breakthrough, both she and Barlow’s production winning very high praise.

Puccini’s Tosca, in case you’ve forgotten, begins with the escape of a political prisoner, hunted by a Chief of Police, who uses and abuses both a singer and a painter in his pursuit. In a very taut piece of dramatic storytelling, all four will be dead within 24 hours. Such Aristotelian unity of time and place is well reflected in the unity of staging in this production, which keeps the opera in Rome, not in the year 1800 of the libretto, but in 1968. Baron Scarpia has become plain Vitellio Scarpia, at least in the cast list. The Austrian Imperial oppressor has long since departed, so this Scarpia now seeks election, with his gang of smart-suited goons to “persuade” the voters. The single set is a church façade covered with posters, some promoting Floria Tosca, most of the rest urging us to “Vota Scarpia” (when planning this revival, OHP can’t have known about the UK’s General Election in July, so I trust no local voters will be dismayed at Scarpia’s absence from their ballot papers).

For Act 2, a corner of Yannis Thavoris' set becomes the “Trattoria Farnese” and tables and chairs allow Scarpia to conduct business (and attempt rape) in an eatery. Act 3 sees an omnipresent Fiat moved centre stage, so that Cavaradossi can be executed, Godfather style, sitting inside. In a final coup de théâtre, Tosca, lacking ramparts to leap from, stands atop the car, now doused in fuel, and we get an immolation scene worthy of Götterdammerung. Of course librettists Giacosa and Illica, constantly harassed by Puccini as usual, omitted to future-proof their text. But the TV inside the Trattoria shows us the cantata sung by Tosca, and Scarpia’s “open it” refers not to his office window but to a bottle of wine. News of Napoleon’s defeat of the Austrians at Marengo reaches Rome 160 years late, but that event has no bearing on the plot, other than to motivate Cavaradossi’s exultant cries of “Vittoria”. This remains a production well worth seeing.

It is well worth hearing too. Now a seasoned Tosca around the world, Echalaz leads the cast splendidly, appearing vulnerable or defiant as required. Age has not wearied her voice  which is rich, with more than enough spinto thrust for this venue. If “Vissi d’arte” did not grow to a perfect climax, it came close, impaired perhaps by the sheer passion Echalaz injected. Her Cavaradossi was OHP debutant José de Eça, a Portugese tenor of promise – and achievement. There is a fine low and middle register (he began as a baritone), and a top which is reliable if not always ringing. 

Baritone Morgan Pearse sang splendidly in London last week in Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony, without sounding like a Scarpia-in-waiting. But this Scarpia has been stripped of his Barony, along with his vocal clichés – no hammy snarling here. Pearse’s focussed tone, clear diction and precise intonation are blessings in any role, but added to his stage manner as a smiling devil in a well-cut Italian suit, he was villainous enough to earn some pantomime boos at the curtain. Along with the small but very sonorous OHP chorus, Pearse sang a magnificent Te Deum. The supporting roles were all well taken, with bass Edwin Kaye’s Angelotti especially notable.

OHP has no room for a full orchestra and the City of London Sinfonia played a reduction by Tony Burke. Two horns and a bass trombone can’t quite deliver the ominous opening three-chord Scarpia motif with full menace, but it is heard many more times and the skill of arranger and players provided all the typical Puccini detail we expect. The clarinet solo introducing “E lucevan le stelle” was a particular highlight. If the smallish string section (5.4.4.3.2) could not provide all the weight of the later big tunes, their phrasing and tone were still satisfying. Conductor Matthew Kofi Waldren, often required by the stage layout to have his lead singers behind him, still managed to keep everything together, well-balanced and moving forward to the close of a very satisfying evening.