Even though, unlike most American opera lovers, I am not a big fan of Puccini’s music, Tosca has a very special place in my heart. Set to the most heartbreaking and overwhelmingly beautiful music, this story of a classical love triangle ending in the three deaths never gets too old or too boring. Because over the years its catchy arias have earned the title of opera favorites, it comes as no surprise that we tend to have very specific and quite conservative expectations of every production of Tosca. We know exactly what we want to hear and how we want to hear it.
Traditionally, it is believed that both the success and the failure of a Tosca production are in the hands of the tenor. It’s up to him to mold us into our seats just a few minutes into the opera with his soaring ode to art Recondita armonia, and tear our hearts to pieces with his farewell E lucevan le stelle. In addition, the tenor is expected to form a vocal and dramatic chemistry with his Tosca, thus filling even the most cynical of hearts with compassion and most importantly, hope.
Two nights ago the WNO’s season opening production turned out to be quite a revelation. Not only did it change my traditional vision and expectations of this opera – it allowed me to look at it at quite a different angle. Because David Kneuss’s production set in a pleasantly conservative scenery was to star a trio of opera celebrities: an acclaimed Puccinian tenor, Frank Porretta, and two Metropolitan Opera regulars, soprano Partricia Racette and bass-baritone Alan Held, the evening promised to be a blast. It certainly was, but not in the way I expected.
Porretta’s Cavaradossi did not impress. Even though not fully deprived of tonal beauty and dark, almost baritonal undertones, his voice sounded much too strained in challenging passages. His high notes were audibly forced out and his shifts to the high register sometimes too rough. Sadly, these technique difficulties prevented the tenor from developing a strong character able to stand up to his Tosca, masterfully sung by Patricia Racette.
Ravishing in her crimson dress and ruby tiara, Racette came across as a dark and sensual heroine, a true femme fatale. Hers was the Tosca pure enough to bring tears to your eyes with her deeply emotional Vissi d’arte, demonstrating the vocal range and breath control that could humble the greatest sopranos in opera history. Yet, hers was the Tosca vicious enough to stab Scarpia with almost too much readiness for it to pass for her first murder experience. Both vocally and dramatically, Racette’s Tosca presented a major challenge. To stand up to this woman, one had to be as strong, or stronger. To create chemistry with this woman, one had to be as dark. Or darker.