ENO's new Tosca has conceptual flaws, but delivers on the music

Sinéad Campbell-Wallace (Tosca), Adam Smith (Cavaradossi) and Noel Bouley (Scarpia)

Sinéad Campbell-Wallace (Tosca) and Adam Smith (Cavaradossi)

Noel Bouley (Scarpia) and ENO Chorus

Adam Smith (Cavaradossi) and Sinéad Campbell-Wallace (Tosca)

Noel Bouley (Scarpia) and Sinéad Campbell-Wallace (Tosca)

By Dominic Lowe, 02 October 2022

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“the modernism of Cavaradossi’s ideals versus the buttoned layered corsetry of Scarpia’s tyranny”

Reviewed at The London Coliseum, London on 30 September 2022

Puccini, Tosca

English National Opera

Leo Hussain, Conductor

Christof Loy, Director

Christian Schmidt, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Olaf Winter, Lighting Designer

English National Opera Orchestra

English National Opera Chorus

Georg Zlabinger, Associate Director

Uta Baatz, Associate Costume Designer

Sinéad Campbell Wallace, Floria Tosca

Adam Smith, Mario Cavaradossi

Roland Wood, Baron Scarpia

Noel Bouley, Baron Scarpia

Msimelelo Mbali, Cesare Angelotti

John Findon, Spoletta

Ossian Huskinson, Sciarrone

Lucia Lucas, Sacristan

ENO’s Mahagonny: biting, bleak, brilliantly executed satire

David Karlin, 16th February

Never has Brecht and Weill’s satire on the inhumanity of man to man been render with such utter darkness; Simon O’Neill heads up a superb cast.

*****

Taken for a ride: an energetic revival of Così fan tutte at ENO

Dominic Lowe, 6th February

English National Opera's revival of Phelim McDermott’s popular production is a blend of spectacle with some first-class singing, with Lucy Crowe emphasising her Mozartian credentials.

****1

Cocteau-esque camp: Alden’s Partenope returns to ENO

Mark Valencia, 20th November

Christopher Alden’s Olivier Award-winning production of Handel’s Partenope returns to the Coliseum, but it's the singing that earns the plaudits.

****1

Dead Man Walking at English National Opera: a superb execution

David Karlin, 1st November

Anneliese Miskimmon's ENO production of Jake Heggie and Terence McNally's tale of crime, repentance, compassion and redemption compels from start to finish.

*****

Comedy falls flat in ENO's season opening Cinderella

Mark Valencia, 27th September

Julia Burbach and her designer, Herbert Murauer, are defeated by the wide canyons of the Coliseum stage in their modern-dress Cinderella.

**111

ENO gives Thea Musgrave's Mary, Queen of Scots a worthy performance

Nick Boston, 15th February

Musgrave's powerful depiction of a powerful woman at the mercy of male manipulation receives a strong staging from at ENO.

****1

More reviews...

Dominic Lowe

Dominic Lowe recently completed a degree in Classics, and one of his great interests is the reception of Greece and Rome in opera. A regular opera-goer since his very early teens, he is particularly keen on the hidden operatic gems of the 19th century. He is largely based in the South of England.