I saw the final performance of Tosca on February 24th by the Pacific Opera Company. The character of Tosca was played by Catherine Thornsley when Meghan Lindsay had to step back from the production. Thankfully, Thornsley had played the part before and she was excellent.  Yongzhao Yu played the role of Cavardossi very well, as well. The cast also included Brett Polegato as the villain Scarpia, who received lusty boos at the curtain call. Alex Halliday played Angelotti, who dies quite quickly at the opening of the opera. Peter Monaghan played the Sacristan, while Asitha Tennekoon played Spoletta and Mathew Li was Sciarrone.

This is a very well-known opera by Puccini. The plot should be familiar enough to any opera lover, so I will forego a synopsis here. The opera premiered on January 14th, 1900 at the Theatre Costanzi in Rome. Believe it or not, the critics were not especially impressed by the melodrama.  But the power of the music had to be admitted.  And we have all been loving it ever since.  Giuseppe Pietraroia has been the conductor of the POC for some time now, having taken over from long-time conductor Timothy Vernon when he retired. As far as my ears can hear, Pietraroia is the respected leader of the orchestra, because they sounded great. Kimberly-Ann Bartczak was the chorus director and when they did their thing at the end of the first act, the house rocked!

The set and video designer was Scott Reid, and I found his work very impressive. The lighting was by Michael Walton, whose stage projections were particularly effective, especially when they included silhouettes of characters onstage. Although it was over two hours in length, (including a 20 minute intermission), I found the opera moved along at a good pace. Brenna Corner, the director, kept the action moving very well throughout, with good acting and lots of high drama. Of course, the opera ends in tragedy.  But before it does, the big emotions are big fun and the music is sublime. 

Now closed. 

Catherine Thornsley as Tosca. Photo credit: David Cooper.