OPERA REVIEW OF CAPITOL OPERA'S PRODUCTION OF
TOSCA
Published 2:15 AM PST Monday, Jun. 06, 2005
Opera review: Intimate 'Tosca' pulls no punches
By Rasmi Simhan -- Bee Arts Critic
Capitol Opera Sacramento performs in a theater so intimate that the events seem to unfold at the other end of your living room. Those events might include kissing, stabbing and suicidal leaps - or all of above - in Giacomo Puccini's "Tosca." You not only hear Tosca's anguish as she sings her famous aria "Vissi d'arte," you see it clearly in her face, and when she hurls a fan across the stage, it makes you jump.
This intimacy and sense of immediacy proved rewarding Friday night in the community company's production of "Tosca."
Directed by Pamela Lourentzos, "Tosca" runs through June 26 at Capitol Opera, 6219 Ross Ave. in Carmichael.
Certainly, in an ideal world, one would prefer a live orchestra over what sounded like a recorded synthesizer. But compelling performances by Ilon Griffin as Cavaradossi and Lynn Panattoni as Tosca often show the company taking advantage of and transcending its resources. Whether you're seeing "Tosca" for the first time or the 30th, you might say the true test is whether Cavaradossi's fate surprises and horrifies you almost as much as it does Tosca. And it does.
The heroine of the title is a diva so jealous that she envies the woman in her lover Cavaradossi's painting. But petty squabbles end after Cavaradossi shelters an escaped political prisoner in the Sant'Andrea della Valle church - nicely evoked here with candles and a statue of the Madonna.
Police chief Scarpia, who lusts after Tosca, twists the situation to his lecherous ends - and he won't stop at blackmail and torture to get what he wants. The missing supertitles in most of the third act Friday night may have confused some first-time viewers, but the gist of the action should have been clear.
As Cavaradossi, Griffin's agile, passionate voice gave the sense of power in reserve and did justice to Puccini's long, lovely vocal lines. There's a nice chemistry between him and Panattoni's Tosca. Panattoni shows eloquently, in voice and body language, the emotions that sweep through her in the course of the opera - love, revulsion, rage.
Lanny Malfar as Scarpia is duly dastardly but somewhat uneven. The supporting cast includes Ray Fisher as Angelotti and Suzanne Jones, who leavens the drama with a jolly turn as the sacristan.
"Tosca" closes the company's 14th season and is the last production in its Carmichael theater. The company plans to announce a new location and schedule for its 15th season soon.
About the writer: The Bee's Rasmi Simhan can be reached at (916) 321-1071 or rsimhan@sacbee.com.
