Adrian Tamburini as Sciarrone and Anthony Mackey as the jailer round out the Nazi staff. Richard Anderson is a highlight as the escaped prisoner Angelotti, his smouldering bass infused with a resonant depth and emotion, while baritone Luke Gabbedy makes for a comically awkward, gangly yet clear-voiced Sacristan and Graeme Macfarlane is a cold, dryly smug Spoletta. While her Vissi d’arte drips pathos, it is her duets with Cavaradossi in the first and third acts that really stand out, the pair well-matched and feeding off each other for power and potency.Īinhoa Arteta as Tosca and Lucio Gallo as Scarpia Flirty and playfully jealous – tugging on Ilincăi’s scarf – in the first act, she exudes dignified composure in the second, her molten soprano pouring out into the theatre. Spanish soprano Ainhoa Arteta, on the other hand, is a complex Tosca. Romanian tenor Teodor Ilincăi is uncomplicated and noble – almost baby-faced – as the painter Cavaradossi, with an athletic, penetrating tenor capable of ear-ringing volume. The tryptich of sets themselves tell the story of Nazi occupation, from Chapel, through the black marble Nazi boardroom in the Farnese Palace, to the concrete and barbed wire of Castel Sant’Angelo, while Teresa Negroponte’s costumes complete the picture with military uniforms and muted 40s fashion across various socio-economic groups. Teodor Ilincăi as Cavaradossi, Ainhoa Arteta as Toscaīell cleverly shifts the action from 1800 to German-occupied Rome in 1943, the curtain opening on Michael Scott-Mitchell’s cavernous chapel set, columns and white marble from floor to ceiling, the walls decked with artworks and gilding. Nazi-themed opera productions are something of a cliché, but Australian actor and director John Bell’s production of Tosca for Opera Australia, first staged in 2013, is proof that it can be done thoughtfully and powerfully.
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