Vocally, 'Tosca' eludes San Antonio Opera's grasp
June 28, 2008San Antonio Opera's staging of "Tosca" had a rough-and-ready (well, almost) quality on opening night, June 27. Much was effective, but much seemed sketched in, both vocally and theatrically.
Giacomo Puccini's dramatically astute, tightly paced music, his superb orchestration and the violent, overheated libretto (by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa) have given this bloody 1900 warhorse a secure place in the repertoire. "Tosca" has so much going for it that it can work pretty well even if the principal singers aren't top-drawer. Next-to-the-top drawer will suffice. Third or fourth drawer? Well....
In the title role, soprano Carter Scott had in her favor the power to fire the big high notes above the orchestra and the color palette to portray much of the character's wide emotional gamut in Act II. But Scott was sorely wanting in vocal control and elegance, and her characterization in Act I was more like the imperiousness of Turandot -- which she'd sung with Fort Worth Opera last month -- than Tosca.
Tenor Don Bernardini was far from equal to the lirico-spinto role of Cavaradossi, Tosca's lover. His chest voice was reasonably attractive, if small and thin, but he undershot the pitch or cracked badly on the money notes in "Recondita armonia" and "Vittoria! Vittoria!" "E lucevan le stelle" fared a little better.
Baritone Luis Ledesma turned in a solid performance as the deliciously evil Baron Scarpia. His voice was moderate in power and loaded with honey, making him most effective at moments when his character was pretending to be nice, but he didn't project the size, the sinister inflections or the ringing overtones that are needed for "Va, Tosca" in Act I or for the torture scene in Act II.
The smaller roles were well sung, especially the stylish Sacristan of bass-baritone Scott Sikon and the powerful, secure Angelotti of bass Chia-Wei Lee. Madhuri Venkateswar of the Children's Chorus of San Antonio did a fine job as the offstage Shepherd Boy.
Conductor Jerome Shannon favored very vigorous tempos, most often to exciting effect, but sometimes speed trumped shape. The orchestra, drawn mostly from the San Antonio Symphony, was excellent and responded to Shannon with precision. There was especially nice work from the cellos and from clarinetist Steven Girko in Act III. Though the orchestra was not huge -- about thre dozen -- Cockrell Theater's very live, uncovered pit projected a huge sound that often covered the singing, at least as heard from my seat in the mezzanine. Shannon would have been wise to hold the orchestra down a little.
The Children's Chorus of San Antonio and the San Antonio Opera Chorus did full justice to the Te Deum scene and the Act II offstage cantata.
David Gano's sets, built for New Orleans Opera in 1987, were based on the actual sites in Rome where the action is placed. The decor for the first two acts looked a little sparse, but the curving battlement of Castel Sant'Angelo, with a three-dimensional St. Peter's Basilica in the background, filled the stage nicely and was sensitively lighted by Max Parrilla. John Gillas's stage direction was businesslike, but no more.
Mike
Greenberg
