Seattle Opera
Tosca by Giacomo Puccini
Streaming
June 25-27, 2021


It's every set designer's dream to create the stage version of Puccini's Tosca. All three acts take place in iconic Roman locations, beginning with the fabulous Sant'Andrea delle Valle church that appears in Act One. Built in 1650 and boasting one of the greatest domes in a city of domes, its baroque chapels and lavish ornaments rival those of the more famous St. Peter's Basilica.

Puccini chose this soaring space as the perfect frame for the passion and violence that tell the story of Tosca, an opera diva; and her artist lover, Cavaradossi, who are caught in the web of the evil police chief, Scarpia. As the drama moves from Sant'Andrea to the Palazzo Farnese in Act 2 and then to the prison of Castel Sant'Angelo in Act 3, the set designer gets to give the audience a mini-tour of Rome's most iconic backdrops.

So how brilliant was it for General Director Christina Scheppelmann and her creative team to use a real cathedral for Seattle Opera's streaming version of Tosca? Since audiences are still locked down (and out) of McCaw Hall until the upcoming season in October, it made wonderful sense to use the St. James Cathedral of on First Hill to act as the vaulted chapels of Sant'Andrea. Its gorgeous marble floors, alabaster arches, and beautiful icons offer rich interiors for both the church and the Palazzo, while its towering brick exterior creates an austere backdrop as Sant'Angelo's prison and place of execution.

Many great choral and orchestral works have been produced in St. James Cathedral in the past, but a film with a full orchestra, chorus, and cast was too difficult to manage in a space needed for daily worship. So Conductor Kazem Abdullah guided Seattle Opera's musical forces from McCaw Hall, with the orchestra on stage and the singers in the audience in individual booths, lip-synching with their film performances. What a challenge!

Abdullah did a wonderful job marrying the music with the images to make an intense, atmospheric, and nuanced whole. The chorus, in particular, sounded like an angel choir when their voices seeped quietly into the cathedral, swelling into a disembodied Te Deum while, in the film, baritone Michael Chiolde's Scarpia rages in the foreground.

Even though the soloists were essentially alone as they performed in the cavernous arches of St. James, each singer — Alexandra Lobianco as Tosca, Dominick Chenes as the artist Cavaradossi, and Chiolde as Scarpia — filled the space admirably with their powerful, nuanced voices. They were all in great form, despite the limitations of the filming, and the lack of an enthusiastic audience breathing, gasping, and applauding — signs that singers find inspiring in live performances.

The opening scene begins with bass-baritone Matthew Burns, a charming presence in his Seattle Opera debut as the Sacristan who lightens the tragedy with his comic meanderings. Another debutant in this production, Adam Lau, plays the rebel Angelotti, who triggers the tragedy with his haggard basso as he appeals to Cavaradossi for protection. Dominick Chenes' dashing, intense Cavaradossi confidently navigates the complex opening scene — Angelotti's politics, Tosca's jealousy — all while painting a large (somewhat erotic) depiction of Mary Magdalene.

But it is Tosca, the diva of all divas, who drives the opera with her vocal pyrotechnics, her wild, over-the-top love for Cavaradossi, and her impassioned hatred for Scarpia. Alexandra LoBianco sings this killer role with all the grandeur and confidence required, especially in Tosca's aria "Vissi d'Arte," where she exposes her tender heart as one who lived for art and love and who "never did harm to a living soul."

But this moment is atypical of the aggressive behavior that defines the character. Tosca is a full-on diva-dominatrix, meant to be played with a whip rather than a corsage. She's the bossiest boss who was ever the boss — and LoBianco's got the presence for it — but her acting performance is more flirtatious than controlling. I hope in the future LoBianco swaps her frilly fan for a riding crop. Without that mean streak in the title role, the drama lacks full support for the terrifying plot that follows.

One of the scenic devices that works beautifully in this production is an old-fashioned magic-lantern effect that suits the period as well as the setting. Director Dan Wallace Miller and production designer Christopher Mumaw use silhouettes projected onto the cathedral walls to simulate intimate actions that could not be staged during the pandemic. For instance, Act 1 ends with a Te Deum procession through the cathedral — a spectacular theatrical moment, usually staged with a full chorus and many supernumeraries. But since the chorus and actors couldn't be gathered without violating social-distancing rules, the shadow-show effect uses a few individuals dressed as bishops, priests, and acolytes carrying the monstrance, crucifix, and censers in an endless circle projected onto the organ loft.

The effect is ghostly and ominous — as are later moments of intimacy and violence projected onto the cathedral walls in tints of green, gold and red. The inventive use of fixed properties, such as the baptismal font, the Mary Chapel, and the cathedral pews, is equally compelling. I'm so glad that the permanence of film — while lacking the immediacy of live performance — has preserved this imaginative staging.

Applause all around for a terrific production of Tosca, but also for the additional material provided on Seattle Opera's website. A fascinating discussion, "View from the Pit: Maestros on Race and Gender in Opera," brings to light the problems for non-white, non-male conductors who struggle with limited expectations and opportunities. Kazem Abdullah, Judith Yan, and Viswa Subbaraman speak candidly on a topic that everyone knows about but that few discuss with the audiences who admire opera and orchestral music.

Likewise, the contextual material provided by dramaturg Jon Dean, as well as the chatty video talk between Seattle Opera scholar-in-residence Naomi André and Alexandra LoBianco, was informative and charming. These extras are an opera-lover's delight and add a great deal to the audience's ability to deepen their understanding of a complex and fascinating art.

One final note: Seeing Tosca performed in St. James Cathedral triggered a personal memory for me, and possibly for many of us who remember the Speight Jenkins era at Seattle Opera, and the long service of his education director, Perry Lorenzo, whose early death at age 51 and whose burial at the cathedral in 2009 came as a heartbreaking shock to us all. He was a tireless and enthusiastic promoter of opera to the young, the old, and everyone in between. How pleased he would have been — and is, for those of us who believe in the unseen world — to see this beautiful production of Tosca performed in the cathedral that he loved.

Seattle Opera will open McCaw Hall for the 2021—22 season on October 16, 2021, for another Puccini favorite, La Bohème, featuring a young, brilliant, multiracial cast.