Many different versions of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca have been staged over the past century, and many of them have been contemporized to the times given how evergreen the opera’s themes are to the political struggles of the day.
The opera tells the tragedy of Roman opera star Floria Tosca as she tries to save her lover, the painter Mario Cavaradossi, from the corrupt police chief Baron Scarpia. Even after Tosca kills Scarpia, his orders seal both Cavaradossi’s fate and her own.
Set in Rome during the tumultuous period of the Napoleonic conquest of Italy, it is nevertheless a story that has deep parallels to modern political corruption and abuse of state authority by individuals in governments worldwide.
Yet, to Joshua Borths, who serves as stage director for Tosca, it is the opera’s specificity to its time and place in history that makes Tosca a timeless story.
“Tosca is a timeless tale because it is so specific. It’s set in a very particular moment in Roman history. It was written at a very particular moment in the opera, was written in a particular moment in Italian history, and I think it’s that level of specificity that makes it transcend its own time and place,” he told On Cue Calgary.
“This story that, despite all of its grand trappings, concerns our two central protagonists. What happens when you get caught up in a political moment that is swirling out of your control is something that I think speaks to us now.”
One of the reasons Borths said there was a need to keep Tosca in its original, rather specific setting of June 17, 1800, was that it would honour the original opera while offering audiences something fresh by not being a contemporized version.
“There are many operas that are, you know, ripe for modernization, and they work very well for me. Tosca is one of those pieces that actually, regardless of what setting you’re going to be, it must be beautiful. It must be elegant. We need to be in her world. And the year 1800 just lends itself to that in such wonderful ways,” he said.
That, he said, was one of the reasons he leapt at the opportunity to create this new version, which premiered at Des Moines Metro Opera before travelling to Calgary.
“It’s not every day that a new Tosca is built, and it’s especially not every day that a new Tosca is built that is set in the particular year of 1800. There are many wonderful reasons why directors or companies would move things in one direction or the other, but to do a new production that is honouring the specificity of the original libretto and the original score is actually itself really fresh,” said Borths.
“One of those funny things that in opera audiences’ minds, especially those who have never attended before, you know, people kind of say, ‘Oh, that’s just another Tosca.’ No, it’s not another Tosca. It’s very rare to have another Tosca, and so that’s been amazing.”
Not that the production has been free from the influence of modern politics.
Gabriel Sanchez-Ortega, who played the role of political prisoner Cesare Angelotti, was removed from the production by Calgary Opera after he displayed the flag of Palestine on stage during the Oct. 16 curtain call.
“Individual political protest contravenes not only company policy, but also our responsibility to create a more connected, caring, and civil society through shared artistic experiences. We recognize that this moment may have affected the audience — as well as cast members, crew, orchestral musicians, and Jubilee staff — in different ways, and we regret any discomfort and distress it caused,” said Calgary Opera in a statement.
“We have addressed this matter directly with the cast member and reinforced our expectations with the cast and production team. Our commitment is to provide a welcoming and respectful environment for our artists, audiences, and community.”
In response, Sanchez-Ortega wrote on social media that he had no regret about showing the Palestinian flag, and that he was informed he would be replaced for future performances of the production.
“This is the state of cultural institutions in Canada. I was informed that financial threats had been made against Calgary Opera. I hold no resentment. After the theatre, (political or otherwise) we all have to go home, and look at ourselves in the mirror. It was my honour to play the role of Angelotti, an escaped political prisoner,” said Sanchez-Ortega.
Finding beauty in darkness, and darkness in beauty
Borths told On Cue Calgary that during the development of the production, he travelled to Rome to get a better sense of the history and period in which the opera takes place.
“For me, the ideas that we were talking about earlier really kind of highlight this central visual idea of beauty and brutality, and, you know, Rome itself is a city of layers. It’s a city of facades, and so getting this sense of kind of grandeur, and yet it is artifice,” he said.
“That it feels like, you know, if you just pull the wrong string, you know, everything will come crumbling down. The sense of shadow. One of the things that we worked on really diligently with the set and lighting designer is how do we build this shadowy world where you’re never sure what’s lurking around the next column.”
That chiaroscuro, said Borths, also extends to the score, which beautifully tells a story of complete brutality.
“If everything is dark and ugly, then it’s easy to lean back and to disengage, which may seem counterintuitive. But when we are listening to beautiful music and looking at beautiful images, that allows us to lean forward and actually see and hear what the piece is actually about,” he said.
“I’m a huge fan of Broadway… and I think about a musical like The Book of Mormon, which is arguably, when you look at what the show is actually depicting and what it’s actually about, is probably one of the darkest musicals ever written. But yet we are able to hear those messages because it’s so funny.”
Coming to Calgary, said Borths, has changed the production, largely as a result of going from a 500-seat theatre with a three-quarter thrust stage to the scale of the Jubilee.
That includes refinements to the way Tosca and Cavaradossi have become so intertwined, he said, along with an effort to reduce the aspects of their relationship that can appear quite toxic to modern audiences.
“One of the things that I’ve often encountered in Tosca, and that I have not enjoyed, is that in Tosca’s entrance, Puccini wasn’t exactly nice to her. She comes in declaring that her lover’s been unfaithful and where is the woman that she’s know he’s cheating on her,” he said.
“We have been very cognizant of making sure that by the time the audience, by the time the first duet ends, that we have seen two people who are just head over heels in love with one another, and that makes the tragedy and the rejection that happens in Act Two and Act Three, and all of the twists and turns even more emotional.”
Scarpia has also been given a treatment that makes him all the more elegant, with hidden dangers, said Borths.
“We have a Scarpia who, at the beginning, might not seem quite as scary as he will reveal himself to be, and that’s another interesting kind of facet that is sometimes lacking in the opera,” he said.
“While they are archetypes of hero, heroine, antagonist, villain… our cast has really taken to heart the nuances and the various sides of these people that I think has also allowed this to feel more than just your everyday version of Tosca.”
What audiences will get with this new version, he said, is one that is thorough, beautiful, and yet thought-provoking at the same time.
“I hope that audiences are ready to receive it, and I hope that that ends up being their experience,” said Borths.
Tosca runs from Oct. 16 to Oct. 24 at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. For tickets, see https://www.calgaryopera.com/whats-on/tosca-z24j.