NZ Opera delivers near-perfect Puccini
The opening night of New Zealand Opera’s Tosca certainly fulfilled the promise of the company’s advertising hype.
The performances of all three principals, supporting roles, chorus and orchestra are superb, and Stuart Maunder’s direction is imaginative and, in the main, sympathetic. Setpiece arias and ensembles are real highlights, but always integrated convincingly into the drama. Orla Boylan’s heartfelt Vissi d’Arte is all the more dramatically effective for its sense of time-standing-still, and its chilling ending as Tosca sinks to the ground in the giant shadow of Scarpia as the light of the setting sun floods through the window. Boylan’s characterful singing is lyrical or dramatic as required throughout her performance and all three protagonists project full-bodied tone with ease.
Teddy Tahu Rhodes’ sinister Scarpia has all the predatory menace one could imagine, and while the voice may have lost much of its former ease and evenness, his ability to inhabit a character convincingly makes his portrayal of Scarpia a fully believable personification of evil, corruption and hypocrisy, so that the great Act 1 Te Deum is overpowering in its impact. And here, the gloriously opulent singing of the large chorus adds considerably to the effectiveness of the scene.
But it’s Simon O’Neill’s singing of Cavaradossi that really steals the show. Here’s a solid, dependable voice, still in its prime, with an ability to sustain long phrases in full control of the dynamic and emotional demands of the role. Every note is phrased and inflected beguilingly, sometimes with elegant charm, sometimes with impressive power – his cries of ‘‘Vittoria’’ in Act 2 are simply electrifying.
Smaller roles are all well done with James Clayton’s Angelotti and James Rodgers’ Spoletta being particularly effective.
The Christchurch Symphony orchestra is another real star of the show with consistently magnificent playing. Puccini’s orchestra plays an extraordinarily important role in the drama, and conductor Marco Guidarini draws every possible colourful detail from the musicians.
My one minor disappointment is the introduction to Act 3. Puccini had an exceptional intuition for creating theatrical effect, nowhere more so than in this introduction with its balmy early morning atmosphere, church bells heard at varying distances across the city from the setting at the top of the Castel Sant’Angelo, and a shepherd boy singing afar below its walls. In this production, it’s all done before the curtain rises, with the shepherd up close, although beautifully sung. And when the curtain finally rises, we see an oppressively overcast sky, contradicting the shining stars depicted in both text and music.
That, however, is a single regret in a production which is otherwise consistently impressive, both vocally and dramatically, and which easily ranks with the best Toscas I’ve seen.