WNO thrills with gripping production

Tosca, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff

AS Tosca leaps to her death from the battlements at the climax of Puccini’s melodramatic opera, one cannot help but feel a little concerned for the safety of the singer who plays the part.

On most occasions the singer is faced with a four-foot drop to land safely on a mattress on the other side. But many a soprano has come to grief, twisting ankles or worse.

No such mishaps or mischief befell Mary Elizabeth Williams who strode unscathed onto the Wales Millennium Centre stage to accept the fulsome approbation of the audience following her performance of Tosca in this gripping WNO production.

The generous applause was well deserved.

Miss Williams brought subtlety and charm to the role in a performance that captured the attention from the minute she appeared in the church in Act One, to the moment she leapt from the battlements at the dramatic climax.

If Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a cursed play, only to be referred to as “The Scottish Play,” Tosca is the operatic equivalent, blamed by many for being dangerous not only for Tosca-playing sopranos but for singers who have played the role of the cruel Scarpia, with some having suffered genuine injury in the stabbing scene in Act Two.

American bass-baritone Mark S Doss brought light and darkness to the role in this production. The darkness is, of course, dominant, especially in Act Two where he oversees the torture of Tosca’s lover, Cavaradossi.

When Tosca stabs him, Scarpia dies a deservedly agonising death. Fortunately, Mr Doss was uninjured.

Lighting designer Mark Henderson brought a sense of menace and evil to the entire act with subtle shifts in the light as the darkness of the action deepened.

Cavaradossi was played with control, tenderness and refinement by Gwyn Hughes Jones. The sexual magnetism and genuine affection between him and Miss Williams’ Tosca was beautifully realised, especially in their final moments before he faced the firing squad.

Throughout the performance the audience basked in the beautiful music of Puccini, superbly played by the WNO Orchestra, conducted by Timothy Burke.

By Peter Collins