Stellar performances (almost) make up for soulless venue: Tosca

OPERA
Tosca ★ ★ ★ ★
Margaret Court Arena, until May 30

You can’t blame an opera company for trying. With the State Theatre closed for renovations, the CBD theatres occupied by musicals and an opera fraternity long dissatisfied with its offering – Opera Australia had to try something different. Coupled with a recently announced $4.9 million operating loss, new artistic director Jo Davies was always going to need to find innovative ways to appease Melbourne’s operatic appetite. Opera in Margaret Court Arena, however, leaves a sour taste in one’s mouth and a sore back to boot.

Thankfully, the singing is stellar. A new, mostly excellent production of Puccini’s Tosca is the right choice when attempting to rekindle a regular audience while also diversify the demographic. Set in Rome in 1800, Floria Tosca is an opera singer, who attempts to save her beloved Cavaradossi, a painter, from a fate forced upon him by the corrupt chief of police, Scarpia. It’s a fast-moving plot; love, jealousy, betrayal and murder wrapped up in some of the most sublime melodies in opera.

This staging from Opera North (Leeds, UK) makes great use of a huge circular church dome throughout. The dome and intense use of lighting made the act III finale, which often comes off as naff, incredibly successful. It was a shame, though likely a venue-induced necessity, for conductor Garry Walker and Orchestra Victoria go mostly unseen. Barring minor amplification imbalances, the music was faultless.

As Tosca, Karah Son displays a dazzling depth of vocal colours, she is totally at home in this role. Her showpiece, Vissi D’arte is poignant and powerful, with plush richness and strength without strain. Englishman Robert Hayward is impressive as Scarpia, played here as something akin to Harvey Weinstein-come-Bond-villain. He has the necessary combination of baritonal heft and nauseating slipperiness to appropriately give us all the ick.

The night, though, belonged to tenor Diego Torre. Cavaradossi has been in his repertoire for some years now, but this is it – this version is the one. You will not hear this role sung as well anywhere in the world right now. Torre soars with astonishing ease, resulting in goosebump-inducing high notes, the kind that made you forget the plastic seats and soullessness of a tennis stadium.

One can only hope the alternating cast, Nadine Benjamin, Warwick Fyfe and Young Woo Kim give such complete performances. Some of opera’s innate magic is lost in this setting, but if this is the heights of Opera Australia this season, the change we’ve been starved of has been satisfyingly served.

Reviewed by Bridget Davies