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 Puccini's Tosca
a tale of love, lust, deceit
and murder
Our featured opera production this
spring is a sensational, multi-media staging of Puccini's dramatic
& beloved masterpiece, produced in
collaboration with the award winning
Boston
Academy of Music.
Sung in Italian with
English translations projected
above the stage, our innovative
interpretation will make this Tosca a delightful
and unforgettable experience for both new opera fans and long time
opera lovers.
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Tosca is a story of overwhelming passion amidst the
perils of war. Set in Rome at the time of Napoleon’s advance on the city,
the opera opens with the flight of Angelotti, an escaped political
prisoner. He seeks refuge in a church where he is protected by Cavaradossi,
a local artist who is also the lover of the famous singer, Floria Tosca.
The young painter acts suspiciously while protecting his friend and Tosca
thinks jealous thoughts, believing him unfaithful. The chief of police,
Baron Scarpia, plays upon her jealousy to locate the two men, who are soon
captured.
Angelotti takes his own life rather then be held
prisoner and Tosca desperately begs Scarpia to spare Cavaradossi, offering
her affections in exchange for his life. After securing a note saving her
lover from his death sentence, she stabs Scarpia and hurries off to be with
Cavaradossi. Tosca finds she has been tricked, however, and the artist dies
at the hands of a firing squad. Facing capture for her crime, she leaps to
her death to join her lover in the afterlife.
Puccini's melodious and melo-dramatic score of love, lust and murder plays
against the panoramic politics of soon-to-be Napoleon's Rome.
Joseph
Bascetta, Stage Director
Paul Phillips, Conductor
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