Scarpia was one bad dude

Last night, Michael & I had the opportunity to go see Tosca. The children were not invited this time, because the tickets were unusually expensive (30 euros each); on the other hand, I expected an even better production than usual.

Our evening schedule went something like this:

8:00 Went to get Michael from work
8:10 Started dinner (soup)
8:20 Changed into clothes
8:27 Left the house
8:29 Were seated in 6th row (center aisle) seats

And, of course, we went home during the intermissions.

The production was really first-class. The Cavaradossi (tenor, which I often don't enjoy) was fantastic. If he's not already well-known, he likely will be. Now, I'd be happy to tell you who he was, but I didn't pay attention to the playbill. Tosca was lovely and very controlled & unshrill. Of course, Puccini did a good job in this score of not really slamming us with the high notes that make some of us ache.

And Scarpia? Evil. I was thrilled to see the end of him. Which of course means that he was played well.

The sets were really nice, and took advantage of the height of the stage. The costumes were period (some seemed a bit older than the 1800s setting, but at least they hadn't tried to reduce costs going the "minimalist modern" route that some productions do).

The theatre can hold about 800, I think. We did not have a full house (the top row of boxes is under renovation at the moment), but we were well over half full. Every box had at least 3 people in it (holding 6), and the floor seats were full. The fun part? We got to see a pile of people we knew & catch up with some we hadn't seen for a while. The other fun part? The audience was at least one-third "young" people...which doesn't just mean I'm getting old. I mean teenagers, in school, young. I saw some of them on dates, not just along with their families! It was really neat to see the next generation of opera-lovers in the making.

Oh, and the children? Leo went to pick them up from swimming (Florence) and the train-station (pilgrims). James stayed home and watched All Creatures Great and Small.

Love,

Alexandra