Based on Victorien Sardou’s play “La Tosca,” Puccini's opera is set against the backdrop of Rome in June 1800, a period of ...

always melodramatic tale of Tosca torn from her lover by the villainous, lustful Scarpia. But not all the dramaturgy works here, especially in the first act where the set confines the activity in ...

When Cavaradossi is accused of aiding a fugitive and arrested, Tosca must both rescue her man and evade the lustful designs of Baron Scarpia, the royalist chief of secret police. Tosca may be a ...

Terfel’s Scarpia has been honed over decades ... A grotesque parody of courtliness (he takes Tosca’s hand, then sniffs his fingers in ecstasy) hardens into predatory dominance in Act II.

Rahbari devotes affectionate care to Puccini's orchestra, but he is either rather sleepy by nature or has been nobbled by his singers into providing tempos that are sometimes more considerate than ...

with a star-studded cast - Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu as Floria Tosca, Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel as Chief of Police, Baron Scarpia, and tenor Jonas Kaufmann as the liberal revolutionary ...