Opera review: New 'Tosca' opens Metropolitan Opera season

Women arrived at Lincoln Center on Monday night decked in flowing gowns, flashing jewels and patrician smiles. Men made sure their tuxedos didn’t obscure their oversized gold or platinum watches. A crowd came out to admiringly gawk at an aristocratic parade of VIPs entering the theater. It was, recession or no recession, a typical Metropolitan Opera opening night.

But this is also now the people’s Met, and that crowd could then take a seat in the Lincoln Center Plaza and watch a new production of Puccini’s “Tosca” starring Karita Mattila on a large screen placed in front of the opera house between the two huge Chagall paintings the company recently has used for collateral. Outdoor tickets were free. A mile away in Times Square, an additional 2,000 seats were set up in front of more monitors, and no tickets were needed to watch the show.

Those at home had other choices. The Met streamed the production live on its website.  XM and Sirius radio carried a broadcast. The Oct. 10 matinee performance will be transmitted to movie theaters in 42 countries to begin the Met’s new season of “Live in HD.”

There are many ways to slice a turkey.

I must qualify that. I’ve got a pretty good idea that the Met’s new “Tosca” is a turkey. I witnessed this opening night from a peculiar but not uninteresting – vantage, three rows from the stage, on the right side of the auditorium.

About 10 feet in front of me was a large video camera and a large video camera operator who was in constant motion on his squeaky chair. Unlike those outdoors or at their home computers, I -- and those around me (many of whom had paid a considerable premium to attend this gala benefit) -- couldn’t always see the action on stage. But I have it on good authority from colleagues and friends that Tosca did, in fact, stab Scarpia in the crotch or somewhere anatomically lower than usual. Reports vary slightly. 

At the Met now, media matters most.

A new Met “Tosca” was something to look forward to. Franco Zeffirelli’s imposing quarter-century-old production had been a tourist attraction for long enough. This time the company turned to Luc Bondy, a thoughtful if rarely controversial (by European standards) Swiss director, and Mattila, one of the most striking singing actresses of the current generation. The Finnish soprano had sung the title role only once before, three years ago in Helsinki.

The sets were by Richard Peduzzi, who like Bondy was making his Met debut. Peduzzi designed Patrice Chereau’s now legendary Bayreuth “Ring” production of 1976. James Levine (of whom I had an excellent view) conducted.

And yet, for all that, neither the production nor its cast provided fresh ideas. Bondy updated the story of a diva, her lover and the lecherous chief of the secret police, from 1800 to a decadent Rome in the early 20th century. Cavaradossi paints a topless, fetching Mary Magdalene, which Tosca in a fit of jealousy slashes with a knife, in a cathedral that looks more like a grand Fascist assembly room, albeit one with somewhat nicer folding chairs than those given the audience in the plaza. Scarpia’s lair is early Italian modern. Three prostitutes do their best to arouse the head cop as the curtain rises on the second act.

But these touches are window dressing in what is essentially a garden-variety “Tosca,” without all that much to interest or offend. Even so, an easy-to-anger Met audience showered the production team with boos during curtain calls.

I wonder whether a more convincing cast might have made a difference. Mattila put a lot into her performance. When I could see her, I was close enough to watch her show gobs of temperament. She sang with clarion tone and was more involved with expression than perfect high notes in her aria “Vissi d’arte.” But close up, anyway, she appeared calculated and camera-ready.
 
Tenor Marcelo Álvarez was a generic Cavaradossi, interested in his full, round tone and extending climaxes for as long as he could get away with. A Georgian bass, George Gagnidze, replaced Juha Uusitalo, who took ill and bowed out of the production a week ago. Gagnidze’s Scarpia never seemed a match for the towering Mattila or, for that matter, even for his call girls. His goons -- Spoletta (Joel Sorensen) and Sciarrone (James Courtney) and their other black-clad assistants in torture – were the more confident sadists. Veteran bass Paul Plishka was the bumbling Sacristan.
 
Through it all, Levine conducted as if this were the most sensuous music ever written. He was slow and blissed out. The orchestra was lush and a joy to hear. Inner parts were displayed with exquisite elegance. Such honeyed horns, the likes of which you’ve never heard.

The pit was a wondrous world of its own. I know. For that, I had the best seat in the house.

-- Mark Swed

Photo: (top) Scarpia (George Gagnidze) readies for his conquest of Tosca (Karita Mattila) at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. (Below) Marcelo Álvarez as Cavaradossi. Credit: Mary Altaffer/AP

  

 
 

Comments

[Howard Mandel]

Just because you got a bad seat is no reason to give a production a bad review. The production was lean and powerfull, the boos were only from a very small minorty of the adiance. Next time sit upstairs with the people and see the whole opera.

[Terry Hamilton]

This review sounds on target for what I heard but didn't see. I think the review is generous actually. The choice of director and production is misguided at best. The reviewer's comment about his seat is relevant as so many of
the orchestra seats are compromised with the cameras. It is not easy to get into a work if there is a camera moving around. It cheapens the live experience for those that pay a premium. Dumb.
Lean and powerful? Sit upstairs with the people? Yikes!

[MarK]

Expecting an intelligent comment from a person whose first sentence is missing a word or two, while the second is enriched with such priceless gems as "powerfull", "minorty" and "adiance", is simply unrealistic. Typos happen, of course, but making four ridiculous spelling errors (including two in a single word) in one short sentence is not a good sign.

[A. RAYMOND BOURQUE]

I attended this dismal production of Tosca. Boring, is being kind to the cast. Set and costuming was lack luster at best. How extraordinary for the Met to open the 09-10 season with such a anticlimactic production. Boo.

[Rick]

I was sitting in the Family Circle Opening Night, with a perfect view of the stage and audience. In over 50 years of attending Met performances - and many Opening Nights - I never witnessed such a unanimous outpouring of boos and jeers from an angry audience. It was unprecedented and historic. This production is deplorable and offensive in so may ways, that at times it's detracts from the music itself. Mr. Gelb has a responsibility to say "no" to directors with outlandish ideas. Otherwise, audiences - young and old - will simply stay away. If this Tosca represents the "new look" for the Met... careful what you wish for!

[Joseph Maguire]

Hello, I'm Joe from England.I have found from my email from New York about the Metropolitan opera are not coming to CineWorld the cinema. I have seen some opera on Live from New York. The first one I saw "La Rondine" in January this year.Til the last opera from Metropolitan. I do want more opera from New York. CineWorld are not taking more anymore for some reason. I am angry and disappointed. I enjoy to listen the music in cinema and it was wonderful music.Wonderful evening. CineWorld had no support and no sympathy from me. I am great support to opera and I am the fan or I was the fan of Metropolitan opera.

[Dr.Francis Shelton]

I read this review with great pleasure.
I myself am accredited to report on performances of the FESTSPIELHAUS in Baden Baden, Europe's biggest opera and concert hall, for www.MusicalCriticism.com" .
I consciously describe myself not as a critic, but as a member of the audience, who happens to have accumulated a lifetime of operatic experience in some of the greatest houses, coupled with being a professionally qualified, but strictly amateur , still active musician..

With all my respect for the intellectual qualities and honesty of a Luc Bondy, nothing will persuade me that Floria Tosca, baring her bosom while slashing the seminude portrait of her supposed rival, or stabbing Scarpia in his crotch area, already vigorously exercised by three prostitutes , even before he could muse on Tosca being "un bon falco", has contributed to lovers of opera forming a new view of this magnificent work.
I would not like Mona Lisa brought up to date by giving her large sunglasses and a Gucci handbag...
Zefirelli staged TOSCA in the only context in which its action can creditably take place, and in which Puccini placed it with the intuition of a genius he was. Cavaradossi's clarion call VITTORIA in the early 20th Century is just an absurdity.
One can muse on how little the world changed , and there are still many Scapias dotted over our world, but I, for one, do not need even a man of Luc `Bondy's integrity and intellect , to rub this in by superficial cliches.
Conceptual "REGIETHEATER" with all its pretentious fatuousness, and with Wotan calling Loge on his handy, will, I hope, slowly give place to allowing operas produced nearer to what their composers wished and hoped for.

Dr.Francis Shelton ( 1913 )

[Tatiana Rossi]

This is a pathetic rant above!!!Today ,on October 10th,the audience wouldn't let the singers get off stage-the sang their hearts out. Most unbelievable cast with tremendous talent and devotion to the art.Everyone must see it!!!!

[Richard Williams]

I was not able to be at openning night in NYC. I did attend the Oct 10th premier on the big screen with my 8 year old son. The opera was NR, as I told him most operas were. I am all for new artistic ideas, new interpretations especially when they contribute to a classic work. This production did not contribute to the legacy of Tosca's, rather it detracted. Imagine this production as the premiere of the opera's first ever performance. It would have surely guaranteed failure. The only thing going for this production was the familiarity of the music. I am not a puritan, but how are we to bring the next generation of opera goers into the fold with sexual non-favors being performed through zipped up pants? My son just shook his head and looked at me and said "what the....?". I couldn't have said it better. Production cast and director: what were you thinking?
I agree with the camera on boom comments, oil the apparatus, and block out the seats that will have a compromised experience. The church had brick texture that was decidedly unfinished and suspiciously identical to the Prison. Mattila's flinchy movements were very distracting, making listening difficult. She was musically best in the third act. Alvarez, was musically the best prepared although milking the fermatas for all they were worth. I enjoyed his coloring of the non-aria music. Scarpia was detestable as proxy Luc Bondy's idiotic direction. I hope this 'opportunity' doesn't ruin his career. Sometimes the singers should just say 'no'. Lighting, chorus, orchestra were great.

[jack clark]

October 10, 2009, baltimore
I and seemingly most of the HD-viewing audience at the AMC Theater in Baltimore had a transforming experience with this new production of Tosca. Even in the sorely missed absence of the inspiration of James Levine, this was a performance that excited me as much as the Maria Calllas-Tito Gobbi recording I first heard back in the late 1950's. This current production is in the forefront with the creative forces that are of this time. This is opera-theater of the early 21 Century. I at 72 years am so happy I have lived long enough to be introduced to this Opera by Maria Callas; and now to have this experience enriched by Karita Mattila and the other two lead performers. The production was a work of art. I thank the Met for it.

[Patricia Thomas]

I was a happy opera goer for the HD live-streamed performance of Tosca last Sat. 10/10. Can't say I liked the set nor did I find the addition of sex to be helpful and the Tosca jump looked "stuck." No matter: the music was glorious and Mattila and Alvarez and the orchestra were positively outstanding. I'm sorry Mr. Swed wasn't able to see this at a "Tinseltown-near-you!"