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IN REVIEW
Tosca, Toledo Opera, 4/28/07

Toledo Opera closed its 2006–07 season with a starkly beautiful production of Puccini's Tosca (April 28). Artistic director Renay Conlin assembled a first-rate cast and crew. Director Lorna Haywood wisely kept the action in a "traditional" setting, drawing from each actor total conviction and abandon. The added touches — tenderly light moments between Tosca and Cavaradossi in the Act I duet, or the moment where Tosca, impatient for Scarpia's death, stabs him a second time in the back — were always part of a whole. One cannot help wishing, however, that the chorus had remained in the nave section of the church, instead of invading the small side chapel (which this setting, for a change, truly was). It meant that Scarpia, who should be alone and battling between his lust for Tosca and his devotion to God, was actually doing battle with the volume of the chorus. Spectacle won out over Puccini's carefully plotted sound canvas.

Michael Chioldi was fully up to the battle, his warm baritone deployed with great skill. His Scarpia was clearly a religious man in outward observance only, allowing his need for control – of those around him, of the rebellious Cavaradossi and of Tosca – to usurp any true beliefs. No powdered wig for him! His characterization of a young man with a passionate desire added great sexual tension to the Act II scene with Tosca.

Fabiana Bravo's Tosca was a perfect foil for Chioldi's Scarpia. Her voice possesses all of the requisite size and color, with that thrilling tinge of morbidezza grabbing at phrases with telling results. "Vissi d'arte" was expertly molded as the sincere prayer of a bewildered innocent.

Dinyar Vania has a voice of the perfect size voice for Cavaradossi. While he has all the thrilling high notes the role demands (and the lung power to sustain them), he also took great care to shade the lyric passages to dynamic perfection. The smaller roles were well handled, particularly James Kleyla as the Sacristan, who was less artificially mannered than is usual. Steve Grudzien seemed to struggle with the vocal demands of Spoletta.

The sets were mostly in shades of gray and black, but they were effectively designed by David Gano. John Lehmeyer's costumes were colorful enough to stand out against the stark sets. (How nice to see Scarpia begin Act II in something other than all black.) Maestro Thomas Conlin's conducting elicited warm response from the Toledo Symphony, which only occasionally betrayed its newness to the score. Conlin's tempos for Act I seemed a bit fussy, but Acts II and III rose to intense dramatic heights.

ALAN MONTGOMERY