The San Francisco Opera revived its classic production of Puccini's beloved potboiler Tosca last week for an abbreviated run of five performances at the War Memorial Opera House. Always a crowd-pleaser and an equally solid guarantee on the rent, this latest visit with the diva in distress did little to justify yet another appearance of the tired staging, but offered instead a much better reason to live, the truly stellar SFO debut of Armenian soprano Lianna Haroutounian in the title role.
Production designer Thierry Bosquet recreated and adapted Armando Agnini's original sets and costumes from the performance that inaugurated the War Memorial in 1932, and with Jose Maria Condemi blocking the action for the third time since 2008, this is the production we have been seeing since the reopening of the Opera House after renovations in 1997. It feels slightly impolite to notice that, despite the painterly detail and obviously costly materials, the look of the production is at best evocative of an era. The quaint sets remain impressive enough to frame the action without much distraction, however, and despite Condemi's lackluster and occasionally unfocused direction, no one bumps into them, either. Tosca is all about the singing anyway, and putting the three central characters in positions where they can best be seen (bless the inventor of the follow spot) and heard is all we really need. Oh yeah, a good conductor couldn't hurt, either.
The current restoration of the legendary "shabby little shocker" certainly has everything musical in its place. You won't hear a better sung Tosca in a long, long time, and conductor Riccardo Frizza has tamed the slightly disjointed but wonderfully live acoustics of the orchestra pit to a rich symphonic sweep that never overpowers the vocalists and still highlights some wonderful details.
Returning in roles they debuted in the 2012 revival are American tenor Brian Jagde as the heroine's ardent lover Mario Cavaradossi, and American bass-baritone Mark Delavan as her vile tormentor, the corrupt Baron Scarpia.
Secondary roles are essayed by bass-baritone Dale Travis as the amusing old Sacristan; bass Scott Connor as the escaped political prisoner Cesare Angelotti (he is pivotal in getting the lovers into the mess that brings them down); and tenor Joel Sorenstein as Scarpia's slimy henchman Spoletta. Each was well-cast (especially the veteran Travis), and all of them made a solid contribution to the storytelling, even if Bosquet had Connor's character looking like he had escaped from a Biblical reenactment rather than the feared prison in the Castel Sant'Angelo.
Brian Jagde is making quite a name for himself as a Puccini tenor. We thought he was dream casting in Madama Butterfly most recently, and he has a big, beautiful voice that can ride the waves of the largest orchestra. What we liked best about his authentic Pinkerton was his distinctive American quality. It proves a bit of a drawback here. We recognize Jagde's nicely detailed touches of character, but we would never mistake him for a passionate Italian painter in the streets of Rome, maybe a nice Yank on an art scholarship. His singing still remains bold, and his duets with Haroutounian are absolutely thrilling. He is idiomatic enough for this production, and the audience responded with cheers.
Delavan is also at home in his altogether more complicated role of Scarpia, a hot mess of crudity, suavity and downright depravity. What a pleasure he must be to play, and while there are a few moments when the bass-baritone lacks richness, he is clearly having himself a tremendous field day. That is, of course, until his female prey does him in. Don't pretend this is a plot-spoiler, everybody knows the melodrama is not going to end well for any of the protagonists. They are just going to sound fabulous while meeting their respective dooms.
Lianna Haroutounian in her SFO and role debut never stopped sounding fabulous until she threw herself off the Castel Sant'Angelo's parapet. The diminutive soprano has one of those voices that one can't seem to get enough of. Sweet, steady and amazingly powerful, she has just enough edge to add bite and a creamy richness that eases her through a breathtaking range. She looks pretty in most of her costumes (well, that Act I number should really go), and the dramatic red of her gown in Act II adds to her dramatic effectiveness. But Haroutounian's Tosca is not the regal diva of Callas, nor the matronly woman in love of Milanov or Caballe. Instead she is one of Puccini's "little women" trapped and vulnerable, defined by love.
It is a perfectly valid approach, and Haroutounian is at her most believable when she plays the surprisingly innocent singer as an essentially simple girl lost in the passions and cruelties of the real world. You couldn't witness a more exciting Company debut, and the venerable walls of the War Memorial were echoing with the audience's agreement. Lianna Haroutounian made some history of her own in a historic house.
Tosca plays through Nov. 8.