Appealingly over the top: Sondra Radvanovsky is an ideal Tosca for

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Appealingly over the top: Sondra Radvanovsky is an ideal Tosca for LA Opera, with ample support from Domingo and Caird | All is Yar
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Appealingly over the top: Sondra
Radvanovsky is an ideal Tosca for
LA Opera, with ample support from
Domingo and Caird
Posted on May 23, 2013 by CK DEXTER HAVEN
1 Comment
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If I were to look up “diva” in the dictionary, I’d half expect to see one of the
definitions — maybe THE definition — to be “Floria Tosca.” The character after
which Puccini named his famous opera has all the attributes that would come to
mind when I think of a diva: petulant but passionate, jealous but loving, a general
pain in the ass but someone you’d definitely want on your side in a fight, and most
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importantly, a singer with the grandest of voices.
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Because of that, a successful production of Tosca (the opera) requires a dramatic
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soprano as Tosca (the character) who is willing to be AND is capable of being the
ultimate diva on stage. I firmly believe that more than any of the other female leads
in Puccini’s most famous operas – Mimi (La Boheme), Turandot, or even Butterfly
— Floria Tosca needs to be grandiose or the whole show will fall flat.
Sondra Radvanovsky is that kind of Floria Tosca in all the best ways. As evidenced
last Saturday night during the opening performance of Los Angeles Opera’s six
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show run, Ms. Radvanovsky had both dramatic flair and subtlety, matched by
stunning vocal chops. She easily covered the full range of emotion and expression
this demanding role calls for: I believed that she loved Cavaradossi; I believed that
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she was intensely suspicious and jealous that he may have been cheating on her; I
believed that she was a reluctant murderer, but a determined one once she set her
mind to it; that she was naive enough to think the execution was a fake, and crazy
enough to kill herself. I bought it all, hook, line, and sinker.
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Grant Gersh…
It was awe-inspiring to
watch and listen to Ms.
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Radvanovsky in all three
acts, but if all you
experienced was her
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rendition of “Vissi d’arte,”
you’d probably still walk
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Plácido Domingo a…
away with the same
impression. This one aria
was a microcosm of her
CK Dexter Haven on My
chat with Plácido
Domingo a…
whole performance: sad,
anguished, powerful, a touch
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Plácido Domingo a…
melancholy; and just when
you thought you couldn’t ask
for much more, she floated
the final note for what
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seemed like an eternity,
adding a little crescendo,
then decrescendo, then back
Sondra Radvanovsky (Tosca) (Act 2)
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and forth again, injecting an
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extra touch of anxiousness
and despair. It was breathtaking.
She got perfect support from conductor Plácido Domingo. LA Opera’s General
Director certainly knows his way around this score, and on this night, his
conducting was as effective as I’d ever experienced. While he mostly went for an
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unabashedly big sound from the orchestra, he knew when to turn the heat down,
when to push and when to ease up.
The orchestra responded
enthusiastically, giving Mr.
Domingo that big sound while
never letting textures get thick
and gloppy. The solo clarinet
work in Act 3 was particularly
beautiful, with just the right
amount of tension and rubato.
Director John Caird wasn’t afraid
to add his own over-the-top
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Plácido Domingo conducting
6/29/14, 7:44 PM
touches, mainly with blood, more
blood, and even more blood
spurting out to and fro. Beyond
the special effects, he knew when to keep the action compact and when to go big.
He made dramatic use of the space on stage, both horizontally and vertically:
during the first act, all three main characters sang their way up and down the three
levels of the scaffolding which supported Cavaradossi’s giant painting; the third act
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begins with an already dead Angelotti being hoisted up to the high ceiling courtesy
of one of the multiple nooses hanging down.
He also added a mysterious young
girl into the action; whether the symbolism was eerie, heavy-handed, or just silly is
debatable, but it was just one more thing that kept things from being ordinary.
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The combined contributions of those three — Ms. Radvanovsky, and Messrs.
Brian Lauritzen
Domingo and Caird — easily make this production worth seeing. Everyone and
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everything else was good enough to not get in the way of one’s enjoyment.
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The two male leads couldn’t quite match Ms. Radvanovsky’s brilliance, but for
opposite reasons:
Lido Ataneli was a solid Scarpia. His characterization of one of opera’s
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iconic villains was detailed but restrained, more smug and smarmy than
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truly menacing. It worked for me dramatically, and his nuanced singing
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matched his acting nicely; however, one wished that his voice could be bigger
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at times. “Va, Tosca” started with the right amount of intensity, and as it
built, I kept anticipating it to erupt into that gloriously creepy moment
when the quasi-pious Scarpia declares with much fanfare that Tosca makes
him forget God; it should be stirring, but it never got there because Mr.
Ataneli’s voice didn’t quite rise to the occasion.
Marco Berti sounded fine and had a big enough voice when he needed it, but
he seemed to come from the stand-in-one-place-and-sing school of operatic
acting. More disappointingly, I never felt emotionally invested in his
singing. “Recondita armonia” was stiff, and “E lucevan le stelle” verged on
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sterile. Perhaps he was nervous singing in front of one of the greatest tenors
the world has ever seen . . .
The rest of the cast
handled their
smaller roles with
aplomb. Joshua
Bloom was an
appropriately
desperate
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Angelotti. Philip
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resonant Sacristan.
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Rodell Rosel did a
nice job vocally and
dramatically as the
constantly put-
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upon Spoletta.
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Daniel Armstrong
handled Sciarrone
and Eden McCoy
was smooth as the
singers of the Los
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A great concert. Big ovation for
everyone. @jamesjconlon
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without problem,
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Marco Berti (Cavaradossi) (Act 1)
Angeles Opera
Chorus and Los Angeles Children’s Chorus sounded great and added some
atmosphere to the on-stage proceedings. The various other non-singing cast
members and supernumeraries seemed completely integral to the action on stage.
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The sets and costumes, courtesy of Houston Grand Opera, seemed to place the
action in the WWII era rather than the original setting of pre-republican Italy. It
was grand in scale and full of detail, working reasonably well overall; however, it
was not without its own quirks:
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A great concert. Big ovation for
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Scarpia’s chambers in Act 2 were apparently meant to give the sense that he
was hording various works of art. Instead, the endless stacks of greyishbrown crates evoked a distinctly different impression, best described by
friend and fellow tweet-seater, Beverly Reynolds: “Scarpia’s office looks like
that warehouse from Indiana Jones. Pretty sure the Ark of the Covenant is in
there somewhere.”
In Act 3, the ramparts of the Castel Sant’Angelo are replaced by a cavernous
room with a ceiling from which hung nooses, and which also contains one
large open window in the back wall. You certainly get no sensation that this
space is particularly high, and if someone were to hurl themselves off the
ledge of the window, it would seem that their fall would only be about three
feet. In this context, Mr. Caird’s decision to have Tosca slit her throat before
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she falls off the ledge isn’t just another excuse to bloody up the stage and her
white dress, it becomes a dramatic necessity so that the audience members
know that she’s dead.
All that said, the benefits of this Tosca easily outweigh its deficiencies. Go to
experience the artistry of Sondra Radvanovsky, and you’ll be pleasantly appreciative
when a nice production of a Puccini classic breaks out around her.
Random other thoughts:
One more thing about Ms. Radvanovsky’s “Vissi d’arte.” As you might
expect, the opera stopped dead in its tracks when the audience at the
Dorothy Chandler erupted in a prolonged haze of cheers and shouts of
“Brava!” What you might not expect — I certainly wouldn’t have — was the
following: from my seat, I could just see out of the corner of my eye the side
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monitors which constantly show a live feed of the conductor in the pit,
allowing the singers on stage to more easily follow his baton even if they are
looking towards stage right or left; after the final note of “Vissi d’arte,” Mr.
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Domingo had a huge smile on his face and put down his baton to
enthusiastically clap along with everyone else in the house; he didn’t stop to
pick it up again until the cheers had died down noticeably. I’d be shocked if
more than a few people besides the orchestra and singers on stage could see
him, so the unabashed appreciation wasn’t just playing to the audience. If
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there was any doubt as to how good Ms. Radvanovsky sang the aria,
watching his reaction would have put those doubts to rest.
Mr. Domingo will conduct five of the six performances. For the June 2nd
show, Spanish conductor Jordi Bernàcer makes his LA Opera debut.
RELATED POST:
Photos from LA Opera’s current production of “Tosca”
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My chat with Plácido Domingo
about singing Schubert lieder, plus
Renée Fleming ponders singing
baritone too
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Lado Ataneli (Scarpia) on platform, with ensemble (finale of Act 1)
Los Angeles Opera: May 18 – June 8, 2013; Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Tosca
by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa
CAST
Floria Tosca: Sondra Radvanovsky
Mario Cavaradossi: Marco Berti
Baron Scarpia: Lado Ataneli
Cesare Angelotti: Joshua Bloom
The Sacristan: Philip Cokorinos
Page 7 of 10
6/29/14, 7:44 PM
Spoletta: Rodell Rosel
Sciarrone: Daniel Armstrong++
Young Girl: Eden McCoy*
CREATIVE TEAM
Conductor: Plácido Domingo
Conductor (June 2): Jordi Bernàcer*
Director: John Caird*
Scenic and Costume Design: Bunny Christie*
Lighting Designer: Duane Schuler
Chorus Director: Grant Gershon
Fight Director: Ed Douglas
* LA Opera debut artist
++ Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program alumnus
—————
Photo credits:
Plácido Domingo: Brian Lauritzen
All others: Robert Millard for Los Angeles Opera
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Tags: John Caird, Lado Ataneli, Marco Berti, Placido Domingo, Puccini, Sondra
Radvanovsky. Bookmark the permalink.
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One thought on “Appealingly over the top: Sondra
Radvanovsky is an ideal Tosca for LA Opera, with ample
support from Domingo and Caird”
KATHERINE says:
May 23, 2013 at 11:06 am
Great review! Sondra Radvanovsky’s voice is truly exquisite and this
production was VERY entertaining to watch!
Reply
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Appealingly over the top: Sondra Radvanovsky is an ideal Tosca for

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