We round up the reviews for Oliver Mears’s new production of Puccini’s opera, performing until the 7th October.
Broadway World: ***** “Freddie De Tommaso brings pathos and dignity to the principled Cavaradossi, in love with the mythos of the good man in a bad world as much as he is in love with his Tosca – he would give his life for either. If we didn’t know before – and Puccini’s music, played wonderfully well by an orchestra on top form under Jakub Hrůša’s baton has been telling us from the start – De Tommaso’s bewitching delivery of “E lucevan le stelle” leaves us in no doubt at all.”
The Guardian: **** “Holding it all together from the pit, Hrůša drove forwards and pulled back with absolute musical confidence, making space for moments of beauty but mining from the darkest, grittiest passages of Puccini’s score a performance of tremendous emotional force.”
London Theatre.co.uk: **** “The opera that was one condemned as a “shabby little shocker” can claim that label as a badge of honour. Royal Opera’s new music director Jakub Hrusa conducts with tremendous drama and it isn’t difficult to envision this new production remaining part of the repertoire for some years to come.”
The Stage: **** “Oliver Mears’ new Tosca takes a serious new look at a familiar piece.”
The Telegraph: **** “The Russian soprano made her comeback in Puccini’s Tosca, despite controversy over her stance on the Russia-Ukraine war.”
London Unattached: ***** “As Floria Tosca, Anna Netrebko hits the stage like a hurricane of emotion, seemingly unaffected by the demo outside the theatre. She is decked out by costume designer Ilona Karas in a shocking pink cocktail dress that stands out from the greys and whites elsewhere. Her “Vissi d’arte” has a sublime luminosity with a voice that has a remarkable tonal consistency across all the registers. There is humour and a spellbinding sensuality in her performance.”
Bachtrack.com: “Mears’ staging ticks a lot of boxes. Holdsworth’s sets are visually arresting – the bombed out church, the fascist marble architecture of Scarpia’s headquarters, the stage compressed into a white box for Cavaradossi’s execution chamber. Sensibly, Mears decides that the concept and rhythm of Puccini’s original drama is so perfectly crafted that there’s no need to mess with it; rather, he paints details drawn from the libretto: a cheap takeaway box for Scarpia’s “poor supper”; the prison clock ticking gradually up to 4 o’clock, the time set for Cavaradossi’s execution; the jailer’s venal bureaucracy as he demands signatures from the condemned and then pockets their valuables.”
Gramophone.co.uk: **** “Netrebko’s soprano has never sounded bigger – or deeper, hitting almost contralto depths in her cavernous chest register. Indeed, she sometimes sang too loudly, both she and Freddie De Tommaso as Cavaradossi sacrificing intonation for volume, but when she dialled it down, the range of colours produced was truly outstanding. Vissi d’arte was mixed, climaxing on an excellent long diminuendo before spoiling it with a blowsy final phrase. The long ovation that greeted her aria simply said, ‘Welcome back’.”
To book tickets visit: https://www.rbo.org.uk/tickets-and-events/tosca-oliver-mears-details