Tosca, Livermore Valley Opera, Mar. 18 2012

Livermore Valley Opera was almost an unknown to me. I had been to one previous production, The Marriage of Figaro I think it was, some years ago, but it had not made much of an impression on me. But when a friend suggested Tosca with Marie Plette and Bojan Knezvic, it was “sign me up!”

The performance was at the Bankhead Theater in downtown Livermore, a new (2007) facility with just 507 seats. There is only a single level of seating, no balcony, and the floor is raked steeply enough that it’s easy to see over the heads of the people in the row in front of you. The orchestra pit, between the audience and the stage, is truly a pit; when the conductor asked the orchestra to accept applause at the beginning of the third act, most of the musicians held their instruments high in the air so that the audience would have something to see. LVO also provides a special intermission treat on Sunday afternoon performances: complimentary ice cream, French vanilla, in individual 6 oz. containers, complete with a little wooden spoon, and served at the perfect temperature, not too soft and not too hard.

The sets were simple but effective. For act 1, we had two of the stone columns of the church, with a small statue of the Madonna between them, and part of a rose window in the background. To the right was the painter’s scaffold and the almost-finished portrait of Mary Magdalene; to the left, the Attavanti chapel. In act 2, in Scarpia’s office at the Farnese Palace, we saw a small writing desk to the left, a reclining sofa in the middle, and Scarpia’s dinner table at the right. Above it all hung a large, wider than tall, tapestry depicting a hunting scene. The act 3 set was the simplest, just the stone walls at the top of the Castel Sant’ Angelo, with a gigantic foot and the lower part of the leg of the statue of the archangel Michael to the left.

Our cast:
Floria Tosca: Marie Plette
Mario Cavaradossi: David Gustafson (not Bojan Knezvic as originally announced)
Baron Scarpia: Philip Skinner
Cesare Angelotti: Torlef Borsting
Sacristan: John Bischoff
Spoletta: Chester Pidduck
Sciarrone: Jeffrey Goble
Conductor: Alexander Katsman
Director: Olivia Stapp

The performers may be used to singing in larger halls (some certainly are): there was no problem hearing anybody—or perhaps it is a tribute to excellent acoustics in the Bankhead Theater. Gustafson sang so loudly that my ears (in the third row) rang. Unfortunately a couple of his ringing phrases developed a little crack in them, but his cry of “Vittoria! Vittoooooooooooria!” in the middle of act 2 worked well. Skinner sang well, but his volume of tone did not vary much. Plette’s Tosca was nice but not particularly remarkable. What I did find remarkable was the sacristan of John Bischoff: very rich, deep, and well enunciated. I would very much like to hear him in a larger role. The Te Deum at the end of act 1 was underpowered. The stage at the Bankhead Theater must be fairly shallow, and they just couldn’t fit enough people on stage, even with good acoustics.

The mind wonders (as it wanders), particularly in act 3, how Tosca will fling herself from the parapet at the very end. I’ve seen many, but this one will stick in my mind. Plette jumped on the edge of the wall and then launched herself, arms and head first, feet last, perfectly horizontal, into the air. Dramatic!

Great opera, good cast, fine theater, goosebumps at times—definitely a beta. Next year LVO presents La Cenerentola and La Traviata. I’ll be there!