In the three-act Tosca, the title character, Floria Tosca (soprano Sondra Radvanovsky reprising the role she first performed for LA Opera in 2013), is a renowned opera singer in Italy during the Napoleonic era (Melody Moore plays the role on May 13). Isn’t it clear how rightwing politics favoring the rich and powerful fits together with abusive treatment of women? It’s all of a piece. Wendy Walsh to analyze the opera’s theme of sexual harassment and how it relates to scandals perpetrated by authoritarian men. It never fails to amaze how what we see on stage or screen often reflects what’s going on in the real world-aka “out there in TVLand.” For instance, I previously pointed out how LA Opera’s recent production of Mozart’s 18th-century The Abduction from the Seraglio, set in a Turkish milieu, mirrored today’s ongoing debate over Islamic extremism versus so-called “moderate Muslims.” Now, hard on the heels of Bill O’Reilly’s (long overdue) ouster from Fox News, Giacomo Puccini’s 1900 opera Tosca is being performed on the boards of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.Īnd you don’t have to be a clinical psychologist like Dr.

Shouts reveal that Scarpiaïs murder has been discovered Tosca jumps from the battlements.Sondra Radvanovsky as Tosca and Ambrogio Maestri as Scarpia / Ken Howard But Scarpia has tricked her: Cavaradossi is dead. In the prison Tosca tells Cavaradossi that the firing squad will fake the execution. As Scarpia approaches her, Tosca kills him. A mock execution is arranged and Scarpia writes a safe conduct pass for Tosca and Cavaradossi. As the price for Cavaradossi’s life, she agrees to give herself to Scarpia. Spoletta, unable to find Angelotti, arrests Cavaradossi. The dreaded Chief of Police, Scarpia, lusts after Tosca and inflames her jealousy in the hope that she will lead him to Angelottiï’s hiding-place. Floria Tosca, a celebrated singer who is Cavaradossi’s lover, suspects that Cavaradossi has been meeting the Marchesa Attavanti, whom he has used as a model for his painting of Mary Magdalen. Cavaradossi, a painter known for his republican sympathies, helps Angelotti, former Consul of the Roman Republic and a fugitive, to hide.

The action takes place in Rome on 17-18 June 1800. This most famous of Puccinis operas was premiered in Rome a hundred years ago, but its passionate music still manages to move audiences. These are the attributes of almost every opera, Tosca is no exception.

Synopsis of tosca opera