While some opera firms are re-imagining Puccini with VR headsets and 1950s film studios, Madison Opera selected to open its 2023-24 season with a tried-and-true conventional “Tosca.”

With grandiose set items meant to evoke a storybook model of 1800 Rome and hovering Italian lyrics about epic love “like blazing rainbows,” “Tosca” is a perennial crowd-pleaser. Tenor Limmie Pulliam’s opulent arias could sound acquainted, even to first-time opera goers. Soprano Michelle Johnson sweeps onto the stage like an avenging angel, cape swirling.

With Craig Irvin because the devilish baritone and a short but substantial hymn for the refrain, the entire thing makes for an entertaining three or so hours. Madison Opera phases “Tosca” as soon as extra in Overture Hall on Sunday.

“Tosca,” based mostly on an 1887 Sarah Bernhardt automobile by playwright Victorien, isn’t a lot a love triangle because the story of two fiery artists who get caught up in political unrest and the scheming of a cartoonish villain.

Act I opens in a Roman cathedral and contains a visitor look by the pope himself. Fêted diva Floria Tosca (Johnson, resplendent in her third time within the function) fights a depraved jealous streak when she visits her painter boyfriend, Cavaradossi (Pulliam), regardless that he’s appearing suspicious.

Cavaradossi is hiding an outdated pal and not too long ago escaped political prisoner. The man’s identify, Angelotti, seems like a pasta, although Alex Soare sings his bit splendidly properly.

Irvin’s Scarpia stomps in on a hunt for the prisoner, however when he spies Tosca, he rapidly adjustments tack. Can he get the mercurial diva to guide him to the mark and get just a little “violent conquest” for himself alongside the best way? We can virtually see Scarpia’s fingers drumming collectively in dastardly anticipation.

As Tosca, Johnson clearly enjoys the sunshine comedian teasing of her lover in “Non la sospiri la nostra casetta” (“Don’t you long for our little cottage”). She has dramatic chops too, highlighted in a pleading, attractive “Vissi d’arte”( “I live for art”).

Grinning just like the Cheshire cat with Inspector Javert’s ponytail, Irvin embraces Scarpia’s over-the-top badness. “Bramo!” he cries (“I lust!”), sipping on cranberry juice in a goblet as he strides the stage. It’s pleasant. If director Frances Rabalais gave melodrama because the temporary, Irvin understood the task.

Pulliam’s standout second is not any much less spine-tingling for being anticipated. “E lucevan le stelle” (“How the stars used to shine”) is iconic and Pulliam proves why, with a lush, romantic rendition of the aria.  

Under the baton of maestro John DeMain, Puccini’s rating couldn’t sound extra theatrical, cinematic in its highs and lows. Pulliam and Johnson match DeMain’s romantic power in duet after duet. When Scarpia first comes on the scene, the smash chord from the orchestra might fill Camp Randall.

Madison Opera averages “Tosca” as soon as a decade, with this being its sixth. Opening evening had a couple of wobbly bits, like a rocking Virgin Mary statue and one ponderously gradual entrance, which after two acts and two intermissions felt even longer than it was.

Yet “Tosca” seems fairly good in 2023, with flattering costumes by Utah Opera’s Susan Memmott Allred and intense, deliberate lighting design by Christina Watanabe.

When Tosca grabs a knife and turns it on Scarpia, she turns her story into the uncommon tragedy that doesn’t really feel that tragic, even with a substantial physique depend. Tried and true takes dedication too. This manufacturing makes a tradtional “Tosca” sing.

Lindsay Christians is the meals editor and humanities author for the Cap Times. She has a grasp’s diploma in theatre analysis from UW-Madison and is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association. 

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