Never seen an opera? Florida Grand Opera’s ‘Tosca’ promises to get you hooked

There are many reasons Florida Grand Opera (FGO) has performed Puccini’s “Tosca” almost a dozen times in 50 years, even featuring tenor Luciano Pavarotti in one of the roles in 1981.

“To me, it’s everything that people think opera should be,” says Susan T. Danis, FGO’s general director and chief executive officer. “It has a villain, great romance, revenge, it’s epic with a big chorus, period costumes, and gorgeous sets, and lush, sweeping music that, while it may not be in commercials, audiences will recognize it.”

She says FGO first presented “Tosca” in 1950. Now, the company will have multiple showings, starting March 18-19 and March 21 at Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, and then April 13 and April 15 at Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

“What’s not to love about ‘Tosca’?” says former Metropolitan Opera Assistant Conductor Gregory Buchalter, who is leading the FGO production.

Miami, Florida; Tosca 1981, Luciano Pavarotti. Photo by (c)John Pineda User Upload Caption: Luciano Pavarotti in Florida Grand Opera’s production of “Tosca” in 1981 as Cavaradossi. (Photo courtesy of John Pineda with digital restoration by Deborah Gray Mitchell) (John Pineda / Courtesy)

This is the opera, he says, for people who haven’t been to an opera: “Even if you don’t know much about opera, it’s like going to a movie. There’s so much drama and action going on.”

A tragic story of passion and jealousy, it follows opera singer Floria Tosca (played by Toni Marie Palmertree) as she fights to save her artist-lover Mario Cavaradossi (Arturo Chacón-Cruz) from the sadistic police chief Vitellio Scarpia (Todd Thomas), who lusts for Tosca. Scarpia proclaims that Cavaradossi assisted an escaped political prisoner and imprisons him. He tells Tosca that she can either be with him or have her lover killed.

Thomas, a baritone, has played Scarpia for decades, a role that has the reputation of being the evilest villain from an opera ever.

“This may just be my year for Scarpia,” says Thomas, who also appeared in the role for Opera on the James in Lynchburg, Va., last November, and Opera Memphis in January. He plans to return to Virginia for “Tosca” at Charlottesville Opera this summer.

Todd Thomas as Scarpia in the 2014 production of Florida Grand Opera’s “Tosca” with soprano Kara Shay Thomson. (Justin Namon / Courtesy)

“I performed the role first in Germany in 1996,” Thomas recalls. “I was looking at my [musical] score the other day and it says 1993, so it’s been in my library for a while.”

He’s no stranger to FGO. His company debut in 2014 was — incredibly enough — as Scarpia in “Tosca,” and he’s also performed here in “Madama Butterfly,” “A Masked Ball” and “Rigoletto.” He says performing “Tosca” with FGO is the place he’ll get to flex his opera muscles.

“Not to disparage the other companies where I’ve performed the role recently and upcoming, but with this being FGO’s 81st year, they have a huge history to call upon — the fact that Pavarotti sang here, well the history is immense.”

Having the opportunity to be part of what he calls “a cast that’s talent across the board,” to sing with a full orchestra and in large concert halls such as the Arsht Center’s Ziff Ballet Opera House and Broward Center’s Au-Rene Theater, makes a difference, too, he says.

Against a triumphant Te Deum, Scarpia (Todd Thomas) plots to make Tosca (Toni Marie Palmertree) his, declaring, “Tosca, you make me forget God!” (Daniel Azoulay / Courtesy)

“There is a full-size orchestra in the pit, between 50 and 60 musicians, and the person conducting the orchestra [Gregory Buchalter] has been with the Metropolitan Opera for 30 years,” he says.

He’s also worked with director Jeffrey Marc Buchman before, who was previously a professional operatic baritone.

“He knows where the singers live and their comfort level, unlike perhaps a theater director coming into the opera without that knowledge,” he says of Buchman.

For her part, Danis says she’s thrilled about the entire cast. As Cavaradossi, she says, Chacón-Cruz “is going to blow people away, a Mexican-American tenor that sings throughout the world from Salzburg to San Francisco but lives here in Aventura.”

And Palmertree as Tosca is making her FGO debut. “Toni Marie made her Metropolitan Opera debut last fall, and she is on an upward trajectory,” Danis says. “She has such beautiful color in her voice.”

But it might have been that no company or singer ever uttered a note of “Tosca,” because it almost didn’t get made.

Tosca (Toni Marie Palmertree) warns Scarpia (Todd Thomas) to stay away in rehearsal for Florida Grand Opera’s “Tosca.” (Eric Joannes / Courtesy)

Giacomo Puccini used French playwright Victorien Sardou’s “La Tosca,” as the source for his opera. Sardou had written his play in 1887 as a star vehicle for actress Sarah Bernhardt.

“Puccini saw the play twice and immediately wanted to turn it into an opera. But Sardou disliked Puccini’s music and wanted it to be assigned to a better-known composer, and preferably a French one,” says Cindy Sadler, a professional mezzo-soprano opera singer and the marketing-communications manager at FGO.

Puccini’s publisher eventually obtained the rights. On Jan. 14, 1990, “Tosca” premiered in Rome, where the story is set.

“‘Tosca’ could be a Netflix series today, and we could drag it out for six seasons,” Buchalter says. “Audience members who have never been to an opera will get hooked ... they’ll be on the edge of their seats.”

WHAT: Florida Grand Opera’s “Tosca”

WHEN/WHERE:

COST: $16-$255, depending on show and venue

INFORMATION: 800-741-1010; fgo.org

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