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If it’s true that classic works are ever-topical, it’s also true that these works might have times when they seem hugely relevant. Thus, “Tosca,” Puccini’s notorious potboiler, which lands at the meeting point of sex, politics and religion, is having a real moment. West Bay Opera makes that point with a robust production featuring three excellent primary voices.
We open with baritone Chung-Wai Soong, playing the Sacristan with an amusing crabbiness, eager to rat out the painter Cavaradossi, who’s painting a Maria Magdalena with the face of a local beauty. As it turns out, the lady was there to plant some necessaries for her brother Angelotti (bass Isaiah Musik-Ayala), a political prisoner who has just escaped the nearby Castel Sant’Angelo. Discovering his fugitive friend hiding in the chapel, Cavaradossi vows to aid his escape, and there his troubles begin.
Tenor Xavier Prado performs Cavaradossi as a force of nature, producing blazing ribbons of sound (reminiscent of 1950s divo Mario Del Monaco). His lover is the resident diva, Floria Tosca, played by soprano Julia Behbudov with equal power but also a sense of dynamic play that goes well with Prado’s bluster.
Tosca visits the church worksite and proceeds to distract her boyfriend incessantly, indulging in playful jealousy over the familiar face in the painting. The two singers bring out the remarkable charm and efficiency of this scene, the way that Puccini and his beleaguered librettists Illica and Giacosa manage to outline a complex relationship in such a brief time.
The riches continue with the introduction of baritone Robert Balonek as Scarpia, the hugely corrupt, narcissistic chief of police. Scarpia has two goals in mind: squashing any resistance to the church’s authority and somehow getting his hands on the luscious Tosca. When he discovers that Tosca’s lover might be involved in Angelotti’s escape, you can almost see him drool. His enormous hypocrisies are spelled out in the grand Te Deum, in which the chorus sings a hymn of thanks as Scarpia dwells on his lustful desires (“Tosca, you make me forget God!”). It’s one of Puccini’s more masterful innovations, delivered in resounding fashion by the West Bay chorus (Bruce Olstad, chorusmaster) and Balonek’s rich, agile singing.
In the second act, Scarpia delivers a manifesto that could have been written yesterday: “The flavor is stronger in violent conquests. The thing I crave, I pursue. When I’m satiated, I throw it away.”
After arresting and torturing Cavaradossi, Scarpia and Tosca come to a creepy “understanding” — sex for liberty. Jose Maria Condemi’s kinetic staging suddenly closes to a single spotlight for the heartbreaking aria “Vissi d’arte.” The approach succeeds in internalizing everything. Behbudov stands alone in the darkness and assembles the meaning of Tosca’s life with lovingly crafted lines that fray into gasping inhalations and desperate pleas to God. Her performance was captivating, and the West Bay audience responded with a lengthy European-style ovation.
As the lights come back up, (spoiler alert!) Tosca discovers a renegade steak knife and greets Scarpia’s embrace with an excellent stabbing, a hearty thrust to the midsection. The sudden shifting from contemplative to violent makes an already thrilling production absolutely electric.
Jose Luis Moscovich and his orchestra match the power of their singers, with the confidence of playing on familiar ground. The company’s practice of filling the wings with instruments also offers some intriguing side-effects. A particular three-note torture theme struck my ears with unexpected vigor, and I realized I was directly lined up with Jason Hebert’s bass trombone.
Frederic O. Boulay’s projections played across multiple screens for the interiors, but made their biggest impression with the enormous figure of Sant’Angelo’s iconic sculpture of Michael the Archangel. Special kudos to Patrick Fallows, the youngster who sang the shepherd’s song from the wings. For you true Toscaficionados, the final leap from the parapet was a straightforward drop, as befitting a diva. I also enjoyed Michael Pleban, the tall super who played Scarpia’s torture specialist. It’s good to see a man who enjoys his work.
West Bay Opera stages “Tosca” through May 31 at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. $54-$140. In Italian with English supertitles. 650-424-9999 or wbopera.org,
