IU Opera Theatre shines in Giacomo Puccini's 'Tosca'

The IU Opera Theatre has outdone itself. Given all earlier anxiety over acoustics and balance at the IU Auditorium, this weekend's presentation of Giacomo Puccini's "Tosca" surpassed expectation. \nThere were challenges, but they seemed to ultimately energize the production. The auditorium's design provides a shell that naturally responds to the orchestra but tucks the singers into a hole onstage, demanding a greater amount of vocal exertion.\nThe cast, however, overcame this and consistently matched the symphony orchestra -- which gave its own superb performance under maestro Imre Pallo -- in power and passion. And perhaps more importantly, "Tosca," as presented in the auditorium for one weekend only, served as a reminder that opera is indeed theater. It removed the aura of sacredness that is so often applied in opera houses and provided an environment conducive to the intense drama onstage that the cast portrayed so vividly.\nFriday evening's Mario Cavaradossi was Jeffrey Springer, a School of Music alumnus with many performances of this role already to his credit. His experience with the work was on full display as he plunged himself into the depths of Cavaradossi's inner struggles. The weight of his voice, combined with the passion of his presentation, left many applauding at his first high B-flat, a mere 10 minutes into the performance. A painter and political revolutionary, Cavaradossi gives aid to escaped prisoner Cesare Angelotti, sung by graduate student David Swain, and finds himself pursued by chief of police Baron Scarpia. We soon learn, however, that capturing the prisoner is secondary to Scarpia's goal to win over Cavaradossi's lover, the renowned soprano Floria Tosca.\nSinging opposite Springer and matching him in intensity, graduate student Reyna Carguill gave the audience a very human Tosca -- flighty and jealous like any self-respecting diva, yet consumed with love for Cavaradossi. Carguill displayed a maturity beyond her young years, confirming that she is indeed one of the country's most promising lyric sopranos. Her progression onstage from suspicious to martyred lover, from self-absorbed soprano to self-sacrificing murderess, was emotionally charged and artistically superb.\nGraduate student Soon Young Park, as the much feared Scarpia, gave a vocally exciting performance, though his expression was occasionally lacking. He seemed not nearly cruel enough when singing of his desire for forced submission to his desires. But then again, perhaps his easy, happy demeanor while rhapsodizing on his impending rape of Tosca actually served to enhance his evil nature. He still held a commanding presence on stage, lording over his many henchmen, most notably sung by senior Andrew Darling as Sciarrone and graduate student Marc Schapman as the bitter Spoletta. \nThe cast inhabited a fantastic, stylized set dominated by red and black -- appropriate colors for an Italy in the midst of revolution. Originally designed by Michael Yeargan for the Virginia Opera Company, the set was further enhanced by a lighting scheme that made extensive use of shadow, keeping the action onstage as dark as the story being portrayed.\nWhat makes this kind of story often so painful to watch for an audience member, however, is the progression toward seemingly avoidable tragedy. There is always a bad call, a misjudgment that brings about a spiraling downfall everyone but the victim could see coming. And, as Scarpia explains to Tosca his plan for a "false" execution, she commits that one fatal mistake -- she allows herself to believe, in disastrously blind optimism, that she can trust a bargain struck by a conniving and jealous leader facing the fall of his bitter regime. But the promises of such men can never be trusted. And for this folly, Tosca and the good Cavaliere pay the ultimate price, just as Scarpia himself does for his deceits.\nPerhaps, in the end, Tosca's folly, and therefore her fate, could not be avoided. But that should not stop us from learning her lesson: Foes must be treated with utmost suspicion, equal tenacity and unwavering persistence, until they are fully and finally relieved of the power they so terribly hold.