Luc Bondy staging of `Tosca' returns to Met

NEW YORK — Roberto Alagna should get some sort of iron-man award for singers.

A night after stepping in on short notice for an indisposed colleague in the title role of Gounod's "Faust," the 48-year-old tenor sang Mario Cavaradossi on Tuesday in the opening performance of the Metropolitan Opera's revival of Puccini's "Tosca."

Adding some electricity to the tacky Luc Bondy staging – yes, the one that was booed by a large percentage of the audience on the first night of the 2009-10 season – Alagna poured out thrilling notes with color and drama.

His two big arias, "Recondita armonia (Concealed harmony)" and "E lucevan le stelle (When the stars were brightly shining)" earned large ovations. His portrayal of the doomed painter was sexy, even poignant, when he sang with arms crossed over his chest on the roof of the Castel Sant'Angelo.

"To sing Faust and Tosca on consecutive nights makes my adrenaline flow," he said in a statement. "This is what makes being an opera singer so exciting for me."

His interaction helped bring to life Patricia Racette's Floria Tosca, which struggled when left alone with the stiff Scarpia of George Gagnidze. He acted as though he were Tony Soprano with `roid rage, leaving Racette in a strange isolation even during their duets. When singing to Scarpia, she spent much of the time looking at the audience rather than at him.

Under Bondy's staging, Scarpia is so slimy and so evil, lacking any iota of elegance, it's impossible to believe Tosca would willingly be in the same room.

Shortly after the production opened, Bondy spoke about "Tosca" at the New York Public Library and gave some insight into why he changed the instructions specified in the libretto that Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa wrote for Puccini when the opera premiered in 1900.

"The idea of libretto is so stupid," he said, adding that "this is a very trivial story" and "the music is thrilling, but it is not Alban Berg." As for the audience response on opening night, Bondy said: "I didn't know that Tosca was like the Bible in New York."

"Tosca" is set in three very specific locations in Rome: the Sant'Andrea della Valle church, the Palazzo Farnese and the castle. Franco Zeffirelli's 1985 production portrayed them as large as life and perhaps even more glamorously.

Bondy's bricked church, in a design by Richard Peduzzi, was missing religious items and could be Florestan's prison with a window. Scarpia's apartment hardly looks like a palace, with walls of hamburger brown and mustard yellow framing burgundy velvet sofas. Act 3 is set atop the nondescript castle.

Tomer Zvulun, the stage director in charge of the revival, was faithful to Bondy's intentions. Act 1 is mostly straightforward, though the Te Deum is more a mob advancing to the front of the stage than a procession.

Act 2 is where the opera veers off course. Bondy adds three prostitutes to the opening, including one who appears to be giving Scarpia oral sex.

Then, after Tosca kills Scarpia, Bondy eliminates the directions in the libretto that have Tosca place candlesticks aside his body and a crucifix on his chest. She runs to the window and considers jumping out – another Bondy invention. Instead of running out, she picks up the Marchesa Attavanti's fan and lounges on a sofa as the curtain falls. Perhaps a hidden desire to get caught?

All three principals had sung in this production before. It would be nice to see what Racette would do with Tosca in a more straightforward production. Gagnidze was rather rigid, spending much of the first act leaning on his walking stick.

Paul Plishka, 70 and a veteran of more than 1,600 Met performances, was a charming Sacristan and Joel Sorenson was an officious Spoletta. Making his Met debut, conductor Mikko Franck took some slow tempi that indulged Alagna's desire to hold some notes.

With no director on stage during the curtain calls, there was enthusiastic applause throughout the bows. The performance was dedicated to the memory of tenor Salvatore Licitra, who made his Met debut in the Zeffirelli production in place of an indisposed Luciano Pavarotti in 2002 and died in September following a motor scooter accident.

There are five more performances through Jan. 28.