TOSCA

This new production by Sir David McVicar brings the opulence and splendor of the Eternal City to the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.

Yet even as McVicar transports us back to the stormy Napoleonic era, Tosca's story about love, loyalty, human frailty, and superhuman strength is every bit as timeless as Rome itself. 

Macfarlane's painterly details—a fresco of the Rape of the Sabines on the Farnese wall, for example, and the swooping bowl of clouds that frames the angel statue—make these places feel like active, eternal caldrons of struggle and violence. Atmospherically lighted by David Finn, the locations are purposeful as well as realistic, evoking the powerful political and religious forces of the city. 

"It all makes a visually pleasing frame for Mr. McVicar’s careful directing, the most interesting aspect of which, on opening night, was the chemistry between the two lovers. Sonya Yoncheva as Tosca and Vittorio Grigolo as Cavaradossi, both singing these roles for the first time, came across as youthful, ardent and innocent, ready to throw themselves on the fire for their love and their beliefs." — Wall Street Journal