Tosca, opera review: Puccini restaging has powerful performances but a little more subtlety wouldn't go amiss

Forthright performances aren't helped by the fact Edmund Tracey's translation now feels clunky, writes Nick Kimberley
Forthright: Keri Alkema and Gwyn Hughes Jones star in Tosca
Richard Hubert Smith
Nick Kimberley5 October 2016

The Coliseum, London’s largest theatre, has a vast stage: long before English National Opera took up residence, chariot races were a regular feature.

There are no galloping horses in Catherine Malfitano’s 2011 staging of Puccini’s Tosca (now revived by Donna Stirrup), but there is room for them in Frank Philip Schlössmann’s sets, which go for panoramic naturalism.

The result is that at key moments, the singers are stranded yards apart. It doesn’t help that Edmund Tracey’s 1980s English translation now sounds clunky.

That the opera still packs a punch is a credit to the musical performances, which are forthright. Tosca is not the most complex character in opera; for her, life is a drama to be acted out rather than lived, and she pays the price.

Five operas for beginners

1/5

Making her London debut, Keri Alkema hasn’t yet imposed herself on the role, but there is much to admire, not least the way in which her Tosca laughs at her own silliness in the opening act.

As her lover Cavaradossi, Gwyn Hughes Jones has ample opportunity to show off his immense tenor, while Scarpia, the panto villain, is nicely seedy if not always menacing in Craig Colclough’s portrayal. Conductor Oleg Caetani whips up an impressive storm in the pit; here as elsewhere, a little more subtlety wouldn't go amiss. Perhaps that will come as the run continues.

Until December 3, Coliseum; eno.org

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