Bologna, Comunale Nouveau, Opera Season 2024
“TOSCA”
Melodrama in three acts with a libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, from the historical drama Tosca by Victorien Sardou.
Music by Giacomo Puccini
Floria Tosca CARMEN GIANNATTASIO
Mario Cavaradossi ROBERTO ARONICA
Baron Scarpia GABRIELE VIVIANI
Cesare Angelotti CHRISTIAN BARON
The Sacristan PAOLO MARIA ORECHIA
Spoletta PAOLO ANTOGNETTI
Sciarrone NICOLÒ CERIANI
Jailer CHRISTIAN BARON
A shepherd boy CAMILLA BARAVELLI SABENA
Orchestra, Choir and Children’s Choir of the Teatro Comunale of Bologna
Director Oksana Lyniv
Choir Master Gea Garatti Ansini
Master of the Children’s Choir Alhambra Superchi
Direction Giovanni Scandella
Scenes Manuela Gasperoni
Costumes Stefania Scaraggi
Lights Daniele Naldi
Production of the Teatro Comunale of Bologna
Bologna, 26 April 2024
Frankly, this one can’t be waived Tosca. Especially when it is, as it is, the third in three years, in Bologna. Aggravating: of the three sisters, the last two are Siamese, l‘staging being the same, directed by Giovanni Scandella. Son of‘art (and which one! Father Mischa, very Venetian despite his name, of battle first ed‘art then, he was among the greatest minds of our twentieth century), here he abdicates all ambition to fulfill the‘thankless task as a cook to which he was called. L‘he suggests the culinary image to us in‘interview with Andrea Maioli published in the program: “But if Napoleon had lost that battle, would Chicken Marengo still exist?”. Who knowsto. Meanwhile, fororin Marengo he risks going there‘Opera. The ingredients come fresh from the old municipal pantry: the scene, neatly organized by Manuela Gasperoni, is a collage resulting from a very desperate plunder from Hugo De Ana’s overloaded staging. More sought after are the historical costumes of Stefania Scaraggi, but mind you: Tosca wears not a classic red dress, but the classic red dress, and here the permutation of adjectives makes a big difference. C‘it’s all that the so-called tradition prescribes, especially the usual “jumble” of tools: long brushes, buckets of paint splashed with the most colorful colours.
unlikely, stuffed basket, large “candelabroni”, Caravaggio-esque cup of fruit, frangible specific goblet for Spanish wine, retractable cutlass in plain sight and bayonets. In short, a direction that rhymes with props empirically demonstrates how short the step is between taste of‘the horrid and the grotesque (which is typical of Tosca/Fosca) and the ridiculous. Then the caricatures of Spoletta and Sciarrone are irresistible, and the limp little leg of the staggering platoon is vaguely embarrassing.‘execution: it may seem silly, but the show d‘the work of these things is made, and not of others. If you then go and look for the obverse of the medal in‘musical performance you are disappointed. Oksana Lyniv (as it is Already attempted to insinuate on other occasions) throws a great “avalanche” of 
sonorityah, yes, but with zero charm. The gesture is very schematic, with attacks inexplicably launched from behind the back, and prosaic, with a left hand with glued fingers that cuts through the‘air like an expressionless paddle. Nothing but humidityto listless of‘Alba Teverina: there is no poetry here L’shadow, becauseand the “poem” it’s all crushed by the “symphonic”. The poor voices receive very little attention, between an exuberant pit and a very noisy stage band.‘others never. The poor voices are the same as usual Roberto Aronica, which brings with it the usual difficultiesto in the‘emission, unfortunately not supported even by the rather generic phrasing, which invalidates the‘original qualityto of the stamp. That of the protagonist Carmen Giannattasio: voluminous,
well stamped in the centers and with good results even with chest resonance, but seriously insecure in the high register. And that of‘inevitably more interpreter, more actor, more interesting in varietyto’accents and expressive nuances: Scarpia’s Gabriele Viviani, also master of tricks ed tricks vocal technician bordering on gigioneria. Paolo Maria Orecchia he is a Sacristan of measured temperament and excellent diction. In the opposite parts, Spoletta is stripped of any aura of hilarityto with a solid soundto Of Paolo Antognetti, undertaking that is less successful Nicolò Ceriani with his Sciarrone although vocally in form; while she is discontinuous and unsteady the proof of Christian Barone, divided between Angelotti and the Jailer. In front of the blank sheet of paper, Mario doesn’t know where to start his farewell to Tosca. And Puccini with him: he tries some themes of reminiscence from the duet of the first‘done, but it doesn’t work. FinchAnd the clarinet does not help him. Then even the gray haired girl jumps, with the ringing of earrings weighing down her sagging lobes: “Here she is! Here she is!”. But musical theater can and must be much more than this. Photo Andrea Ranzi
