Big. That’s the first word I can think of to describe Tosca. Everything about the whole evening was big and dramatic. From the moment we got off the subway, there was this huge building, which conveniently happened to be Lincoln center. (it was actually the wrong building, but if you don’t get the idea, check out Teresa’s post.) The inside was big and grand, clearly designed as much to be impressive as it was to fit all the people in. You could tell it was really intended to impress because all the people working there were dressed in fancy clothes. Once you got inside, all the seats were red, a very dramatic color, and we could walk up to the orchestra and see all the instruments there. I’ve never seen a full sized harp before! It must have taken months of practice to get all those instruments to play together, and no one even clapped for them! And all this, of course, was before the curtain came up.
When the opera started, it was more of the same. Every gesture, every phrase, every note was just slightly exaggerated beyond what a normal person would do. That’s really the whole point of the opera, to give people their fix of drama. The two main characters, Tosca and Cavaradossi, are both people who see things through the artist’s lens, meaning they see how everything could presented in an excited way, which makes them the perfect people to have a dramatic love affair. (Incidentally, that’s probably why Tosca is so jealous; she sees everything in the most dramatic way, i.e. as evidence of Cavaradossi’s affairs. Either that or she’s just fishing for compliments.) Watching the fireworks of their relationship helps people understand their less dramatic lives better. All in all, a very exciting night.