Last Thursday, we went to the Met Opera to watch the opera titled Tosca. I was really excited to see this opera especially after the class on Tuesday when we got a little bit of history of opera as well as a taste of the strength and passion of the opera singers. The opera was located in one of my favorite places in Manhattan: Lincoln Center. Just being in that area and feeling the excitement of the people around me was contagious. The inside of the opera house was honestly so beautiful (the chandeliers were my favorite part), and I didn’t mind the long intermissions at all because I got to look around the MET opera.
The story of Tosca was interesting and even thought I didn’t understand what the actors were saying, the singing and music kept me intrigued the whole time. I was really glad that we got a synopsis of the story on Tuesday because it definitely helped me figure out what was going on. The opera as a whole was a great experience. Here are a few moments that really stood out to me:
- The song in Act I where Tosca expresses her jealousy of Marcello’s blonde, blue eyed painting. I really liked this song because it was powerful and introduced the character of Tosca in a strong way. The fact that the writers made Tosca’s character extremely jealous made her more interesting and three dimensional. If she were just some woman who was deeply in love with her husband, her character would be like many others. Tosca’s jealousy also added to her fiery personality and made her a little bit irrational/bold which as a character trait explains her decision to stab Scarpio.
- The scene where Tosca stabs Scarpio. I thought the end of that song was extremely powerful and it made me happy to see Scarpio die by the hands of the woman he thought he had full control over.
- The bright light that came out of the torture room. Visually, I thought the bright light added an element of surprise to the stage. I also thought it was smart to leave what goes on behind the door to the view’s imagination.
- The end. Although I predicted that Tosca would die in the end, I still felt a sense of shock as the curtains closed because the end was so dramatic. I loved how Tosca jumped to her death instead of getting shot. I also really liked how the last few seconds of her jump were cut off and the curtains quickly closed after that.
Overall, I really enjoyed the entire production. I still can’t believe that the singers didn’t use microphones!
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