Lombana's 'Tosca' at Palacio de Bellas Artes: Uneven Staging, a Soprano for the Ages

Ópera de Bellas Artes entrusted stage director Luis Miguel Lombana with a new production of Puccini's "Tosca," and the result, according to our review of the season-opening performance at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, "barely rises above the acceptable." One artist redeemed the evening: soprano Yunuet Laguna, whose "Vissi d'arte" the review calls "truly a performance for the ages."

The soprano carried not only the performance but the entire season, the review states. Laguna possesses "immeasurable vocal talent," but what distinguishes her is control. She knows precisely when to unleash her power and when to shape a mezza di voce or pianissimo. Her Act two aria built to a powerful B-flat, then closed on an E-flat "in filato that gradually grew in a crescendo until it broke into sobs." The verdict is blunt: this is "a voice that deserves to be heard far more often."

What did the director change?

Lombana moves the action from June 1800 — the date specified in Illica and Giacosa's libretto and Victorien Sardou's source play — to the 1920s. Working with costume designer Jerildy Bosch, he presents Scarpia and his henchmen as gangsters in Al Capone-style trench coats and dark suits. Tosca wears a discreet brown dress in Act one and an evocative white dress with a fur stole in Acts two and three.

The review describes the staging as quasi-traditional and minimalist, "driven more by budgetary constraints than by artistic choice." Set designer and lighting designer Jesús Hernández places Act one in a sparsely furnished, desperately poor church, signaled only by a statue of the Virgin Mary and a baptismal font. Act three reuses the same space to represent the cells of Castel Sant'Angelo.

Where does the production misfire?

The missteps are concrete. Cavaradossi paints the Maddalena in black and white — an untenable choice, the review argues, given that an entire duet turns on Tosca's black eyes and the Attavanti's blue ones, and the aria "Recondita armonia" opens with the line "Dammi i colori" (give me the colors).

The opening duet presents a second problem. Lombana exaggerates Tosca's jealousy to the point where the drama turns into comedy. The staging "ends up eliciting bursts of laughter from the audience" — something, the review notes, hardly customary in any theater performing "Tosca." Video designer Giselle Hauscarriaga's projections fare no better: windows that open and close in a single scene, images of virgins in Act two, and a still image of Cavaradossi's and Scarpia's faces facing each other as Tosca flees.

How did the orchestra and chorus perform?

From the pit, conductor Stefan Lano delivered a reading the review calls "generally correct and academically sound." The Boston-born conductor adhered closely to the score and slowed tempi at times with positive results. But his interpretation "is cold and lacks the Italian melodramatic style required to approach Puccini properly."

The Orquesta del Teatro de Bellas Artes delivered a "consistently embarrassing performance in the wind section, particularly in Act three," though Act one was respectable and the percussion section earned special mention. In the off-stage chorus passage "Sale, ascende l'uman cantico," the singers overwhelmed the stage action. The chorus under Rodrigo Cadet delivered a "Te Deum" powered more by volume than precision, standing static throughout.

Who else stood out?

• Luis Ledesma (Scarpia): impeccable acting — knowing glances, cynical smiles — with a creamy, elegant timbre but limited vocal power, at times virtually inaudible.
• Carlos Arturo Galván (Cavaradossi): an imposing voice with a squillo "reminiscent of the golden age of opera"; after "Vittoria, Vittoria!" he became "a veritable war machine."
• José Luis Reynoso (Angelotti): elegant, cavernous bass in an excellent portrayal.
• Abel Pérez (Sacristan): likable, good-natured and funny.
• Álvaro Anzaldo (Spoletta), Carlos Suárez (Sciarrone), César Becerra (Jailer) and Elizabeth Landa (Shepherd Boy) rounded out an effective cast.

The surtitles, the review adds, failed in both quantity and quality of translation. Despite the missteps — the monochrome Maddalena, the laughs, the projections — the production "works both scenically and conceptually." Whether audiences leave remembering Lombana's staging or Laguna's E-flat is the question that will define this production's run.