SALT LAKE CITY — Beginning its 2015-16 season on an intense note, Utah Opera is preparing to perform "Tosca," an opera “jam-packed with drama” and “the most glorious music you will ever hear in your life,” according to director Kathleen Clawson.
The story of "Tosca," which will be performed Oct. 10-18 at the Capitol Theatre, is one of love, lust, sacrifice and betrayal.
When Cavaradossi, a young artist, offers refuge for an escaped revolutionary prisoner, a corrupt police leader named Scarpia knows that the only way to get to him is to seduce Cavaradossi’s love interest, Tosca.
Unable to bear the sound of her lover being tortured, Tosca admits to knowing where the prisoner is being hidden, condemning Cavaradossi to prison for protecting an escaped criminal. Desperate to save her love, Tosca asks Scarpia what she can do to free Cavaradossi. Scarpia, who has been lusting after Tosca since he laid eyes on her, tells her that if she will sleep with him, he will stage an execution and let Cavaradossi go.
While Scarpia is writing a safe conduct letter to ensure the release of Cavaradossi, Tosca obtains a knife and murders Scarpia. With Scarpia dead and the safe conduct letter in her possession, Tosca rushes to the prison and reunites with Cavaradossi, informing him of the fake execution and their plan to leave Rome and start a new life together.
“It is intense,” said Clawson, who is making her main stage directorial debut. “From the very beginning, you are on the edge of your seat. The action starts immediately, and it never stops. You may not let go of your breath until the very last moment.”
Making her Utah Opera debut is Kara Shay Thomson as Tosca. Thomson says she feels Tosca has been protected her whole life and that to have to make such dramatic decisions forces her to grow up quickly.
“I think this is the first time ever that (Tosca) has been challenged and (must) make decisions of this level,” Thomson said. “To have someone challenge her like Scarpia does within this one day, it pushes her to make decisions that she never thought of having to do. So she grows up a lot in one day.”
Thomson feels Tosca is a universal character because she represents the conflict each person has when forced to make difficult decisions.
Also making his Utah Opera debut is Dinyar Vania, who plays Cavaradossi. Vania says that, like Tosca, his character is forced to do a lot of growing up.
“A lot happens to him that he didn’t think he’d ever have to experience,” Vania said. “I was very much like this guy, still unsure of myself in a lot of ways, not knowing what direction your life was going to take, still searching for something.”
Vania believes audiences will relate most to the stage of life his character is in as they remember that defining time in their own lives.
Michael Chioldi is returning to Utah Opera as Scarpia, the corrupt police chief.
“Scarpia is an elegant man,” Chioldi said. “He is very powerful politically, he’s worked very hard, he’s a social climber. He is a person of great thirst and hunger for the finer things in life. (He is) one of the most evil characters in all of opera. I enjoy playing him.”
Chioldi says Scarpia, though full of the evilest intents, is a universal character as well.
“There are a lot of things he represents,” Chioldi said. “Not the greater things in people or society, but the darker things in people, the things that maybe you think about but have to push away.”
Other members of the artistic staff agree this is an opera full of passion.
“I don’t know if there is an opera where the characters are as passionate as these people,” conductor Robert Tweten said. “There’s this passion that pervades the whole piece.”
Clawson says passion can be found not only in the opera but also in Utah Opera as a company.
“If the overarching theme of this opera is passion, I would say that’s the overarching thing I see at this company,” Clawson said. “Everybody is really passionate about what they do and take great care and effort to get it right. I want everyone to know that they have a real treasure here.”
Thomson, Vania and Chioldi say maturity is another important part of Tosca.
“The magic of (Tosca) is that the opera itself doesn’t change, but you change as a person and you bring more experience to what you construct,” Vania said.
The sets for Tosca have been rented from Seattle Opera and deserve special praise, Clawson said.
“It really captures the place; it’s exquisite,” Clawson said. “I always tell people that opera is a story told with music and spectacle, and this one is jam-packed with spectacle, from these gorgeous sets to amazing costumes.”
The spectacle may be beautiful in itself, but the cast and artistic staff agree the music is especially exquisite.
“There is no more beautiful music than in this opera,” Chioldi said. Tweten added that Tosca is his favorite opera to conduct.
Clawson said the opera has plenty to offer audiences with a range of interests.
“If what you love is a love story, we’ve got that. If you like excitement and drama, we’ve got that. If you like to see pretty things, we’ve got that,” she said. “(Puccini) was a very crafty composer. He knew what he was doing to have a successful evening of theater. I think it’s a perfect opera.”
If you go ...
What: Utah Opera presenting “Tosca”
When: Oct. 10-16, 7:30 p.m., and Oct. 18, 2 p.m.
Where: Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South
How much: $18-$89
Phone: 801-355-2787
Web: utahopera.org
Email: mswensen@deseretnews.com