Seeing “Tosca” at the Lyric
Hello everyone! Hope you all had a relaxing spring break (even though the weather was not exactly “spring” weather at all last week). I can definitely say that the break was not long enough! While some of my friends traveled to all different kinds of places including Mexico, Arizona, and Spain, I stayed in the burbs writing papers and getting my wisdom teeth out. Not a super relaxing break that I was hoping for, but I did head back to the Lyric Opera to see another wonderful performance of Tosca!
It was AMAZING! Beautiful sets, wonderful singers, and an overall captivating storyline. In this opera, there is a painter who helps hide a fugitive and he is taken as a prisoner because of this. His lover, Tosca, pleads for his release with the general who has taken him captive. Tosca is the most beautiful woman to the general and he wants to marry her, so he proposes that she exchange herself to him for her lover. She does not agree and completely stricken with grief, she laments over her lover. The general sees this and has a “change” or heart. He says that he will stage a fake execution for her lover so that they can then be reunited and he, the general, will not look like a fool at the end. Of course the general is lying, and when the painter is getting shot, the so called “fake” bullets are real and so he dies. Tosca then kills herself because she cannot bear to live any longer without her lover the painter.
This opera was much shorter than the other one I saw. We were there for only about 3 hours, including intermissions. All the singers were fantastic, but Tosca was the best. The control she had over her voice, emotions, and pitch was incredible. She completely sucked the audience in and made us all feel the same emotions she was feeling. It was truly magical. At the end, she had to take so many bows because people just kept on clapping for her! I saw this play at the beginning of my break, so it was a nice start to an otherwise uneventful break. Remember that I said you can get student discounts at the Lyric to see shows for only 20 dollars so take advantage of it! I really believe that everyone should experience the opera at least once because you may be surprised in finding that you actually like it!