Tosca by Puccini, Fri 16 Feb 2024, From (2024/2024), Directed by Joshua Collier, Conductor Cailin Marcel Manson, Highland Center For The Performing Arts, United States

Puccini’s political operatic thriller is set in Rome in June 1800 (during the Napoleonic wars and a time of great political unrest). Unlike many operas, with the action takes place over less than 24 hours, the events in the opera occur in almost real-time. The plot centers around three main characters – Rome’s favorite diva Floria Tosca (Sonja Krenek), the painter and political activist Mario Cavaradossi (Joshua Collier), and the corrupt Chief of Police, Baron Scarpia (Wayne Hu). Scarpia has long lusted after Tosca, and when he suspects Cavaradossi of assisting Angelotti (Brian J. Alvarado), an escaped political prisoner, he seizes the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. He will manipulate Tosca into revealing the prisoner’s hiding place thus proving Cavaradossi’s treason, and with him out of the way, he will have her for himself.