UK Theatre Network

The drama commenced even before the curtain rose; the WNO has been struck by illness over the past weeks, Alwyn Mellor, the lead, has a serious throat infection so Tosca has been played by understudy Naomi Harvey for the past few performances. However, by the day of this performance Harvey had also succumbed to this infection and was rendered voiceless. The WNO had, instead of cancelling, placed Anne Williams-King to the side of the stage to sing the part whilst Harvey acted it on stage.
Conductor, Simon Phillippo, does a marvellous job of managing his orchestra, stage performers, and Williams-King up and off to his left. His sensitive style embraces the drama of Puccini's music and he does not allow the melodrama to take hold. He keeps a strong rein on the components of the orchestra and weaves them together to create a rich yet subtle sound. His direction of the opening of Act III was sublimely beautiful and deeply moving.
I don't think anyone in the audience was so naive as to expect there to be a seamless join between the performances of the two Tosca's but this was irrelevant. Harvey is a fabulous actor and thank heavens she is as this is where the evening would have fallen if it was going to. Williams-King is a supremely experienced and decorated singer and we were lucky to experience this pairing and felt we'd been given a special treat rather than been cheated.
So, to the production itself. Michael Blakemore has produced a restrained work where the melodrama is not given free rein as in so many other interpretations. His paring down and controlling of this is without doubt very successful. The revival director, Benjamin Davis, has created an atmosphere of believability, again controlling the melodrama, which allows the audience to embrace the music and story and 'feel' the emotion, the tragedy, without being 'forced' into it.
Ashley Martin-Davis has created fantastic sets with enormous props and oversized statues. They are sparing, uncomplicated but grand and imposing. The scale of these sets fits with the scale of the themes within Puccini's opera. Overall the whole production is black, white and red. This, combined with Paul Woodfield's dramatic lighting creates the illusion of a Caravaggio painting; deep areas of dark, oppressing shadow; bright gold highlights - the candles, the sunrise; splashes of red - Tosca's dress, the blood on Carvadossi's clothes and body, the entrance to the torture chamber.
The male protagonists, Carvadossi (Geraint Dodd) and Scarpia (Robert Hayward) are outstanding. Well cast and vocally immensely strong. Dodd's tenor voice is consistent and utterly convincing. He is exciting, tortured and passionate and his solid and stocky stature belies his tenderness and gentleness.
Robert Hayward as Scarpia develops from dark and brooding yet polite and cunning in Act I to a full blown predatory sadist by the end of Act II when he becomes physically overcome with his desire for Tosca.  He exudes evil and is truly frightening. This could signal one dimensionality but his voice, a rich baritone, and his restraint, he never tips completely over in to mania, lends a well crafted subtlety to his character.
This is an impressively staged and performed Tosca and appears to work effortlessly on all levels. It embraces and respects Puccini's music without letting the melodrama have full rein at any time and is so much the better for it.  A stunning production.