The poor reception afforded by New York opera-goers last Monday to a new, revisionist production of Puccini’s Tosca may not have sent the opera world reeling but I think it’s fair to say that it’s tottering a bit:
THE fracas during curtain calls for the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Puccini’s “Tosca†last Monday is just the latest episode in a grand history of operatic booing. Frank expressions of displeasure pierced the applause at the conclusion of Act II and exploded when the production team took its bows at the end of the opera. Many in the audience took umbrage at the villain’s lewd advances toward a statue of the Madonna; at the failure by Tosca to make her customary sweeping exit after stabbing the villain to death; and at the substitution, after an awkward pause, of a stunt double for her suicidal leap.
Opera-goers of long standing and fierce memory will recall many episodes of booing. End-of-act bows have always cued the public to express approbation, indifference or disapproval. And many on Monday voiced the last, a prerogative that though common to other arenas of spectatorship is the signature privilege of opera.
Set in an early twenetieth century fascist Italy, the new production replaced a beloved conventional quarter century old production by Franco Zeffirelli (who has pronounced the director of the new production a lightweight).
Every account I’ve read of the production has suggested that the minimalist production was tedious, its affectations just as pretentious as those in in old conventional one, and the performances workaday. For some reason too many of the critics seem to be blaming the audience for their reaction rather than the Met for a) replacing a beloved production with b) one that didn’t engage the audience (at least not favorably) and c) wasn’t a great performance. Especially at today’s prices in today’s economy opera-goers of a world-class opera company have a right to expect a world-class production.
I can’t speak for New York audiences but I’ve been an observer of Chicago audiences for well over thirty years. Chicago is an Italian opera town. Chicago opera-goers will cheer Puccini’s scores under most circumstances. But they do expect grand opera to be grand and that, well, the proprieties be observed.
You can experiment with Wagner or JanáÄek or even Mozart. But if you tamper with Verdi or Puccini and top it with a lackluster performance you probably should expect the audience’s disfavor.
