Opera production. Grimsley has been
coming to San Diego Opera since the 1999– 2000 season, when he appeared as Telramund in Wagner’s Lohengrin. He has only once not been the villain in San Diego. That one was as Jokanaan (John the Bap- tist) in Richard Strauss’s Salome. He may not have been the villain, but he did get his head chopped off. In San Diego’s last
Tosca, in 2009, Grimsley played Scarpia opposite an ideal tenor in Marcus Haddock and a vicious Sylvie Valayre as Tosca. That production was enriched by the act- ing decisions made by these principal singers. Valayre, for example, crouched over the dying Scarpia like a hyena wait- ing to strip the carcass. Haddock provided
an insight into staging the gut-wrenching Act III aria E lucevan le stelle. The aria is supposed to be Cavaradossi’s farewell letter to Tosca. The issue is that watching a guy writing and singing is uninspiring. Usually the tenor gets up from the
writing desk and walks around and ruminates during the aria. Had- dock’s solution was to include his hands in the torture scene of Act II. It makes sense to break the hands of an artist in a torture situation. With his hands bandaged, Cavaradossi cannot write so he dictates to the jailer instead. It was brilliant in its simplicity and it enhanced the theme of art being tortured by government. (Haddock, unfortu-
nately, has since suffered a stroke and is struggling to return to the stage.) The ancient Franco
Zeffirelli set in that 2009 productiion was tradi- tional as traditional can be. Yet the age and style of the set didn’t mat- ter because the perfor- mances of the singers were clearly committed to their characters and their singing matched. Valayre’s sexy, violent, manic, Tosca, Grimsley’s domineering Scarpia, and Haddock’s insight- ful and vocally ideal Cavaradossi combined to create a high point in the company’s history.
It was with pleasant anticipation...
...that I attended the 2016 version of Tosca — Greer Grimsley to reprise Scar- pia, a new set, and Mae- stro Massimo Zanetti at the podium. I took my seat prepared to be delighted. Zanetti con- ducts with the zeal of a man with his hair on fire looking for water. In 2014, he worked his magic in Un ballo in maschera and Verdi’s Requiem and was an instant favorite of musi- cians and audiences. His conducting that year was overshadowed by Ian Campbell announcing that the company would be closing. I was excited to see
what he would do with Tosca, and he didn’t dis- appoint. He was the lover the old girl deserves. His musical arc and pacing of the piece were flawless. The dramatic moments in Tosca are never in question but the transi- tions between Puccini’s musical incidents often are. The orchestra and Zanetti put that con- cern out of my mind almost immediately. Grimsley and Mae-
R E S E A R C H S T U D I E S
24 San Diego Reader February 25, 2016
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