News & Blog
Opera review: Tosca at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth
Date: 5/15/2012 By Laurie Lynn Lindemeier, Pegasus News
Fort Worth Opera's production of Puccini's Tosca (playing through June 2) certainly had splendid opera bling last Saturday evening. Their Festival Season opener of this well beloved opera at the exquisite Bass Performance Hall boasted 35-foot sets that kissed the rafters - the tallest ever placed on this stage - and also a large orchestra, altar boys, Swiss soldiers, police agents, nobles, citizens, artisans, nuns, and cardinals. An ambitious, but impressive undertaking!
For the city of Fort Worth to contain a company producing a grand opera set in 1800 Rome and at the same time sponsor daily cattle drives of longhorns through its Stockyard District seems so…irrational. Yet, irrational fits right in with Puccini's Tosca that was once dubbed a "shabby little shocker" by Professor Joseph Kerman, a musicologist. It's not surprising that 2012 audiences are still devouring the "verismo" operas of Puccini that symbolize emotional realism and are known for shock value.
--Laurie Lynn Lindemeier, Pegasus News
To read the entire Pegasus News review, click here.
Date: 5/15/2012 By Laurie Lynn Lindemeier, Pegasus News
Fort Worth Opera's production of Puccini's Tosca (playing through June 2) certainly had splendid opera bling last Saturday evening. Their Festival Season opener of this well beloved opera at the exquisite Bass Performance Hall boasted 35-foot sets that kissed the rafters - the tallest ever placed on this stage - and also a large orchestra, altar boys, Swiss soldiers, police agents, nobles, citizens, artisans, nuns, and cardinals. An ambitious, but impressive undertaking!
For the city of Fort Worth to contain a company producing a grand opera set in 1800 Rome and at the same time sponsor daily cattle drives of longhorns through its Stockyard District seems so…irrational. Yet, irrational fits right in with Puccini's Tosca that was once dubbed a "shabby little shocker" by Professor Joseph Kerman, a musicologist. It's not surprising that 2012 audiences are still devouring the "verismo" operas of Puccini that symbolize emotional realism and are known for shock value.
--Laurie Lynn Lindemeier, Pegasus News
To read the entire Pegasus News review, click here.
