Tosca ROH Production in cinema

  
Jonas Kaufmann, a stunning Cavaradossi ...... swooooooon

Tonight I fell in love. Yes, I confess and no, I could not help myself .......

The long-awaited screening of ROH's Tosca arrived, really I have been counting down the the weeks, the days since I knew of its recording back in June of this year. With expectations very high on this particular cast, most especially Jonas Kaufmann and of course Bryn Terfel I felt sure I would be in for a treat. What awaited I could barely believe, these were performances way beyond what I could ever have hoped for, even Angela G, for whom I must confess I did not fancy her as Tosca and performing alongside these two very special guys, but she excelled herself and I have to say her Vissi d'Arte stunned me as she gave herself entirely to this.

      

Bryn Terfel's acting abilities shone out as the evil Scarpia, his facial expressions, his every movement spoke of his evil intent, he was simply stunning in this role. The performance of the evening though must go to Jonas Kaufmann, his portrayal of Cavaradossi made me melt, my legs go weak, I was totally lost in his mesmerising charm, it is a performance that will stand out in my memory for many years to come, I cannot see how this could ever be surpassed, he now owns that role, surely. So now having seen him perform as both Siegmund and Cavaradossi I am totally lost in admiration for him and the interview played during the interval only reinforced that with his obvious total dedication to his art, what a lovely guy. Bryn is lovely, quite adorable too but he does not get to play the romantic roles as Jonas does.

To sum up, have to say this Tosca, for me, was not about Tosca, how could it possibly be, it was the Cavaradossi and Scarpia show, and boy what a show, Tosca got somewhat overshadowed, she didn't stand a chance beside these two giants however hard she tried......

......OK, OK, update: 24.12.11 - having just watched this again on UK TV I've now changed my mind about Angela's performance, OK, I don't really have very much in the way of other Tosca's to compare her with but she was truly, for me, a great Tosca .... sorry Angela that I let those two guys distrct me first time around!