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TOSCA—THE OPERA OR THE TOUR

As glamorous as the settings of Tosca are, they are also authentic.

Recent productions have missed that point in creating rather dull minimalist stagings  — something that the Met has now admitted as they return to the scenes of the opera as Puccini saw them.

  A quick google search  turns up  a self guided tour  of Tosca’s locations.

In Act I,  Tosca moves from  the chapel in the church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale in Rome on the afternoon of 17 June 1800

Sant’Andrea della Valle is a Baroque basilica designed in 1524.   Ornate—white marble, gold stucco, enormous frescos of the life of the saint, the church is near
Piazza Navona.  

Next act,  Tosca is in chamber in the Palazzo Farnese on the evening of 17 June 1800,  before going to  a country villa that night.

Palazzo Farnese is close by to the Sant’Andrea della Valle.  The  sumptuous Renaissance palace, built  partly under the direction of Michelangelo, is adorned with magnificent frescoes and furnishings.  It was once a home for a noble family and is now the French Embassy.

Tosca then moves from Scarpia's apartments in the Castel Sant'Angelo before the dawn of 18 June 1800, and to the chapel and finally to a platform on the roof of the castle at dawn on 18 June 1800.

Castel Sant’Angelo is a 15 minute walk from the Palazzo Farnese. Built around 135 A.D. as a mausoleum for the Roman emperor Hadrian, later converted to a fortress, then a state prison, then in the 1500s a shelter for popes during conflicts.  It is  now  a national museum with frescoed papal rooms on the upper floors and displays from  armor and piles of stone cannonballs to spooky passageways and ornately decorated rooms.

You can see it all in a couple of hours of walking around  Rome, or you can vicariously enjoy the settings as well as the glorious music at the next Met 

This new Met production by Sir David McVicar’s  has been called “smashing. ” While many cast changes in the last few months, the pair of lovers— soprano Sonya Yoncheva  as Tosca  and tenor Vittorio Grigolo as Cavaradossi
have been labeled as  “hot .”  Željko Lučić  as the  police chief, Scarpia, “a true villian”  and Emmanuel Villaume conducts. 

WANT TO GO 
but can’t get away to Rome ?  
And the Met performance on Jan. 27, 2018 has long been sold out.
Not to worry
Fathom Events Live  has just the ticket for you 
in the Live in HD production of Tosca on January 27, 2018.

https://www.fathomevents.com/events/met1718-tosca



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