Michael Georgiou (Marcus) and Philip Lee (Mimi). The dynamic force of Scarpia, the villain, lacks the gravitas the role demands. The characters leap from scene to scene with little time to evolve, leaving those not familiar with the original narrative somewhat baffled. In this production, there are merely three leading characters and one henchman who does not have a singing part. He emotionally torments Tosca into revealing Angelotti’s hiding place and Cavaradossi’s involvement and have her for himself. Scarpia has long lusted after Tosca, and when he suspects Cavaradossi of assisting an escaped political prisoner, seizes the opportunity to kill both. The plot centres around three main characters – the diva Floria Tosca, her lover, the artist, Mario Cavaradossi and the corrupt Chief of Police, Baron Scarpia. That explains the choice of costume but nothing more.

Puccini’s Tosca, a political thriller, has been transferred from 1880’s Rome to 1940’s New York. The grandeur of Opera Houses is replaced by the intimacy of the very small, yet cosy ambience of Studio 2 at Trafalgar Studios, which Spreadbury-Maher cleverly used to introduce humour and have his characters interact with the audience.

This is not a production for opera connoisseurs but a fine performance that is affordable and long enough, 60 minutes each opera, to offer a flavour of the original. This bold take on these two popular operas is truly a challenge that the artistic director Adam Spreadbury-Maher and the music director, David Eaton, took on-board when directing this double bill. Take two of Puccini’s most popular operas – Tosca and La Boheme and reduce them into one hour each, edit music and narrative and you get ‘opera undone’.

La tosca opera london