Puccini Remains a Drawing Card

Since its first production in 1987, Opera Pacific has relied upon Puccini to draw audiences. “La Boheme” has come around three times, “Butterfly” twice, “Turandot” twice and now “Tosca” twice, the latest and not necessarily the better version opening Tuesday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Previous divas who have hurled themselves off the ramparts of Castel Sant’Angelo were Diana Soviero and Carol Neblett in 1992. Tuesday it was Sylvie Valayre’s turn. At least she had the pretty, realistic sets designed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle for the San Francisco Opera from which to jump, even if she was wearing a costume from the Dallas Opera.

Originally, the Tosca was to be Maria Guleghina, with Richard Cowan as Scarpia. Both never signed the contracts, a company spokesman said Tuesday, which no one bothered to mention when making the season announcement back in July.

So in stepped Valayre, a young French soprano who is beginning to draw attention, and veteran baritone Justino Diaz.

At this point of her career, the statuesque Valayre has stolid, rather rudimentary acting skills. Her voice is attractively dark and creamy, but she disperses its full beauty by widely mouthing words.

Diaz remains a handsome and powerful Scarpia, with some of the vocal sheen off the voice.

Clifton Forbis did not cut a very heroic figure, but he sang Cavaradossi with steely fervor, yet also knew when to sing softly.

Of the comprimari, Peter Strummer made a vivid and large-voiced Sacristan. James Bobick sang Angelotti strongly. Christopher Campbell was an uneven Spoletta, secure in some lines, queasy in others. Michael Daniels was a striking Sciarrone.

The Shepherd Boy was sung nicely by a member of the All-American Boys Chorus.

Director duties fell to Harry Silverstein, who basically directed traffic. His two innovations were odd. He created a confrontation between Cavaradossi and Spoletta before the torture. But the two stood numbly regarding each other while the drama died.

Second, Spoletta announced Angelotti’s suicide by handing Scarpia a knife. Most productions indicate the suicide was by poison. Of course, this provides a handy knife for Tosca to use shortly to kill Scarpia. He couldn’t have had one on the dinner table like every other Scarpia in history.

David Agler conducted with great deference to the singers, who didn’t particularly seem to be paying him much attention anyway. He rarely enforced tension and forward drive in the music, but steadfastly tried to give the singers support. Unfortunately, the orchestra sounded as if it had had about two hours rehearsal with the singers. Not a great evening.

BE THERE

“Tosca” continues today and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. The cast will be the same except for Ian DeNolfo as Cavaradossi on Sunday. $28 to $93. (800) 346-7372.