TOSCA – PUCCINI
Presented on Apr 13, 15, 21, 24 at the Gaiety Theatre Dublin and on May 3, 6 at the Opera House Cork as part of the Dublin Grand Opera Society’s Spring Season
Lorenza Canepa – Tosca
Michele Molese – Cavaradossi
Attilio d’Orazi – Scarpia
Seán Mitten – Angelotti
Peter McBrien / Frank O’Brien[May 3, 6] – Sacristan
Brendan Cavanagh – Spoletta
Frank O’Brien – Sciarrone
Giovanni Veneri – Conductor
Dario Micheli – Producer
Listen to this production here:
That season’s “Tosca” will be remembered not only for Attilio D’Orazi’s powerfully sung and acted Scarpia but for the brief appearance in act one of the white-bearded Noel Purcell as the Cardinal, but only after they’d found a gold cape long enough to fit his gangling frame. In 1963, he had played the same role in the “Tosca” starring tenor Giuseppe di Stefano and his return came as a surprise to himself and to the audience. Noel was by now in his eighties. ‘It’s great to be back on the old Gaiety stage again,’ he beamed, ‘but they’ve got me just in time. I wouldn’t have lasted anothcr second, the bloody legs were going from under me.’ The production was distinguished by Patrick Murray’s ‘brilliant sets’, as one evening newspaper critic described them, while Lorenza Canepa, a first-rate Floria Tosca, sang ‘Vissi d’arte’ with exquisite feeling and beauty. Dario Michell’s direction came in for favourable comment and was said to he ‘thoughtful’.
(Extracted from “Love and Music: The Glorious History of the Dublin Grand Opera Society” by Gus Smith, 1998)
More information for this production (including any surviving production photographs, press reviews and links to other content) will be added in due course as time allows – check the home page for an updated progress report on uploading.
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