This is not a Review - Tosca Dress Rehearsal at the Royal Opera House 6th July 2013

There is an unwritten convention that you don't review a dress rehearsal, probably due to the fact that singers may or may not choose to sing out or 'mark' their parts depending on their state of health, time of day, etc etc.  So this is definitely NOT a review - merely some observations from today's dress of Tosca at the Royal Opera House.

However, having said that there was very little to differentiate today's rehearsal from a full performance; all voices were in place, free and ringing and high notes all belted out into the auditorium; there were no interruptions for technical details and the only differences from a normal performance were the casual dress of orchestra and conductor, some camera clicking as the official ROH photographer took shots of the performers and the fact that it was less than a full house.

It was my first experience of a rehearsal, mainly due to the fact that the majority take place during the working week, so when I saw this one fell on a Saturday I grabbed at ticket at the first opportunity.

Tosca you see is one of my favourite opera and I simply cannot resist an opportunity to see a live performance.  I actually saw this production earlier in the season with a different cast but I was keen to see the singers in this revival - Scott Hendricks as Scarpia, Martina Serafin as Tosca and finally Aleksandrs Antonenko as Cavaradossi.  As a bit of a tenor maven I was particularly keen to hear (and see) Antonenko who I last saw as Otello last year, and I was curious to hear him in Puccini.

Let me say first and foremost that I found this performance head and shoulders above the one I experienced earlier this year with Kristine Opolais, Younghoun Lee and Michael Volle.  Comparisons are indeed odious, and it's not that I found the previous cast particularly lacking, but simply that the performance as a whole did not gel and was a slight disappointment.

In contrast, today's rehearsal, while not perfect by any means, was thrilling in parts with a real sense of theatre - something I felt the previous performance lacked.  Antonenko does not have a typical Puccini voice but he certainly knows how to thrill - high notes were secure and exciting and he made a convincing Republican sympathiser.  If I was slightly less convinced by his persona as a romantic leading man and his relationship with Tosca then I admit I have very high standards and it's almost impossible to erase the image of a Certain Other Tenor is this role and this production.  My benchmarks as Cavaradossi are Domingo (in  his prime) and Kaufmann, and if E Lucevan le Stelle doesn't make me cry I feel slightly cheated.  It didn't today but I still felt the performance as a whole worked.

Martina Serafin is no stranger to this production and it showed.  She does not really play the diva, but rather a genuine woman, jealous, insecure and in love, but no over the top diva - and her performance was all the better for it.  She came into her own in the second act with Scarpia and the performance moved onto another level.  Her Vissi d'Arte was beautiful without being show-stopping and I felt she went from strength to strength as the opera progressed.

Scott Hendricks was a pleasant surprise as Scarpia.  With less physical presence that most Scarpia I have come across, he has to dominate by sheer force of personality and voice. In the main I would say that he succeeds, especially in his confused relationship with Tosca.  I almost wish that this production did not show Scarpia primarily as facist bully-boy - I would like to see a production where Scarpia is a real possible rival to Cavaradossi, a smooth handsome charmer masking evil intent, someone who Tosca might feel a fleeting desire for.

I am sure that this cast will improve with each performance and so in short, I can heartily recommend this revival and although it looks like a sell-out, I for one will be keeping an eye out for any returns.