Puccini's Tosca

At the Veteran's Memorial Auditorium April 4 & 5, 2003



The featured production of Opera Providence this spring is a sensational, multi-media staging of Puccini's dramatic & beloved masterpiece, produced in collaboration with the award winning  Boston Academy of Music.


Sung in Italian with English translations projected above the stage, their innovative interpretation will make this Tosca a delightful and unforgettable experience for both new opera fans and long time opera lovers.


Tosca is a story of overwhelming passion amidst the perils of war.  Set in Rome at the time of Napoleon’s advance on the city, the opera opens with the flight of Angelotti, an escaped political prisoner.  He seeks refuge in a church where he is protected by Cavaradossi, a local artist who is also the lover of the famous singer, Floria Tosca.  The young painter acts suspiciously while protecting his friend and Tosca thinks jealous thoughts, believing him unfaithful.  The chief of police, Baron Scarpia, plays upon her jealousy to locate the two men, who are soon captured. 

Angelotti takes his own life rather then be held prisoner and Tosca desperately begs Scarpia to spare Cavaradossi, offering her affections in exchange for his life.  After securing a note saving her lover from his death sentence, she stabs Scarpia and hurries off to be with Cavaradossi.  Tosca finds she has been tricked, however, and the artist dies at the hands of a firing squad.  Facing capture for her crime, she leaps to her death to join her lover in the afterlife. 

Puccini's melodious and melo-dramatic score of love, lust and murder plays against the panoramic politics of soon-to-be Napoleon's Rome.


The show is April 4 and 5 at 7:30 pm. Tickets range from $13.50 to $85.00.


To find out more (or to purchase tickets online) visit their website or give them a call at 401-331-6060