The title translates as "The black Tosca at Wuppertal Opera" and I didn`t write it correctly because I speak German - I am sure it is correct -, but because I have "connections" - a German friend. Or, more correctly said, a Romanian who moved to Germany when he was little, so that I have no doubt regarding the correctness of the title in the... Wuppertalian language. :-)

He also showed me around Wuppertal, a small city, as populous as the Romanian city Craiova, but larger. It is "built" on a long strip of land stretching between the hills, together with the river Wupper, so that wherever you are in the city, you are only at a several minutes` distance from a green place - a hill, park or even forest.

The city is in the North-West of Germany, at about 50 km North of Koln, in the mega-crowded area of Ruhr basin, to which it belongs. The Rin-Ruhr region is the fifth biggest urban agglomeration in Europe!, with 12 million inhabitants, after Moscow, London, Madrid and Paris.

Its main touristic attraction is the Schwebebahn, a special local main of transport, monorail, that runs "hanging" - a kind of subway/ suspended train, and most of its route (of 13 km) is above the river that crosses the city. It is the oldest main of transport of this sort in the world, and it cannot be found in many places worldwide!

In Wuppertal, there is also a famous Zoo, and it is known as Friedrich Engels`s place of birth, too, the well-known communism theorist. There is a museum dedicated to him, in the house where he grew up, but besides this, the city doesn`t have anything reminding of communism, although it is an industrial city.
The city is relatively new, formed only 85 years ago (in 1929, more exactly), out of the union of seven small towns: Barmen, Elberfeld, Vohwinkel, Ronsdorf, Cronenberg, Langerfeld and Beyenburg. Initially, the city was called Barmen-Elberfeld, and what is interesting is that its final name was chosen by its inhabitants in a referendum - they picked up the name of Wuppertal, which means "Wupper`s valey", that is of the river that crosses the city.

So... Nerrrra Tosca! :-)

Recently, I wrote about the idea of not judging on appearances, of not "foreseeing" things when you don`t have the right clues. In Wuppertal the situation was similar, except the fact that this time I didn`t do the mistake of underestimating in advance. The Opera House doesn`t look extraordinary and it`s not too big, either, but the show I saw there, "Tosca", was interesting, and the more important is my description, as the mounting was modern and I am not a fan of this genre.

The first act, the Sant`Andreea della Vale church in Rome, symbolised by a huge black cross, probably carton looking like wood, put in the middle of the scene, up side down, and a little inclined at about 30 degrees! I found the symbolism interesting, for the deeds that later took place in the church were also "up side down" in comparison with what a religious sanctuary should be, both Mario feeling Tosca`s thighs and bottom, and what Scarpia does in the “normal" version of the opera, using the fan in the known purpose and not only.

The background was black, as was the cross. The curtain, the floor (shiny), the lateral walls (which had shelves with candles spreaded on), everything was black. Angelotti, Mario, the sacristan, Scarpia, his soldiers, all were dressed in black, only Tosca, besides her black business suit and Chinese style shaped hat, also black, had dark red gloves. The hat covered her face for minutes in a row, and at first I wondered if the director would allow her face to be seen or she would remain anonymous for the entire show, which I think would have been interesting, but frustrating.

Angelotti`s chapel contrasted through its absence. It was represented by a hatch in the floor and by the white light that could be seen when the door of the "chapel" was open.

The choir of the "Te Deum" was composed of blond women wearing dark brown. In addition to them, an army of priests dressed completely in brown, and the men - in black, of course
:-), but with their faces dyed in white - who were in the first floor lateral balconies. I had always thought of the characters "participating" among the spectators, and here I saw the idea put into practice a little bit, and also the expected effect, namely a very good one, the feeling being that the music surrounded you from different directions.

"Va, Tosca! " The modular scene rotates, Tosca walks on it with the same speed, but she seems not to be moving at all, Scarpia at two metres behind her, stretching his arms to hold her. At the end of the aria, Tosca disappears in the floor hatch, leaving the glorious moment of the "Te Deum" to the choir.

After the first act the curtain falls. Black, as I had noticed in passing at the beginning and as I noticed better now, due to how the play was directed.

The second act. In Palazzo Farnesse black is also the dominant colour, the background stays the same, but in the middle the big cross is replaced with a desk, long as three quarters of the scene. Mario is brought in handcuffed, Scarpia has got a pistol, but these details are commonplace already. Tosca, a long cloak, red, as I had thought at the break that it should be in order to match the black decor! He takes off his cloak and remains in black in front of a black Scarpia - including his vest, but who gets naked from the waist up in his... black attempt to... blacken Floria.

Tosca shoots Scarpia - no surprise, here, either - but perfectly successful were the gestures she made while shouting to him "Die! Die! " namely tossing pieces of paper from the desk towards him.

The third act was the most interestingly mounted, the beginning as well as the end. The scene is rotating slightly, dotted with... the priests from the first act`s "Te Deum", and Scarpia`s men, and Tosca is walking among them! To the right, the sad aria from the beginning of the act is interpreted by a young woman... naked, wearing a crown of thorns and holding a bunch of branches in front of her, covering her... interesting parts :-)

The scene rotates, and both the priests, and Scarpia`s men look towards her, she is frightened, continues to sing, Spoletta steps towards her "idlingly" on the rotating scene. Mario, too, shows up, as well as his accompanying soldier, slowly, the priests disappear in the dark, the others disappear, too, one could hear the instrumental from "E lucevan le stelle", the girl also disappears, only Mario and the soldier remain - dressed in black, how else? In the meantime, from above descends an entanglement of iron bars, which stops at about one metre and something from the heads of those on the scene, and which occupies more than half of the upper side of the scenery and which remains there until Tosca comes and "free" Mario.

The final scene... totally surprising. After Mario is murdered, Spoletta comes with his men to catch Tosca. She runs away at the back of the scene, where she stops in front of an opening at the back, looking like a white lighted door, the only "stain" in the big black wall from the background. "O, Scarpia, avanti a Dio! " and... the wall falls forwards, killing Spoletta and his people! At the back another wall is revealed, broken by a giant hole, as if after a bomb, and Floria Tosca steps forwards slowly and triumphantly, while a white cloak appears on her shoulders!

Conductor: Toshiyuki Kamioka
Director: Stefano Poda
Choirs: Jens Bingert

Floria Tosca: Mirjam Tola
Mario Cavaradossi: Xavier Moreno
Baron Scarpia: Mikolaj Zalasinski
Angelotti: Greg Ryerson
Mesner: Dieter Goffing
Spoletta: John Gray
Sciarrone: Ianuarie Szurgot

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