Special notes: We usually exclude titles shot in large open arenas or theaters because it is so hard to make images there that will look good in the home theater. (We make exceptions to this rule for titles that turn out well despite being shot outdoors.) We cover this Tosca now as proof of the wisdom of our exclusion rule. Above are 4 images of the same Tosca shot at the Arena de Verona. Two images show the regular price disc. Two other images are for the bargain disc that also has trailers for 47 other Arthaus titles. This is the same recording as an earlier Tosca released by TDK. This show is now (January 2020) quite old. In the future these discs will likely be discontinued and may also become collector items.
Puccini Tosca opera to libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. Directed 2006 by Hugo de Ana at the Arena di Verona. Stars Fiorenza Cedolins (Floria Tosca), Marcelo Álvarez (Mario Cavaradossi), Ruggero Raimondi (Barone Scarpia), Marco Spotti (Cesare Angelotti), Fabio Previati (The Sacristan), Enrico Facini (Spoletta), Giuliano Pelizon (Sciarrone), Angelo Nardinocchi (a Jailor), and Ottavia Dorrucci (A Shepherd). Daniel Oren conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Arena di Verona (Chorus Master Marco Faelli) and the Accademica Lirica Verona Children's Choir (Conductor Paola Facincani). Set, costumes, and lighting design by Hugo de Ana; stage design by Giuseppe De Filippi Venezia; lighting design by Paolo Mazzon; costume design by Tirelli Costumi. Directed for TV by Loreena Kaufmann; production supervised by Tiziano Mancini; executive producer was Mario Dradi. Sung in Italian. Released 2011, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: D
It's an article of faith with fans of HDVDs that everything benefits from high-resolution video. But here is a glaring exception: HDVD recordings usually are problematical when made of outdoor productions designed to be seen in large amphitheaters. Subject Tosca in the Arena di Verona is prosecutor's "Exhibit 1." The setting probably looked OK from 200 meters up the hillside in the dark. But up close in high-definition the stage looks like a Brodingnagian scrap yard in front of a burned-out industrial plant. Humongous crude props litter the place. The costumes and make-up were designed to look rich at long distance by weak light---to the HDVD camera they look garish and cartoonish. This misery-en-scène magnifies the physical defects of the singers: aging Fiorenza Cedolins has turned into a frump, pudgy Marcelo Alvarez needs to check himself in at the fat clinic, and Ruggero Raimondi looks like a doorman at a Las Vegas wedding palace.
The Arena di Verona is big! The audience looks uncomfortable fanning themselves in the heat; the swarming bugs are having the most fun:
Act 1 opens inside the Sant’Andrea della Valle church. Below is what the church looks like at Arena de Verona:
This rendition of the te Deum scene is pretty impressive outdoors, but it looks hopelessly contrived inside in my HT:
PQ and color is pretty good, but so much clutter!
This costume doubtless looks rich and 200 meters, but it’s silly in close-up TV:
On a giant outdoors stage, over-acting is needed, but looks grotesque in the HT:
Oh! Scary stage blood!
Act 3 is set at the famous landmark prison in Rome, the Castel Sant’Angelo. How does one show the prison at the Arena di Verona? The best they could do was this tiny window that opens in the backdrop:
Extreme melodramatic faces are needed at the Arena:
The opera ends with Tosca’s suicidal jump off the roof of the Castel Sant’Angelo. The image below works fine outdoors, but not in my HT:
So what's left to say about the orchestra and the singing amidst the chaos in the junkyard? Well, not too bad actually. But why would anyone spend his time with this when we have better Tosca choices in Blu-ray? You would only want to buy this Tosca if you have a special reason, which results in a D grade on this website.
There are two ordering options below. The 1st is to order at regular price. The 2nd lets you take advantage of the bargain disc.
First the regular price:
OR
Now the bargain deal: