St. Pete Opera brings Puccini’s amazing melodrama – Tosca – to the Palladium for three shows starting Friday

If you want a full-contact, no-holds barred opera experience, then this weekend’s production of Tosca, by the St. Petersburg Opera is a must-see.

Tosca, one of Puccini’s masterpieces, litters the stage with dead bodies – during an evening of torture, sexual blackmail, revenge, murder, suicide and, unforgettable music.

Director A.J. Wester, who sang mezzo parts during her singing days, told me – “As I jokingly put it – everyone dies but the mezzo – and that’s only because he didn’t write a part for us.”

Wester, who is familiar to SPO audiences for her work on two Sondheim shows – Into The Woods and A Little Night Music, along with Verdi’s La Traviata – says Tosca is a classic melodrama.

“Everyone likes to think we don’t love melodrama, but we really do. I saw the show Revenge on TV the other night and that’s exactly what it is.”

Because of the story, Wester rehearsed the show more like a play than a musical.

“I tell the actors it’s all about motivation,” she says.

It helps that both her leads have lots of experience in their roles. And while this production is not a reinvention – it’s a costumed opera still set in the 1800s – it is also not a copy of a previous performance.

“We’ve found different moments and different things based on the actors and the set. We even found some humor. And I’m really using all of the theater,” she said.

Wester loves the intimate nature of the Palladium for operas.

This is almost like a chamber opera on the main stage,” she says. “And I love it that the audience is right there in the middle of it.”

Along with with directing jobs around the country, Wester serves as the Stage Director for the newly created Opera Music Theater Ensemble which is part of the Reneé Fleming Solo Voice Initiative program with the Merit School of Music and Lyric Opera of Chicago.

You can see Tosca at the Palladium this weekend but hurry. Friday and Sunday’s shows are likely to sell-out. Shows run: Friday, Feb. 1, 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 3, 2 p.m. and Tuesday, Feb. 5, 7:30 p.m.

For tickets and information visit www.mypalladium.org or call the box office at 727 822-3590.