The morning after Tosca

We went to the opera last night! Puccini's Tosca is a story set in Rome in about 1800. It is one of the most frequently performed operas in North America, because it is a very entertaining story. The set was marvelous, and very realistic. The 1st Act was set inside the church Sant' Andrea della Valle, and it looked very much like many of the churches we saw throughout Italy. The building still stands in present day Rome. The 2nd Act took place inside the Palazzo Farnese, the residence of Scarpia, the Chief of Police. This building still stands and is currently used as the French Embassy. The 3rd Act was atop the Castel Sant' Angelo, where we stopped for sandwich and coffee (cappuccini e panini) when we visited Rome last fall. The set looked remarkably realistic. It was over by 10:00 PM. Since this was a week night, and we both had to get up early this morning to go to work, that was a good thing. It was interesting to watch an opera with with lots of young college students (many many cell phones) and several busloads of retired people (many many canes) in the audience. Talk about your mixed crowd! Lucky for all of us, there was an English translation projected just above the stage. So even if we didn't know what the story line was we would have been able to follow. All in all I was very impressed with both the venue (Phillips Center for the Performing Arts) and the production (University of Florida Opera Theater).