Tosca

Puccini’s Caligula-esque bit of theater includes the ingredients that define opera: love, honor, virtue, apostacy, torture, suicide and murder. What’s not to like? Based on Victorien Sardou’s play, the nasty plot grinds its characters into the earth with cynical flair as they sing with a primal but eloquent intensity − topped by that great aria of despair, “Vissi d’arte.” Opera Tampa’s production embraces Puccini’s dramatic realism and tense score with flesh-and-blood people − Floria Tosca, Mario Cavaradossi and Baron Scarpia – whose lives entwine with melodramatic passion in the course of a single day.