La Rad as Tosca at the MET

Only two more performances for Sondra Radvanovsky as Tosca at the MET....check out what you have been missing!

La Rad in a Q&A with the MET:

Like so many operatic heroines, Tosca ends up a victim at the end of the night, but she’s much more courageous than most. Which parts of the character are you trying to bring out?

I try to play her as human, not this greater-than-life diva. She’s having the worst day of her life, but she is experiencing all these emotions in real time—not in Verdi aria time. Opera often suspends time so that a character can sing a solo about how they’re feeling, and everything stops for a few minutes. This really never happens in Tosca. It’s true she’s a victim, but I don’t think she wallows in her emotions or feels sorry for herself. She’s a changed woman by the end of the opera because of the journey she has taken on this one horrific day. She’s stronger and more determined in what she wants, and that is to run away with the man she loves. So I try to start the opera as this young, fresh girl who laughs and is in love. As the piece goes along, she tries to understand why this is all happening to her. This leads into her big aria, “Vissi d’arte,” which really is a prayer to God. After that she sees no way out of her situation until suddenly, when she notices the knife, she realizes that she must take charge of her life and stand up to Scarpia. I can’t even imagine what killing a human being must feel like, but this is what’s important to me when I play Tosca—finding the human side of her.