Amal Choucri Catta endures disappointments at the opera Tosca, Cairo Opera Company, dir Abdalla Saad, Cairo Opera Orchestra, cond Ivan Filev, Cairo Opera Choir dir Aldo Magnato, Main Hall, Cairo Opera House, 5 and 6 December, 8pm Curious newcomers to opera, as well as Cairo Opera habitués, were happy when Giacomo Puccini's Tosca was programmed for two evenings in the Main Hall. They would at last be treated to a decent opera, or so they thought. The cast seemed to be promising: Italian guest stars, such as tenor Mauro Pagano in the role of the painter Cavaradossi, baritone Alfio Grasso as the evil baron Scarpia, and the young soprano Serenella Fraschini interpreting the title role of Floria Tosca, afforded reasonable grounds for hope. Among the Egyptian cast, baritone Mustafa Mohamed in the role of Scarpia, bass-baritone Abdel-Wahab El-Sayyed as Count Angelotti and young bass Hatem El-Genedi as the church sacristan in the first act, seemed well-chosen. And while soprano Iman Mustafa in the title role on the opening night was, to say the least, disappointing, Cairo Opera Orchestra, with long- time conductor Ivan Filev on the podium, and the entire show directed by Abdalla Saad, who had done a beautiful job with Verdi's Aida a few months ago, gave one reason to believe that something could be salvaged from Tosca 's run. Unfortunately, the three imposing chords announcing the opening of the musical tragedy were not followed by the expected success though the curtain did rise on a lovely church interior with altar and altarpiece in the background and a procession of nuns on their way to pray. La Tosca, originally a five-act drama in prose by Victorien Sardou, takes place in Rome, and the church is Sant Andrea della Valle, where the painter Mario Cavaradossi, a nobleman with revolutionary ideas, is working on a picture of Mary Magdalene. The church is empty when suddenly Count Angelotti, dishevelled and out of breath, rushes to one of the adjacent altars where he finds a key behind the virgin's statue. Satisfied, he hurries to the Attavanti chapel adjoining the church. At this point the sacristan appeared, a slim, rather ridiculous looking young man who walks with a somewhat artificial, over-acted limp. It was clear that neither Saad, nor Hatem El-Genedi, had any idea about the duties of a sacristan. He is an officer of the church who has charge of the sacristy and its contents -- the sacristy being the room where sacred utensils and clerical vestments are kept. A sacristan need not be overwhelmingly bright but he does not necessarily have to be totally devoid of brains, not even in the first act of Tosca. According to the script the sacristan, a great believer, should be "funny", but not disrespectful of either the church or his chores. On both nights El-Genedi overacted in an unwise and somewhat tasteless way. He would be well advised to approach the role with a little more respect in future. It must be said that the closing scene of the first act was quite impressive, with the choir boys, the worshippers, the priests and the bishop at their head, entering the church to the Te Deum, blessing the congregation with a huge cross. Floria Tosca, who is in and out of church twice in Act One, is a famous prima donna in a quite disadvantageous candy-pink dress. It looked like a nightgown on Iman Mustafa, who should lose some weight. One expected more elegance from a singer in such an important part. On opening night Mustafa sang with tenor Mauro Pagano: both over-acted in their love-scenes while screaming their heads off trying to be heard above music that became louder and louder as the maestro pushed the orchestra into a deafening fortissimi. Ivan Filev seemed to forget he was conducting an opera, not a symphonic concert. In the opera the singers are the stars, not the instrumentalists. Filev's conducting was also bad on the second night, with tenor Walid Korayem as Cavaradossi and Serenella Fraschini as Tosca. This time the candy-pink dress seemed more suitable. Slim and dainty, Fraschini wore it with elegance. She was, furthermore, a good partner to Korayem, though both struggled with the orchestra's volume. Their love-scenes were nonetheless agreeable and their entire performance possessed a certain charm. That said, the opera's three acts were missing the euphoria, the feeling of exaltation, or ardour we might have expected: we were hearing voices, but the emotion, the sensitivity, was gone. The acting was often artificial and unconvincing, even in the second act, when the evil Scarpia questions Tosca as to the whereabouts of Count Angelotti, a political prisoner who has escaped and is hiding in Cavaradossi's villa. Mustafa Mohamed, an excellent performer with a beautiful, strong timbre, did not seem to be on the right track this time. He was unmotivated and sang mostly without feeling. On the other hand, Alfio Grasso in the same role on opening night, was a good actor, though his voice lacked brilliance. He is well- known to local audiences, having often taken part in different operas at Cairo's Main Hall. Tosca is limited to three main performers: the painter, the singer and the chief of police, with the choir and all performers introduced in the first act. The second and third acts are limited to the three stars, with rather long solo arias and duets taking up most of the time. The performers, therefore, must be perfect: passion and sensibility, brilliance and sincerity are expected by each of the three. Unfortunately this was not the case: the thrill was gone and the two performances were disappointing. When Tosca was premiered in Cairo several years ago the felicity of the performers turned the work into an event. Today one can only wonder where all the feelings have gone. Puccini created a remarkable harmony between orchestral music and the voice which neither the maestro nor the singers were capable of using to their advantage.
