St. Margarethen, 16 July 2026
In the Burgenland quarry of St. Margarethen, this season's opera "Tosca" by Giacomo Puccini has opened, directed by Thaddeus Strassberger with Joyce El-Khoury in the title role.
The opening already unfolds differently than usual. Instead of the highly dramatic orchestral prelude, organ sounds are heard, likewise by Puccini. "Damit währenddessen gleich einmal Heerscharen von religiösen Würdenträgern in Position gebracht werden können," the review states. Right from the start, it becomes clear where the production is heading: away from chamber-play-like compression, toward opulent crowd scenes.
From Chamber Play to Crowd Scene
The story is set in the year 1800, at the end of the war of the short-lived Roman Republic against an alliance of European noble houses. At the center are Scarpia, Tosca, and her lover Cavaradossi – a love triangle with much interpersonal complexity, as the review notes. For this constellation of characters, one would actually need "in den entscheidenden Szenen eine Verdichtung, eine Reduzierung, einen Spot auf die Protagonisten." Precisely this concentration, however, is absent.