painted flats

A flat is a flat canvas panel stretched on a frame, usually 2 x 4's. Before sets began to be constructed like actual buildings, etc., stage scenery was mostly painted on these flats. By utilizing perspective the scene-painter created the illusion of depth and three dimensional setting with just paint on the flat canvas. This was done in "straight" (ha) theater, too. Until the turn of the 20th century, that's pretty much what all stage settings were, with furniture placed downstage in front of paintings of street scenes, rooms, etc. When electric lighting came into general theatrical use toward the end of the 19th century, lighting designers could do a lot and stage design changed. Google Adolph Appia and Charles Gordon Craig for more on this. They were the ground-breaking lighting designers who revolutionized stage design, and those developments doomed the old-fashioned painted flats, like the ones in this production of "Tosca", a copy of the original 1932 production that opened the War memorial Opera House. It took decades for their revolutionary work to become the norm, though. Painted flats were cheap, and could be painted over for the next production, or sometimes re-used for a street scene in a different opera.

Tosca at SFO

Last Thursday's "Tosca" was a solid performance, although a certain musty provincial quality was on display. In the title role, Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka displayed a healthy instrument of good size and weight, but her characterization felt dutiful rather than inspired. The Uruguayan tenor Carlo Ventre began with more than a suggestion of a wobble, but this dissipated as he warmed up, and his "E lucevan le stelle" was very well received. Along the way he produced the requisite volume and high notes, but without much style or personality; there was little acting on display, although he is not without stage presence. The voice, while relatively graceless, is not small. Georgian baritone Lado Ataneli was a more satisfying Scarpia, with some detailed and specific acting and a good voice of power and amplitude, lacking only real individuality. Jordan Bisch was a capable Angelotti, and Joel Sorensen a fine Spoletta. The orchestra played well for Marco Armilliato, and the chorus was imposing in the "Te Deum" that closes Act 1.

The 1997 production, which recreates the inaugural SFO mounting of the opera, looks cheap, but it's serviceable. Younger opera-goers may never have seen painted flats before. In these days of financial uncertainty, the Opera company is fortunate to have a no-nonsense production to deploy economically.