You know the old saying, "The show must go on"?
Last week at the Vienna Opera the show very nearly didn't.
Tenor superstar Jonas Kaufmann was so loudly applauded for his Act III aria in a performance of Puccini's Tosca that the audience would not stop applauding. He sang an encore. The house exploded again, but finally settled down. At this point, the divine Tosca, the glamorous and sexy diva of 18th century Rome, is meant to run on stage intent on rescuing her lover from execution.
Watch what happened:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuqbE87iYqE
The soprano Angelo Gheorghiu didn't appear. No Tosca. No Tosca, no opera, no finale, no more applause. Finally you hear Kaufmann blurt out "Non abbiamo soprano" -We don't have a soprano.
Eventually Miss Gheorghiu did run out, and the opera concluded.
In no major opera house in the world is it possible for a cue to be missed at such an important point in any performance. It doesn't happen. Gheoroghiu is an experienced Tosca, who should already have been in place in the wings, tenor encore or not.
Leaving all to wonder as La Angela locked in the john? Stuck in a back stage elevator? Or had she enough of the public's (well deserved) delirium over Jonas Kaufmann? Was her delayed entrance a form of hissy fit or a middle finger to the audience?
We may never know. But on this night in Vienna, a white hot performance of Tosca probably smoldered backstage longer than usual.
