San Franciscans love a good costume party.  In fact dressing up, having a couple cocktails and doing something artsy is a San Francisco tradition as old as the gold rush.  It warmed my cold, foggy heart when I saw our Opera House’s doors open again.

Inside the gowns flowed, the bottles poured, and the quiet, muffled buzz of anticipation moved through it’s 90 year old vaulted walls.  It was a bit of a mascaraed ball this year,  only everyone wore their masks across their mouths instead of across their eyes, adding a bit of mystery and a few “sorry, I thought you were Susan,” to the whole affair.

I have missed the swish swish sound of a fancy dress walking by, and the click clack of stilettos on stone, I missed the one loud laugh heard across the hall and the tingle of anticipation before a curtain call.

After some 20 months on hiatus the SF opera is back, rolling out 3 shows this fall; Tosca (ends Sunday) Fidelio (Beethoven) in October and Cosi Fan Tutte (Mozart) in November.  And you should treat yourself.  I enjoyed every minute of Tosca.

San Francisco Opera production of Tosca. Photo by Cory Weaver.

Puccini’s Tosca is set in Rome in the time of Napoleon and it’s full of charm, tragedy and wonderful music.  Soprano Ailyn Pérez is at the center of things and her voice was magic, it made the audience feel like it was floating, and at times she made us laugh out loud with her bravada and charm too. The whole affair was quite Italian.  Pérez is a Chicago native and she’s delightful to watch, I say we keep her.

The show’s Roman set designs made me feel like I was looking at real marble at times, those artists backstage still know what they’re doing.  I vote we keep them too.   The Puccini score simply made you smile, and that’s what Puccini’s masterpieces were meant to do.

SF Opera’s new Conductor Eun Sun Kim.  (photo Marc Olivier Le Blanc)fe

Our Opera’s new Conductor Eun Sun Kim didn’t miss a beat, and with Mozart and Beethoven coming up, your ears will thank you.  The opera is like a glorious ray of sunshine after 2 years of fog.

Here are some nice, ‘behind the scenes’ snaps of the Tosca cast via SF Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock’s twitter:

A historic return @sfopera with one of the most glorious performances of Tosca I have ever seen! Intense passion and energy, surging forward with our new music director Eun Sun Kim and @ailynperezsop first Tosca made this the start of a spectacular new chapter! We’re back! pic.twitter.com/09toTDrPT5

— Matthew Shilvock (@MatthewShilvock) August 22, 2021