Nabucco, a magnificent golden eagle with a 6ft wingspan, is set to steal the limelight in opera director Ellen Kent’s breathtaking production of Tosca at the Grand Theatre Blackpool on Sunday 10 March. The seven-year-old bird of prey, nicknamed Mouse, will appear in just a handful of extra-special performances around the UK – including Blackpool.
Nabucco, who was bred in captivity, is already in training for his time in the spotlight with falconer Derek Tindall, who will be accompanying him on tour.
Derek, official falconer at Lincoln Castle, said:
We do rehearse. I have to get him used to crowds and being in close proximity to people. Mouse has never been on stage before but I know he’ll be great – I spend so much time with him forming a bond so he trusts me completely.
Puccini’s Tosca is an epic tale of true love and treachery featuring torture, murder and suicide alongside some of opera’s best-known music. Set in Rome and based on a play by Victorien Sardou, it was once described as a “shabby little shocker”. Opera diva Floria Tosca fears for the fidelity of her lover Mario, only to discover that it is the Baron Scarpia’s lust for her that endangers that love. A complex agreement of bargains and bluffs follow, to the detriment of all, with a truly tragic ending.
In preparation for the current tour and her new staging of Tosca, Ellen took a trip to Puccini’s house in Italy. She said:
It was quite magical. I didn’t think it would be quite so inspiring. It was almost eerie – exactly as you would imagine someone with Puccini’s mind to have, with beautiful memorabilia everywhere. There were his shoes and clothes and pipes and all the models of his operas and his actual scores with all his notes on them. The walls were painted with frescos and there was exquisite stained glass everywhere. My productions are always rather beautiful and I suddenly realised that in my view, I have been doing what Puccini would have liked and wanted. It felt like meeting somebody I knew.
As well as magnificent sets, luxurious costumes and heavenly singing, the shows also feature children from a local stage school and another four-legged performer – Max the donkey, who will take centre stage in Carmen.
Bizet’s dramatic and sensuous opera Carmen tells the story of the downfall of soldier Don Jose, who is seduced by the fiery, beautiful and passionate gypsy Carmen. Abandoning both his childhood sweetheart and his military career, Jose pursues Carmen but loses her to the glamorous bullfighter Escamillo. In true tragic operatic fashion, Jose can’t bear to be without Carmen and stabs her in a jealous rage.
The celebrated Moldovan National Opera and the Moldovan National Philharmonic Orchestra perform, alongside international soloists mezzo soprano Nadia Stoianova as Carmen and soprano Maria Tsonina as Tosca.
Tosca comes to The Grand Theatre on the 10 March 2013. For more information or to book online visit The Grand Theatre website.
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