It is the first intermission of Tosca, the Opéra de Montréal’s lavish thirtieth-anniversary production. My girlfriend and I inch along in the company of thousands of elegantly attired audience members waiting to get a drink at the bar. If this crowd is anything to go by, Tosca can be called a popular success, including among the demographic that the opera company is wooing with earnestness – the 18-30 age group.
Prior to Tosca, I had never seen an opera in Montréal; my girlfriend had never seen an opera, period. What words come to mind to describe the experience? Larger than life, exaggerated, extreme, theatrical – in a word, big.
