Tosca

First performed in 1900, Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca is a tale of passion and betrayal, set 100 years earlier during a single tumultuous night in Rome. The cavalier Mario Cavaradossi (Roberto Alagna, who bears a certain resemblance to Russell Crowe) has been commissioned to paint a portrait of Mary Magdalene for the private chapel of the Attavanti family in the Sant' Andrea della Valle church. The magdalene's face is modeled after that of the Marchesa Attavanti, but Cavaradossi's thoughts are only of the beautiful singer Floria Tosca (Angela Ghorghiu), who comes to the chapel to pray. Tosca's great flaw is jealousy, and she regularly suspects Cavaradossi of ...