Puccini made the main characters of his 1900 romantic melodrama revolutionaries fighting an authoritarian government in Rome, so it’s hardly surprising that one of its more popular interpretations today involves setting it in the same city during the Nazi occupation. Mark Lamos’s production emphasises the political repression, and the stylists go to down depicting police chief Scarpia’s goons as the Gestapo. This version with its accentuated torture, firing squads and contemporary allusions provides a fascinating variation on an opera standard.
