La Traviata | Alaina Viau

Production details

Description

One could imagine, to the modern eye, a 19th century classic like La Traviata would be only a sweet echo of a distant time, but nothing can be further from the truth. The great composer, Giuseppe Verdi, was captured by a contemporary story about people in Paris. The premiere was done in contemporary dress to bring the audience face to face with situations and emotions from their own times and lives. In that spirit, we have set the story in our own time, in our own place. Violetta, a young career woman in Toronto, also lives the life of a party girl as she suffers quietly from cancer. She and Alfredo meet, fall in love, enjoy raves and live an alternative lifestyle until Alfredo’s father, fearing for the family’s reputation, pleads that Violetta end her love affair with Alfredo. Violetta feels the old man’s pain and cuts the ties to her lover. At a party, she honours her pledge to Alfredo’s father, even as Alfredo disgraces himself in an ugly altercation. Months later, her disease has taken over and she is terminal. Violetta generously donates the rest of her money to charity but still longs for the love of her life. Alfredo finds her in a hospital bed and is crushed by her condition. Irrationally, they sing of plans for a future together, but Violetta cannot fight her cancer any longer. She dies in his arms, with Alfredo’s father looking on in guilt. Love and loss is the human condition. This is the genius in what Verdi created when he set to music the love and loss of people in his time in Paris. Today, the Toronto City Opera will bring that story into our city, our time, and into your hearts.