Photos: Chicago Lyric Opera Presents Puccini's TOSCA

Puccini's Tosca brings together three of opera's most richly drawn characters-a glamorous opera singer, a revolutionary artist, and a sinister police chief-into a potboiler of doomed love, political intrigue, and murder, all powered by some of the most gripping and passionate music ever composed for the stage.

Michelle Bradley stars in her Lyric and role debut as the impassioned heroine Tosca, Russell Thomas is her lover Cavaradossi, and Fabián Veloz makes his Lyric debut as Tosca's evil tormentor Scarpia. Eun Sun Kim, San Francisco Opera's heralded new music director, conducts the Lyric Opera Orchestra in one of the most eagerly anticipated debuts of the season.

Transporting audiences to faraway places requires the magic of great stagecraft, and director Louisa Muller is incorporating the work of legendary designers Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and Marcel Escoffier into her vision. Lyric's new-to-Chicago production respects the history and tradition of this classic opera while heightening its suspense and drama. This Tosca bursts with a riveting theatricality that is sure to intrigue new and longtime opera lovers alike.