Tosca / Referenced By

Anime and Manga

Gunslinger Girl. One of the missions takes place during a showing of Tosca, and we see just about every important scene at least in part, with the plot explained to the girls by their handlers. Claes has apparently memorized Tosca's whole cry to God speech/aria. When Henrietta and Rico return from the mission, they say they hadn't paid much attention as they were working, being more interested in what their handlers thought of their performance. Claes can't help thinking of Tosca's line: "I lived for my art, I lived for love."

Pauline is listening to "E lucevan le stelle" in Heavenly Creatures when told she can't see Juliet anymore until her grades and attitude improve.
In Quantum of Solace, James Bond spies on a Quantum meeting which takes place during a representation of Tosca during the Bregenz Festival. The representation is real; the scenes were filmed on the Seebühne (floating stage) in June 2008.

The Agatha Christie short story "Swan Song" involves a soprano who really stabs the baritone during a performance of Tosca, in vengeance for a past wrong.
In the Carl Hiaasen novel Native Tongue, Carrie, who's appearing in a Jubilee parade at the Amazing Kingdom of Thrills theme park (an Expy of Disney World and Sea World), does an In-Universe Throw It In! by disregarding the song she was supposed to sing (by Paul Revere and the Raiders), instead singing "Vissi D'Arte". The crowd is confused by this, while Skink, who loves Tosca, is thrilled. So, as it happens, is the mob hitman who's come to kill Frankie, the ex-mobster who owns the theme park; before killing Frankie, he says the song was beautiful.

Peaky Blinders uses Tosca as a significant parallel to multiple events in the story. First, Campbell and his mole Grace attend a performance of Tosca, where the scene that specifically plays as Grace agrees to be a honey trap for Tommy is Scarpia (the corrupt policeman) seducing Tosca (the innocent singer), as well as the scene where Tosca turns on Scarpia, stabbing him to death for his crimes against her lover. Ironically, in Season 2, it's not Grace but Polly that Campbell pulls a Scarpia Ultimatum on, and Polly who takes vengeance on Campbell.

Russian figure-skater Irina Slutskaya had one year a long programme with music from Tosca.
- As did American figure skater Michelle Kwan. Tosca is one of the more popular operas that is skated to.
- Male skaters often skate to the music of Cavaradossi's E lucevan le stelle.

In Hitman: Blood Money, the mission "Curtains Down" has you assassinate two targets during a rehearsal of the execution scene. ^note In fact, one of the popular ways of getting rid of the actor playing Cavaradossi is by switching the prop pistol used in the scene with a real version. The Irony is so delicious you could serve it at a restaurant.

In The Autobiography of Jane Eyre, little Adele is very much into opera and she mentions that she's learning about Tosca. Then she mentions that everybody dies at the end, and she also sings an aria, though Jane cut her singing from the video.