The lively fire of Puccini's hotblooded political thriller will illuminate the Benedum Center this fall as Pittsburgh Opera stages this production of the masterpiece, directed by Tara Faircloth and starring Ana Marina Martinez, both making their company debuts. Set in the boiling turmoil of Napoleonic Rome in 1800 just before the battle of Marengo, see everything of the drama, battles, and romance through the eyes of a desperate prima donna as she tries to save her lover from a villainous police chief.