For years, Tamara Wilson was pretty much no one's first choice to sing any of Puccini's work — which had absolutely nothing to do with her significant abilities as a soprano.

"Look at me," she says laughing, pointing out her red hair.

But after Wilson sang in Turandot, artistic directors realized that a) she was perfectly capable of singing Puccini's music and well and b) put a dark wig on her and she easily becomes the stereotypical image of a passionate Italian woman.

This week Wilson will be making her role debut as Floria Tosca in Tosca, the classic tale of love, jealousy, betrayal and death (a lot of death) at Houston Grand Opera in a co-production with the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

In a nutshell: Tosca's jealousy of her lover the painter Mario Cavaradossi stemming from his choice of a model for his picture of Mary Magdalene leads to all kinds of trouble. There's political intrigue involved in the form of  Angelotti, a friend of Cavaradossi's who is being sought by the police and is hidden by Cavaradossi. Tosca unknowingly leads the police to Cavaradossi, who is arrested and sentenced to execution when he won't reveal where Angelotti is. Tosca ultimately betrays Angelotti's hiding place to  Scarpia, the police chief, who wants Tosca for himself and stokes the fires of her jealousy. She makes a deal with him to try and save her lover — an arrangement which both sides betray resulting in the deaths of Scarpia and Cavaradossi. The opera ends with Tosca stepping off a parapet to her death.

The music Puccini wrote is striking and a major reason this opera is so often performed. Memorable arias include Cavaradossi singing "Recondita Armonia" in the first act,  Tosca singing "Vissi d'arte" in the midst of the terrible bargain Scarpia asks her to agree to and Cavaradossi singing "E lucevan le stelle" remembering his life with Tosca.

Houston Grand Opera is returning to Tosca after its 2010 and 2015 productions and is again using the John Caird version of the epic opera set in Italy just after the Regency period. Wilson, who's been raking in accolades world wide, says performing in Wagner's operas like Tristan und Isolde that more than prepared her for the pacing she needs thanks to the amount of stage time she has in the role of Tosca. 

"The good news in Wagner, you’re not technically running around," Wilson says. In Tosca, however, there's a lot of movement including her famous death jump at the end. "We did our first run through the other day.    The pacing, the building of stamina is more about knowing how far you can go in terms of energy —  just as you wouldn’t sprint a marathon. I would say for me building stamina has been more about being in tune with what my body needs."

Tenor Jonathan Tetelman makes his company debut as Cavaradossi while Grammy-nominated baritone Rod Gilfry is Scarpia. John Caird directs.

From the beginning, Wilson says she wanted to approach the first scene showing her character's jealous nature in a little different way. Readily acknowledging that Tosca is "not that nice of a person" given her jealousy and betrayals, Wilson still didn't want to present her as a diva. " I wanted to make it more like a normal jealousy how like normal couples would be. It feels more playful and more human — less the stereotype."

The plot, as encapsulated above, is very involved, but as far as Wilson is concerned, that is part of the appeal. "I think it’s one of the better operas in terms of the theatrical experience. It feels much closer to a musical or a play and goes by fairly quickly."

Performances are scheduled for April 21 through May 5 at 7:30 p.m. Fridays, Saturday and Tuesday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Wortham Center, 501 Texas. Sung in Italian with English surtitlies. For more information, call 713-228-6737 or visit houstongrandopera.org. $20-$250.