Music
Charles-Francois
Gounod
Conductor
Maurizio Benini
Production
David McVicar
Revival Director
Emma Wee
Sets
Charles Edwards
Costumes
Brigitte
Reiffenstuel
Lighting
Paule Constable
Choreography
Michael
Keegan-Dolan
Faust
Piotr Beczala
Mephistopheles
Orlin Anastassov
Marguerite
Angela Gheorghiu
Wagner
Robert Gleadow
Valentin
Russell Braun
Siebel
Liora Grodnikaite
Marthe Schwertlein
Della Jones
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Faust
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Royal Opera House
15 September 2006
David McVicar's 2004 production of Faust has been revived to open the Royal Opera's French-themed 2006/7 Season. It is the obvious choice given the surfeit of references to French art and popular culture in the production. Charles Edward's wonderfully gloomy sets, designed to realist specifications, heighten the atmosphere of Gothic-horror that persists throughout. The curtains part to reveal a demonic figure in a sparkling red suit hunched over a booming cobwebby organ, like a scene from The Phantom of the Opera. It is impossible to believe that the reference is not intended and the fact that McVicar both embraces and ironises such references creates the heart of this production. It is at once knowingly post-modern and enjoyably naive, producing the kind of musical theatre preferred by Baz Luhrrman or Mel Brooks.
At times the design revels in its licence to be kitsch and cliched, such as Mephisto's appearance with a plastic three-pronged fork to signify his devilish nature. He may as well be wearing the kind of flashing red horns one can find in any joke shop on the high street. Indeed, the production has as much angels-and-devils symbolism as a hen-night party: red basques, black feathers, white angel wings. It is Moulin Rouge crossed with Les Miserables, employing the simple high kicks of caberet choreography. In the drinking-house cabaret scene the louche crowd, populated by circus acrobats and dancing girls, point out to and jeer at the Opera House audience, interacting them as in a West End musical that knows its job is to entertain first and foremost. It is hard to miss the references to Manet and Toulouse-Lautrec in this production's depiction of the squalor and splendour of underground Paris at the turn of the nineteenth century. The ghoulishly green haze of Manet's painting 'L'Absinthe' hangs in the air thanks to lighting design by Paule Constable. Each scene has a sense of the claustrophobia imposed by grandiose buildings, created through the combination of Charles Edward's deeply dimensional sets, and the shadows thrown across them by Constable's intricately detailed lighting. The backdrop is entirely one of dirty glamour, darkness and degradation amidst faded grandeur.
Whilst all of this is admirably achieved by the supporting performers and designers, it is of course the central performances that also need to be larger than life, the campest of the camp. The original 2004 production opposed Bryn Terfel's Mephistopheles to Roberto Alagna's Faust, creating a sparkling energy and dynamic clash of egos. Both were big enough to have their own uniquely dramatic flair and create that crackle of energy. Now recast, this production has the Bulgarian bass Orlin Anastassov as Mephistopheles and Polish tenor Piotr Beczala in the title role of Faust. Anastassov's voice is safe and consistent, but lacking the chairoscuro inflections needed to contend to with this production. Consequently his Mephistopheles lacked vim and vigour and was more the pantomime baddie than a truly menacing presence. In contrast, Beczala's voice was carefully controlled and modulated through strong technique, belying the experience he gained in the role in 2004. Experience should also have favoured Angela Gheorghiu since she created the 2004 role of Marguerite but this time around familiarity appeared to breed contempt; her performance concentrated on vocal technique with a flawless polish and musicality but little concern for the unmannered heart of the character. Her tones were light and rippled but she never once made Marguerite's motivations believable, or lost herself in the part. Canadian baritone Russell Braun made a promising Royal Opera House debut as Valentin but, as with all the central cast, his dramatic flair proved lacklustre at points in which vocal technique was valued above bodily inhabitation of the role.
Musically the production was very strong, and conductor Maurizio Benini was the driving force behind this as he maintained the momentum and plunged into the melodies with characteristic enthusiasm. Overall, however, it's the failure of the cast to camp it up performance-wise that creates an ambiguity of intention. Was the intention to reference Manet and Balzac in a high-art serious tradition - for the usual ROH opera goers? Or was it a Baz Luhrrman-esque attempt to bring a younger, trendier audience to the classics? It can be both of course but with this cast the chemistry isn't quite right. Ultimately it's an uneasy mix of both, but none the less enjoyable for that. Laura Keynes
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