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Columbia Daily Spectator, December 8, 2011 |
By Reuben Berman |
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Gounod: Faust, Metropolitan Opera New York, ab 29. November 2011, Vorstellung am 10. Dezember 2011, Kino |
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'Faust': Des McAnuff’s production turns Met Opera stage into a devilish mess
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New Met Opera puts a romantic spin on Lit Hum stand-by |
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If Metropolitan Opera manager Peter Gelb had to make a deal with the devil
to acquire Des McAnuff—director of “Jersey Boys”—to produce “Faust,” it
would seem that the devil got the better end of the agreement. Just as a
deal for youth, knowledge, or riches has its pitfalls, so does a new
production of a classic opera. Gelb seems to have fallen into more than one
such pit with this production, which will be performed at the Met Opera
intermittently until Jan. 19.
In the Met Opera’s more modern
conception, the post-war setting seems to fit. Faust, an aging scientist who
worked on the atomic bomb, regrets his life, and seeks to end it, only to be
saved by Mephistopheles. The latter grants Faust renewed youth in exchange
for servitude to the devil after death. Faust is brought back in time to
WWI, before the damage of atomic weapons had been realized.
At its
heart, this opera is a love story. It is not the “Faust” of Goethe, read by
every first-year currently in Lit Hum, focused on questions about the soul
and science. Even as it deals with motifs like the devil and war, “Faust” is
essentially about a man wooing a woman—and about the fallout of his actions.
Mephistopheles is simply a humorous afterthought and plot device.
Instead of focusing on the romance, McAnuff’s set resembles a laboratory,
with tiered metal catwalks that loom ominously over the stage and enclose
the entire opera in an aura of gloom and despair. He also dresses the chorus
in lab coats, adding to the eerie nature, which turns out to be terribly out
of place when Marguerite—the woman Faust pursues—attempts to escape
damnation by Mephistopheles or when she later ascends to heaven. Equally
perplexing is the larger-than-life man who points a finger at Mephistopheles
just before the end of the second act—the play gives no clues as to the
nature of what he represents or who he is. Questions of setting arise time
and time again throughout the production, leaving the audience uneasy and
uncomfortable and never entirely sure about what is going on.
Fortunately, however, this jumble of a production doesn’t impede the
abilities of the singers or the orchestra. The bass Rene Pape, as the
dangerous and charming Mephistopheles, emerges onstage dressed to the nines
in a Panama hat and white suit. He keeps the audience enthralled by his
spellbinding voice, especially during his song about the Golden Calf.
Jonas Kaufmann is tremendous as Faust, appearing in his first
production since performing a personal recital on the Met stage, an honor
reserved for the most impressive of stars. The tenor adds layers of feeling
and passion to his arias, especially when he is conversing with Marguerite,
sung by the equally passionate but sometimes imprecise soprano Marina
Poplavskaya.
Under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the orchestra
performs spectacularly, keeping up a good tempo and rousing passions, yet
never overpowering the singing onstage. Like the professionals they are, the
stars of the show continue onward. Unfazed by the mess that the staging
creates for the audience, they offer enough incredible sound to keep the
viewers from needing to open their eyes.
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