Metropolitan Opera Preview: Faust

Ed. Note: This is the preview of the Met's new Faust. For a complete review of the Dec. 13 performance, visit How to Ignore an Atomic Bomb published Dec. 14 on Superconductor.


New "atomic age" staging co-produced with ENO.

Damned sexy: Jonas Kaufmann as Faust. 
Photo by Nick Heavican © 2011 
The Metropolitan Opera.

After a traditional (but disastrous) 2005 production of Gounod's Faust (by Andrei Serban) the Met has gone high concept.

This staging by Dez McAnuff (Jersey Boys) moves Gounod's 19th century classic about a scholar who sells his soul (in order to meet women) to the 20th. This is Faust set in a high-tech lab where atomic experimentation is afoot. Mr. McAnuff's staging is a co-production with English National Opera, who premiered it in 2010.

Faust will be sung by Jonas Kaufmann, the German tenor whose star has been on the rise at the Met, thanks to a 2010 appearance as Cavaradossi in Tosca and as Siegmund, the best performance in the company's troubled new staging of Die Walküre.

Méphistophélès will be sung by Rene Pape, the handsome German bass. Mr. Pape has the right voice for this part, capable of velvet singing and dark evil required to play the incarnation of evil. In fact, he was the best thing about the 2005 production. And since this is a new staging, he won't have to wear costumes like this one.

Soon after the season was announced, Angela Gheorghiu abruptly cancelled her appearances as Marguerite. The tempestuous Romanian diva cited "creative differences" with the production. (We suspect that she thought she was appearing in the Serban staging when she signed the papers.) However, the role will be sung by soprano Marina Popvlaskaya, who rose to prominence with last season's performances in Don Carlo and La Traviata.

Recording Recommendations:
Faust was the most popular opera in the world at the start of the 20th century, and has been recorded frequently. The rash of (crappy) all-star Faust recordings (featuring big names like Sutherland, Domingo, Te Kanawa, etc.) that appeared in the '70s, '80s and '90s can be safely dismissed, in favor of....

Orchestre Et Choeur Du Théatre National De l'Opéra De Paris cond. Andre Cluytens (EMI, 1959)
Faust: Nicolai Gedda
Méphistophélès: Boris Christoff
Marguerite: Victoria de los Angeles

This is a stereo remake of a mono recording from five years before with the same cast. It remains the best recording of the opera available. Nicolai Gedda is brilliant as Faust. The Swedish tenor sounds at home in French repertory. De Los Angeles (a famous Carmen) is a velvety Marguerite. The Bulgarian bass Boris Christoff tends to snarl and bark through the role of Old Scratch, but he makes up for it with a spectacularly sinister presence. At an attractive mid-price, this is only Faust to own. Yes. I sound like the Penguin Guide. But it's really good.

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Devil in a Black Dress

René Pape as Mephistopheles at Covent Garden.
Photo © 2011 Royal Opera at Covent Garden

Rene Pape breaks out the new Fall line for Faust.

The opera blogosphere is buzzing today over this photo from the revival of David McVicar's 2004 Covent Garden production of Gounod's Faust. The opera  had its season premiere on Sept. 18.

The German bass-baritone sings the role of Méphistophelès, the devil who spends five acts negotiates for possession of the title character's soul. The Prince of Darkness is less successful in his attempts to ensnare Marguerite (Faust's love interest.) But by the looks of things, he manages to acquire the soul of her couturier.

René Pape (seated) as Mephistopheles at the Met.
Photo by Marty Sohl © 2005 The Metropolitan Opera

The dress shows up in the Walpurgisnacht scene in Act IV, a huge ballet sequence with Méphistophelès leading all of the demonic powers of hell in a terpsichorean celebration of how cool it is to be the Devil. Most productions, including stagings at the Met over the last three decades leave the sequence out entirely.

Whatever one thinks of Mr. Pape playing the Devil in drag, the sartorial results are infinitely better than the 2005 production of Faust mounted at the Met. This production put the German bass in a clumsy, rubber suit covered with fake, rippling muscles.

This monstrosity (for there is no other word) appeared in the Church scene the intense moment in Act III where Méphistophelès tries to collect Marguerite's soul. The costume was a visual reference to William Blake's famous painting, The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed With the Sun.

The result: an audience that couldn't stop laughing during the church scene in Act IV. Their laughter was audible during the live broadcast.

The production appeared for one season, and was never revived.

Its replacement arrives at the Met this November, a collaborative staging between the Met and the English National Opera. The staging (by Jersey Boys director Dez McAnuff) reimagines Faust as a metaphor for the creation of the atomic bomb in the mid-20th century.

Mr. Pape will reprising the role of the devil at the Metropolitan Opera opposite tenor Jonas Kaufmann and soprano Marina Poplavskaya in the role of Marguerite. Luckily for the singer, the Devil in this staging gets to wear some nice white and black suits and a collection of spiffy hats. Ms. Poplavskaya was a late replacement for Angela Gheorghiu, who was to sing Marguerite but backed out earlier this year.

There is no word yet on whether the Walpurgisnacht ballet will be included. But if it is, wouldn't it be cool if René Pape showed up in a radiation suit?