BY ANGUS MCPHERSON
Opera Australia
Faust by Gounod
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 17 February 2015
With elaborate sets, decadent costumes and populous street scenes, Opera Australia’s production of Faust is a spectacle of lavish beauty and demonic excess. Based on Michel Carré’s play Faust et Marguerite and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust, Part 1, Gounod’s opera tells the story of an aged professor (played by American tenor Michael Fabiano) who despairs of a life wasted on the pursuit of knowledge – and who desires youth so that he can, essentially, live out a hedonistic fantasy filled with mistresses and orgies. Teddy Tahu Rhodes plays the charming and urbane demon, Méphistophélès, who offers Faust youth and service (and the beautiful Marguerite) in this life, if Faust will serve him in the next.
Charles Edwards’ sets were stunning and varied. The salacious Cabaret L’Enfer and the cavernous, candle-lit church were highlights. The depth of the stage was used effectively throughout the opera; visions in the background tempted Faust in early scenes and tormented him in the final act. Faust’s study featured sombre lighting, books strewn on the floor, and a staircase leading up to a pipe organ. The staircase would form a sort of physical leitmotif in the first half of the opera, characters periodically ascending and descending a few steps, Faust finally reaching the top to gain access to Marguerite’s bedroom at the end of Act III. The organ would also be a unifying feature, playing important musical and visual roles in the church scene and, finally, in Marguerite’s redemption.
Tahu Rhodes was stunning as Méphistophélès. It would be tempting to overplay this part – with the moustache and feathered hat, associations with Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow are unavoidable – however, Tahu Rhodes’ clever, dignified performance gave the demon both a dry humour and terrifying power. He and Fabiano made a great pair; their relationship beginning as playful flirtation, Fabiano’s confident tenor against Tahu Rhodes’ sinister bass, but Faust is very much in thrall to his supposed servant by the fourth act. Far from being the master, Faust becomes an addict; dependent on Méphistophélès, he shoots up in the street while the demon mockingly serenades Marguerite.
Nicole Car was brilliant as a nuanced Marguerite, her Jewel Song shone with ease and innocent pleasure, and her soft laughter following the death of Valentin (wonderfully performed by Giorgio Caoduro) was one of the most unsettling moments of the evening. Domenica Matthews revelled in her role as Marthe, a comic (and amazingly costumed) distraction for Méphistophélès while Faust woos Marguerite, and Anna Dowsley made a touching Siébel.
Dancers infused the opera with carnal extravagance. Choreographed by Michael Keegan-Dolan, cabaret dancers can-canned in the lurid Cabaret L’Enfer and demons writhed and popped, Exorcist-style, in the church as Méphistophélès tortured the pregnant Marguerite. The dancers also distinguished themselves in the hallucinatory Walpurgis Night ballet, which began elegantly, despite the snickering of top-hatted demons. The ballet, overseen by Méphistophélès in black ball gown and sparkling tiara, quickly descended into a brutal orgy that brought gasps from the audience. The lighter moments – fairies taking childlike delight in swatting about with swords – were not enough to dull the impact of a limp, pregnant fairy being dragged around the stage like a ragdoll.
The crowd scenes were busy and complex, and there were a few moments at the beginning of Act II when the action on stage threatened to overpower the voices of the Opera Australia chorus. They held their own, however, and blossomed in the musical climax of Marguerite’s ascension. The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, conducted by Guillaume Tourniaire, were impeccable throughout and the balance was well controlled.
Opera Australia’s Faust is sensual, powerful and at times grotesque, capturing the voluptuous beauty of Gounod’s opera without losing the moments of quiet innocence.
Image supplied.
