It's not actually Monday, but I saw this opera on Monday night and it's been weeks since I've posted anything, so I thought I'd better get this down.
I had never seen Gounod's Faust before, so when I was offered a ticket by a friend, and I realized that Rene Pape was singing Mephistopheles, I was happy to take the ticket off my friend's hand. There are several arias that are excerpted for recitals and discs often--particularly Marguerite's "Jewel Song", which must be the idea that Leonard Bernstein spoofs in "Glitter and be Gay"--but I had never heard the whole work before. The music is lovely and vrai francais. Even the recitative sections are melodic. Fortunately, the music was front and center in this production with a strong international cast under the music direction of Sir Andrew Davis.
That said, I felt a lot of potential in the physical production was missed. I have no idea how old the sets and costumes for this staging are, but even if they are only a couple of years old, they represent staging ideas from a couple of centuries ago. While there were some sections of active staging, a lot of the time it was the "park and bark" style of presentation. If you're not familiar with that phrase, it means to plant yourself center stage and sing at the top of your lungs. I particularly wanted some more from Mr. Pape as Mephistopheles. While the Bass exudes suavity and charm--although not to the same degree as Samuel Ramey, the Mephisto I heard in Boito's Mephistopheles--I felt that attribute could have been played up more, particularly in the garden scene when the devil is getting into the details of seducing and then being put off by the attentions of Marthe. This production was staged by Frank Corsaro, a familiar name in opera direction. And the production had a lot of familiar opera touches, most of which fell flat, like the pyrotechnic flash Mephisto sets off in the final scene of the opera; it added nothing, revealed nothing, was an obvious, dated trick, and seemed cheesy.
The singing was all good, though not often excellent. Rene Pape was obviously the most mature singer in the cast--a complaint I've often had recently with Lyric Opera productions, there is some star power in the cast, but the people who sing opposite them are not of the same caliber or experience. Pape has sung in all the major houses in the world--Ana Maria Martinez (Marguerite) and Piotr Beczala (Faust) have sung in one or two major houses at this point in their careers. With the Civic Opera House (where Lyric performs) holding more than 3,600 seats, you need an accomplished singer and performer to reach the audience.
Not that I had any trouble hearing anyone. Volume was not the issue--color was. None of these singers, including Pape, seemed to have the right vocal color or style for French music. Tenor Beczala, while having all the clarion high notes you could ask for, seemed vocally strident at times, and more a Verdi tenor than a Gounod one.
Clearly, I haven't grown much in my quest to outgrow the bitterness that has crept into my theater-going experiences. With the resumption of the fall theater and opera seasons, I need to see if I can shake that off.
Faust
Music by Charles Gounod
I had never seen Gounod's Faust before, so when I was offered a ticket by a friend, and I realized that Rene Pape was singing Mephistopheles, I was happy to take the ticket off my friend's hand. There are several arias that are excerpted for recitals and discs often--particularly Marguerite's "Jewel Song", which must be the idea that Leonard Bernstein spoofs in "Glitter and be Gay"--but I had never heard the whole work before. The music is lovely and vrai francais. Even the recitative sections are melodic. Fortunately, the music was front and center in this production with a strong international cast under the music direction of Sir Andrew Davis.
That said, I felt a lot of potential in the physical production was missed. I have no idea how old the sets and costumes for this staging are, but even if they are only a couple of years old, they represent staging ideas from a couple of centuries ago. While there were some sections of active staging, a lot of the time it was the "park and bark" style of presentation. If you're not familiar with that phrase, it means to plant yourself center stage and sing at the top of your lungs. I particularly wanted some more from Mr. Pape as Mephistopheles. While the Bass exudes suavity and charm--although not to the same degree as Samuel Ramey, the Mephisto I heard in Boito's Mephistopheles--I felt that attribute could have been played up more, particularly in the garden scene when the devil is getting into the details of seducing and then being put off by the attentions of Marthe. This production was staged by Frank Corsaro, a familiar name in opera direction. And the production had a lot of familiar opera touches, most of which fell flat, like the pyrotechnic flash Mephisto sets off in the final scene of the opera; it added nothing, revealed nothing, was an obvious, dated trick, and seemed cheesy.
The singing was all good, though not often excellent. Rene Pape was obviously the most mature singer in the cast--a complaint I've often had recently with Lyric Opera productions, there is some star power in the cast, but the people who sing opposite them are not of the same caliber or experience. Pape has sung in all the major houses in the world--Ana Maria Martinez (Marguerite) and Piotr Beczala (Faust) have sung in one or two major houses at this point in their careers. With the Civic Opera House (where Lyric performs) holding more than 3,600 seats, you need an accomplished singer and performer to reach the audience.
Not that I had any trouble hearing anyone. Volume was not the issue--color was. None of these singers, including Pape, seemed to have the right vocal color or style for French music. Tenor Beczala, while having all the clarion high notes you could ask for, seemed vocally strident at times, and more a Verdi tenor than a Gounod one.
Clearly, I haven't grown much in my quest to outgrow the bitterness that has crept into my theater-going experiences. With the resumption of the fall theater and opera seasons, I need to see if I can shake that off.
Faust
Music by Charles Gounod
Rene Pape, Ana Maria Martinez, Piotr Beczala, Lucas Meachum
Continues at Lyric Opera through November 7
Continues at Lyric Opera through November 7
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