[Met Performance] CID:303020



Faust
Metropolitan Opera House, Sat, January 5, 1991 Matinee Broadcast
Broadcast Matinee Broadcast





Faust (692)
Charles Gounod | Jules Barbier/Michel Carr?
Faust
Richard Leech

Marguerite
Diana Soviero

M?phistoph?l?s
James Morris

Valentin
Gino Quilico

Siebel
Susan Quittmeyer

Marthe
Judith Christin

Wagner
James Courtney


Conductor
Thomas Fulton





Rebroadcast on Sirius Metropolitan Opera Radio

Review 1:

Jerome R. Sehulster in the Advocate and Greenwich Time
?Faust?: The Devil made them do it

Charles Gounod's opera "Faust," in 1859, was neither the first nor the last setting of scenes from Goethe's monumental two-part masterpiece by the same name. The composer and his librettists, Barbier and Cane, opted for the story of Faust's rejuvenation (through the bargain struck with Mephistopheles) and his seduction and abandonment of a young girl named Marguerite.


Goethe's tale certainly begs for operatic treatment, but without the context of Faust's more metaphysical quests, Faust comes off as a shallow, pleasure-seeking cad, egged on by an equally unidimensional Mephistopheles.


Add to that the cloying religiosity (there are three scenes in which someone or everyone makes the sign of the Cross, thus forcing Mephistopheles to writhe on the floor in agony), and you have an evening of opera not fit for deep thought or soul searching.


However, the music is certainly beautiful and singers love to perform it, I'm told.


The Metropolitan Opera's production of "Faust" this season is cast from young artists, mostly American. On the whole, they make a respectable go of it.


Richard Leech was the Faust in this Wednesday evening performance. His is a fresh, bright sound with a secure top, and his personality is likeable enough so that one tends to forgive him his transgressions as Faust. He has the makings of a very fine tenor, indeed. But just now he lacks grace and polish. In time....


James Morris as Mephistopheles is more of a known quantity, repeating his success in the role from the premiere last season. He is at turns flippant, sinister, callous and cute. If this year he seemed less concentrated on the details of the staging, he nonetheless scored big points with his rich vocals.


As the unfortunate Marguerite, Diana Soviero gave the kind of multifaceted performance that deepens the character onstage. She is less consistent vocally, opting more for dramatic nuance rather than for sheer beauty of sound. Marguerite's increasing conflict over Faust's words of wooing was well worth watching and her plummet into madness at the curse from her dying brother Valentin (run through by Faust in a duel) was rich in detail down to autistic rocking and uncontrollable laughter.


Gino Quilico's Valentin was young and handsome with a pleasant, serviceable voice that wanted fullness and (sometimes) line. The Siebel of Susan Quittmeyer was winning in every way, from her carefully placed but attractively-toned voice to her involved character.


James Courtney sang a bluff Wagner and Judith Christin was comic as Dame Marthe Schwertlein.


Thomas Fulton's conception of the Gounod score varied from thoughtful to what seemed to be more of a run-through. Not that there's all that much to think about with Gounod: it's a score that has survived because it is popular and pretty, not because there are great creative depths to be explored and brought to light.


The Rolf Langenfass production, new last February, has been somewhat cleaned up and de-gimmicked. That obtrusive shrubbery no longer thrusts itself up through the floor while Faust and Marguerite are busy professing their love in Act 2, and Gillian Lynne's dreadfully silly 'Pippin Cats' group-grope choreography (for the thin slice of the "Walpurgisnacht? they included last year) has been mercifully dispensed with.


On the balance, however, we now have a brass band on stage to accompany the Soldier's chorus m Act 3. In context of Langenfass's attempts to keep to a grimly medieval mood, the shiny trombones with little scores attached seem way out of place.



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