CAIRO - The opera Faust, which was presented recently in Cairo Opera House's Small Hall as one of a series of live operatic transmissions there from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York was a significant musical event. Its importance was not just that we were seeing the opera for the first time in Egypt, but because it moved us away from the more familiar Italian school to French opera. Faust was composed by Charles Gounod (1818-1893) and was first presented in Paris in 1859; its relation to the Metropolitan began in 1883, as it was the opening opera of this famous opera house. The story of Faust dates from a 16th century legend about a human being that made a deal with the Devil. Its rich material inspired a lot of writers, who added some details in dramatic licence. Gounod chose a version in which Faust loved an innocent young woman Marguerite. He depended on an opera libretto that was written by Jules Barbier and Michel Carre, inspired by Carre's play Faust et Marguerite and the first part of Goethe's Faust. Gounod's opera is a simple story of four acts based on the conflict between good and evil. In the Metropolitan's staging, Des McAnuff, the director and the producer, transposed the story to the early twentieth century, without any dramatic necessity, casting Faust as one of the scientists who invented the atomic bomb. We found the curtains open on a stage divided into three parts, with ugly metal stairs frequently used by the director for the entrance and exit of the soloists and the chorus. This tripartite division of the stage limited the movement of the performers to a great extent and effectively deprived the opera of some of its best features, including thematic dancing, fights, and duels. All these took place on less than half the stage and left the audience confused as in the ‘Golden Calf' scene, when the Devil is supposed to seduce the performers into moving and dancing around him in historical symbolism. The director also introduced some deformed characters into this production and it was clear whether he meant the victims of Hiroshima or devils. Further, there was an unjustified use of the toys as in the famous soldiers' song by the chorus in pAct Four, when a huge toy appeared, as occurred in Act Two, when Marguerite succumbs to Faust and the Devil laughs. At that dramatic moment, on which a lot of subsequent events are based, the curtains should close, but we were surprised by a big black toy with a skull head invading the stage for no apparent reason. This made the audience lose its enjoyment of the music and one of the opera's most creative scenes. The music was a compensation for the directing, thanks to the young maestro Yannick Nezet –Seguin, who conveyed a French and expressive spirit and harmony to the work, with both depth and sensitivity. The bass Rene Pape was undoubtedly the hero of the performance, convincingly playing the role of the Devil with dramatic acting and singing, succeeding in conveying a rich and contradictory character. Sometimes we found him scary and evil, other times comic and joyful, as when he danced in the ‘Golden Calf' scene. He also posses great vocal abilities that made listening to him sheer pleasure for the audience. The soprano Marina Poplavskaya, who played the role of Marguerite, looked beautiful, as required for the role and her acting was wonderful. However, her voice was neither bright nor strong, which was most evident in the arias between her and the Devil or Faust. The ‘jewel' aria, which is one of the most famous for sopranos, was far beyond her vocal capacity. The voice of the German tenor Jonas Kaufmann, who played the role of Faust, is strong but lacks the lyricism that characterises this role. His acting level is very high and he performed some of his songs well, but he failed in the famous and testing song ‘Salut, demeure chaste et pure'. One of the most distinguished voices was that of baritone Russell Braun, who played the role of Valentine, Marguerite brother. His voice is strong and dramatic and he acts well, as was evident in his death scene after his duel with Faust. He brilliantly expresses his contradictory feelings; angry with his sister, he curses her, but at the same time loves her The mezzo-soprano Michele Losier played the role of a young man as Sebel. The composer always used this technique to express the role of young men. Michele was dazzling with a beautiful voice, dramatic acting, achieving perfection in both expressionism and lyricism. [email protected]
