Faust 06/20/2010

We saw the fifth performance in the current San Francisco opera production of Gounod's Faust, the production designed by Robert Perdziola and featuring Stefano Secco as Faust, Patricia Racette as Marguerite, and John Relyea as Mephistopheles. The production is a "traditional" one with a few interesting twists. The curtain rises on Faust's laboratory, which includes a small table laden with equipment appropriate for a chemistry lab; on the left are four tables, three of which each support a body covered with a sheet. Before Faust sings his first words, there is a knock on the door. Faust goes to answer it, and then we see him guiding a person carrying a body, which is laid out on the empty table. Faust then sings of his ennui, and his desire to bring death upon himself, and invokes Satan. It turns out that the nearest "body" to the audience is Mephistopheles, who sits up straight, garnering chuckles from the audience. He dispenses with the sheet and presents himself impeccably dressed: black tie and tails, black vest, white shirt, black hair slicked straight back. They proceed in classic fashion with the vision of Marguerite, and the contract.

The sides of the set are "brick" buildings, in dark gray, that project a little bit more or a little bit less into the performing space. The flat surface of these buildings is about 10 feet wide. These same sides serve for all of the scenes of the opera ... quite fittingly for Act 1 Scene 2, the street fair. Mephistopheles has changed costume: he emerges, dressed more or less as Harlequin, from a small "covered wagon," the fabric of which is painted with a scene that looks like Hieronymus Bosch. He emphasizes his Song of the Golden Calf by "playing" a violin. At the end of the scene, where he "transforms the crowd's celebration into a decadent bacchanal," he is again calling the tune with his violin, but he is doing it on the other side of a screen, and we see only his shadow cast on the screen.

Act 2 is devoted to the scene outside Marguerite's home. She apparently lives in a brownstone, one of the dark gray brick buildings that we see in every set. There are lots of flowers, including a flower box on top of the prompter's box, and lots of tall vegetation (camelias, perhaps?) in back of where the action takes place. Another chuckle: when Mephistopheles excuses himself to find a present for Marguerite that will outdo Siebel's bouquet, he steps into a small circular well ... and the stage elevator lowers him out of sight, complete with a puff of smoke. He returns the same way, after Faust has sung his aria "Salut d'amour." Later, he follows the stage directions and takes Marthe Schwertlein away so that Faust and Marguerite can be alone. When they return, both are picking strands of hay from their clothes, and the audience chuckled again at the evidence of a "roll in the hay."

Act 3, as presented, comprises four scenes: Marguerite at her loom, the church scene, the Soldier's Chorus, and the prison scene. I cannot remember having seen the loom scene before, nor was any of the music familiar. The program book included an article on the lack of a "definitive" version of Faust, and the fact that it was originally a five-hour opera (not counting intermissions!) before the premiering opera director whittled it down to size. I reckon that this is a scene that is often cut but that was included here as a director's choice.

For the church scene, the "dark gray brick buildings" served equally well as the inside walls of a darkened church. There was also a free-standing wooden structure, with stairs leading up to the pulpit.

The Soldier's Chorus scene was staged very effectively: during the chorus, a functionary mimes the reading of names from a scroll, while Valentin (who appears to be a commanding officer) takes properly folded flags from another functionary, and with a perfect "about face" presents each one to a widow. These widows do not sing, they are supernumeraries, but they are certainly not just stage-struck volunteers--the evidence says that they are trained actors, as their portrayal of grief was all too real.

For the final scene in the prison, the side sets are moved closer to the center, leaving room between them only for a staircase that ascends from stage level to on high. I counted roughly 35 steps, with ten more painted on a backdrop. Mephistopheles and Faust enter from on high, about 20 steps up; at the end, after Marguerite has been saved, she ascends the steps to about that same level--while, at stage level, Mephistopheles presents the contract to the heartbroken Faust.

There are memorable performances, and there are those that are not so memorable. Today's performance falls in the latter class. There was one moment that was worth goosebumps: near the end of Act 2, when Mephistopheles asks the night to cover the lovers with its dark veil. Patricia Racette sings beautifully and acts well; John Relyea is impressive but not (yet) in the same league as the Samuel Ramey of 20 years ago. Stefano Secco was adequate as Faust. The orchestra played well, but I did not get the sense of passion that can be gotten in a stellar performance. John Relyea got the biggest applause at curtain call, and it appeared that the majority of the audience stood up. It's way easier to get a standing ovation in San Francisco than it used to be. That house never stood up ... until Samuel Ramey sang the title role in Boito's Mephistopheles in 1989. That standing ovation was appropriate--that performance was one for the ages.