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Gounod, Faust:  Production from Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Nicolas Joël stage director.  Soloists and chorus Les Chorégies d'Orange, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Michel Plasson.  Théâtre Antique, Orange, France. 2. 8.2008 (MM)

Roberto Alagna as Faust
 

Opera can be magic in Orange, and magical it was last Saturday when tenorissimo Roberto Alagna hobbled onto the stage as the old Faust, made his famous, if regrettable deal and cart-wheeled off the stage, in fine vocal form as well -  can there be any doubt that this forty-five year old French tenor has made a pact with some supernatural force?

Needless to say, opera in Orange's huge Théâtre Antique is about big singing, and as usual the Chorégies d'Orange did not disappoint.  Albanian soprano Inva Mula rendered Margarite in vocally perfect terms, her splendid musicianship bringing fresh life to Margarite's tired, too-often-heard arias, her frail physique belying the physical force she brings to Gounod's too easily seduced then tortured heroine.  Red-suited German bass-baritone René Pape made a dashing, absolutely irresistible Mephistopheles, and Canadian baritone Jean-François Lapointe, a world-famous Pelléas, stated his case as one of the world's great Valentins. 

It was sheer pleasure to hear Alagna deliver Gounod's cantabile musical lines full-throated, but not with his familiar Italianate spinto.  While it was a little shaky up there on the high C he did hit it,  even if he did not hold it as long as we devotees might have wished.  Finally it was not his best night vocally - perhaps he was suffering from a cold - though this did not diminish his, or the crowd's enthusiasm. Gounod's opera is really about Margarite, and as Mme. Mula deserved, her fabulous Margarite earned the evening's major ovation.

Unlikely as it is, opera at Orange's old Roman theater can be about the orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France sumptuously spread out in full view of the nine thousand spectators, allowing the audience to participate in the goings-on in the pit, egs. the harp, woodwind and brass solos that add special colors in their duets with the vocal lines on stage, plus the blasts of the trombones, the thunder of the huge bass drum and the terror of the gong.  As an integral  part of the mise en scène the orchestra achieved an unexpected illusion of musical depth.

The Stage Set
 

Conductors at Orange are like singers at Orange - you have heard of them, they are well-known, even famous.  And frankly you specifically hear them in Orange because they are a big part of the show.  The venerable, seventy-five year old, Michel Plasson (as big a star in the conducting world as Alagna is in the tenor firmament), brought Gounod's chestnut to a consistent gently boiling point, suffusing the old tunes with the verve of an Offenbach operetta, a perfect balance of tongue-in-cheek and the truly melodramatic.

There was a time, not even so long ago,  when Orange experimented with interesting stage directors.  No more.  In recent years productions have been farmed out to the directorial mafia of local Southern French opera houses.  This Faust was identified as a co-production with the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse meaning that it was Nicolas Joël's familiar old production (the huge book prop, a tenor Siebel on crutches, etc.) goosed up to fill the huge Orange stage.

But Orange brings out the best in these run-of-the-mill directors, its sheer size imposing minimalism and demanding bold strokes.  More often than not these routiniers deliver!  Over the years Gounod's opera - originally composed with spoken dialogues, later gaining fluid, expandable and retractable recitatives and even a sizeable ballet - has been sculpted in many ways.  Metteur en scène Joël divided Gounod's five acts into two, tight parts, the first ending with Margarite's capitulation (end of Act III), the second with her death.  He focused squarely on the musical numbers, allowing the bold musical strokes of the powerful cast and its conductor to supercede staging.  Thrills and chills abounded - Margarite's seduction, Valentin's death, and finally Margarite's death were the expected big ones.

There was no scenery, the stage dominated the entire evening by one gigantic prop - a super-sized pipe organ, utilized, needless-to-say by Mephistopheles in his sacrilegious exchange with Margarite in the church.  Costumes were of Gounod's, not Faust's time, and lighting was nearly always an eerie blue, corny and effective. Not yet verismo, Gounod's essay into nineteenth century melodrama (a vulnerable young girl is seduced and pays a high price) seemed a true operatic masterpiece in Orange, equaling in artistic stature Goethe's eighteenth century philosophic masterpiece. (May we bask in this questionable thought for a couple of minutes?).

Michael Milenski

Photos © Philippe Gromelle - Orange


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