‘Damnation’ production is awesome
By Juliet Schoen/Staff Writer
The Damnation of Faust,” by Hector Berlioz, was chosen as the first production of the 18th season of the Los Angeles Opera. Tuxedos and extravagant gowns were the order of the night for those who would be attending the elaborate dinner after the final curtain.
With the Los Angeles Philharmonic moving to Disney Hall, the opera company no longer need share the facilities of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, allowing for more rehearsal time and additional productions.
Berlioz’s version of the ancient legend was written more as an oratorio or, if you will, a tone poem with voices. Placido Domingo, the ubiquitous general director, has placed the staging in the hands of Achim Freyer who bored most of us to yawns last year when he added choreography to Bach’s Mass in B Minor. One thing can certainly be said about his approach to “Faust:” the stagaOpera Review
‘Damnation’ production is awesomeing is never dull.
Mr. Freyer is generous with his imagination and his skills, serving as director, set designer, and costume designer. He is aided and abetted in the latter by Axel Aust. In a series of more than 30 sets, his own troupe of performers, augmenting the already sizable resources of the opera company, jump, fly, tumble and present various acts of awesome legerdemain. It’s Cirque de Soleil goes to the opera. After every blackout, a new scene excites the senses, sometimes causing awe and sometimes laughter. Farmers, revelers and soldiers wear outlandish costumes and large white masks with improbable black features. Much of what is presented works brilliantly, but Freyer is unacquainted with temperance. There is not one moment of peace. When Marguerite sings her aria, she is busily fiddling with her strange hair which extends in four long tresses across the entire width of the stage. James Creswell, as Brender, sings his aria standing on a revolving table, definitely a distraction for us, if not for him. However, there are many memorable scenes, especially the fiery climax.
Mr. Freyer is so fecund when it comes to ideas, he sometimes fails to do justice to the music. And beautiful music it is, especially when sung by renowned singers such as Denyce Graves, Paul Groves and that incomparable devil of a performer, Samuel Ramey.
Graves sings beautifully and Groves uses his tenor voice to good advantage as Faust. Ramey, as Mephistopheles, is marvelous as usual. Kent Nagano, the music director, conducted the greatly improved Los Angeles Opera orchestra.
The opening night audience seemed to embrace the production, excesses and all, offering a standing ovation. The huge assembly on the stage after the final curtain consisted not only of the singing stars, but members of the Los Angeles Chorale, under William Vendice, a children’s chorus and the talented, athletic members of the Freyer Ensemble. It was one hell of a production.