There are moments of aching vulnerability in the dramatic performances that Mr. The staging uses some effective video segments, including huge, mesmerizing black-and-white close-ups of Faust’s and Marguerite’s faces. Tuesday’s performance was conducted by the impressively gifted Yannick Nézet-Séguin and starred the charismatic tenor Jonas Kaufmann in the title role. Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, who has been actively recruiting directors from the theater world, brought Mr. McAnuff’s acclaimed revival of “Jesus Christ Superstar” is coming to Broadway in the spring.) Still, it is better if a production does not look too deeply for elements of existential despair that are simply not in the piece, and that seems the problem with the new “Faust” that the Metropolitan Opera presented on Tuesday night, a co-production with the English National Opera, directed by the two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff in his Met debut. Who cares? This melodious opera has been ensnaring audiences since its 1859 Paris premiere. Gounod’s Méphistophélès seems far too charming to be malevolent and the pretty young Marguerite is a little shallow, smitten as much by a casket of jewels as by the young Faust’s ardor.
As Gounod presents him, Faust, an embittered old philosopher who has signed a contract with the Devil, becomes just another in a line of dashing young tenor heroes pining for a young woman and showing off his top notes. The standard rap against “Faust” is that Gounod turns the characters into stereotypes, with music to match. But this melodramatic opera is anything but philosophical.
It is best to put aside any knowledge you may have of Goethe when attending a performance of Gounod’s “Faust.” There is beautiful music - stirring ensembles and a few gotcha arias - in Gounod’s score.
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