Faustrev3 - Page: 1 of 1

My husband and I returned home Sunday after seeing the last two performances
of Faust. We had a wonderful week in Ireland and really enjoyed both nights
of opera. Anthony sang beautifully!

Though others whose knowledge of music I respect were less than ecstatic
with the modern production of this opera, my husband and I found it
inventive and entertaining. True, the lyrics did not always match what was
going on in the updated staging, but I was willing to overlook that---just
as I always overlook the idea of a mezzo-soprano playing a boy (Siebel) as
traditionally done in Faust and a number of other operas. I have yet to see
one of these ladies who in any way could be mistaken for a male in real
life. In this Faust, the mezzo-soprano was excellent, but she looked and
sounded totally female, despite her costumes of pants and boys shorts. One
also has to overlook the flawed story construction. Faust was written with
a beginning and an ending, but no middle. We never know when, how, or why
Faust leaves Marguerite while the audience heads for the lobby for drinks or
ice cream at Intermission. When he sees her again in the second half,
apparently after having left her pregnant, he seems concerned about her,
indeed is still in love with her. And she's never stopped loving him. His
motivation for dumping her is not explained---perhaps the audience is
supposed to assume that the Devil made him do it. (La Boheme has a similar
story gap that also drives me nuts.) In my non-musical, perhaps
overly-logical mind, updating Faust to a modern setting didn't make it much
more perplexing than it already is. Well, that's my two cents about that.
On to Anthony's peformance...

The role of Faust in this staging is divided, with Old Faust being played by
a mature tenor and Young Faust played by Anthony. When Anthony first
appears he seems to be just another of the assorted group of people in the
drab train station where the story is set. The first thing I noticed was
that his hair was parted on the side and he looked very young, almost
innocent. I heard later that they had sprayed his hair darker to cover his
sprinkling of gray. Mephistopheles offers Old Faust restored youth in
exchange for his soul by showing him Anthony as the image of what his new
self would be. According to the translation from French, supertitled above
the stage, the dazzled Old Faust sings, "I drink to you, adorable and
delightful vision!" I thought, yes, that's an apt description! There
follows a great moment after Mephistopheles works his magic. At this point
Anthony is standing on the stage somewhat like a mannequin with no
expression. Old Faust sings and Anthony begins to join him, all at once
coming to life. The joy and exuberance on Anthony's face as he buoyantly
takes over singing, the transformation from Old Faust complete, was
delightful to watch. At the end of this scene Anthony ended on a powerful,
magnificent high note, his mouth wide open in a smile, his expression
jubilant. The audience had to be thinking, as I was---now THERE'S a tenor!!

Being used to seeing Anthony looking dignified in formal clothes at
concerts, I found it lots of fun to see him in the wildly decadent party
scene organized by Mephistopheles. Sensuously clad young women tie a
blindfold over Anthony's eyes and then he's buffeted around, kissed and
mauled by several women and even a man. I'd never pictured Anthony in this
sort of situation! All the while he keeps his character a bit naive and
ingenuous. He's shy about approaching Marguerite and she rejects his first
advance. It's amusing and believable when Mephistopheles tells him, "I see
you need help with your love affairs," and later says "You really should be
sent back to school!" Through the entire opera, Anthony is physically
tugged at and jerked around by both Mephistopheles and Old Faust, who
silently follows him and trys to prevent him from making mistakes. It must
have been difficult to sing after having to go through the vigorous motions
of yanking himself free of them, but Anthony never sounded out of breath.
His solo sections and his duets with Marguerite were all exquisitely sung
and sensitively performed. I liked the way he looked at Marguerite, waiting
for her reactions, gently stroking her hair. I was in the third row and
never once saw him break character to glance at the conductor for a cue.

Being an incurable romantic, I didn't like the second half as well because
storywise everything goes wrong. Faust has left his love with no
explanation and comes back again still caring about her, but it's too late.
He winds up killing Marguerite's brother, Marguerite goes mad, kills her
baby, dies herself, and Faust loses his soul. Though Anthony performed
everything admirably, my memory of this opera prefers to dwell on the first
half, where he's won the girl and one can hope Mephistopheles might forget
Faust and get distracted messing up someone else's life. I know, I know,
then it wouldn't be the Tragedy it was meant to be. But I love my memory of
Anthony as the bumbling beau with the gorgeous voice.

By the way, the Gaiety Theater offered a lecture on Faust before the
Thursday night performance, and my husband and I attended. The expert
lecturer was a charming white haired gentleman who had been (and may still
be) a newspaper opera reviewer. He gave a brief history of Faust and
discussed the modern interpretation. He said it was intelligently thought
through, but he admitted he didn't like it as well as a traditional
production. When he talked about the cast members, he stated that he
thought Anthony was the best Irish tenor, in the Italianate style (as
opposed to Germanic style), that he's heard in his lifetime. He told us he
thought Anthony has a future in opera and was glad that he's jumping at
every chance to be in one. His career path is different than the usual
tenor, who studies and goes through a process to reach the opera stage.
Anthony has already achieved fame and fortune by being with the Irish
Tenors, and so his pursuit of opera is taking an unusual path.

What I thought particularly interesting was that this lecturer compared
Anthony to John McCormack, the legendary Irish Tenor of the first half of
the 1900's. He said when he first saw Anthony, he noticed that Anthony
resembled McCormack, particularly around the mouth. (I have to say I
noticed this, too. A few years ago I ordered a CD of John McCormack's old
songs. When it arrived in the mail, I'd forgotten about it, and when I saw
the close-up of the face on the cover, at first I thought it was Anthony.
It was, of course, McCormack, but the resemblance, in that particular photo
anyway, was uncanny.) The lecturer went on to say that Anthony's stage
presence also reminded him of McCormack, though their singing style is a bit
different. Anthony's new concert centered around John McCormack's songs
sounds like a perfect match!

Lori Herter