Oh my god, the dullness continued with Acis and Galatea. I was hoping the light and pastoral Handel score will brighten things up. I was so wrong. While the stage had more visual interests, the same dull playing and inanimate singers failed to bring this performance to life. The dancers continued to provide pointless distractions. It could have been so much fun, so playful, so tragic. Oh no, let's make it boring. I looked at my watch more than 3 times thinking whether I will miss Newsnight on BBC2. Though others couldn't wait till the end and walked off half way through the performance.
This is a revival of Charles Edwards (design) / David McVicar (director) production of Gounod Faust. Visually, it is still exciting to watch with the ever changing stage sets of this fantasy. In this production, Erwin Schrott was Méphistophélès - who had style and poise as this devilish character. Michael Fabiano did a good job at portraying Faust - especially in the first act when he had to start off as an old man before turning into an energetic youngster. Irina Lungu had the right French voice type for Marguerite - somewhat vulnerable with sufficient warmth for the romantic scenes. Dan Ettinger in the pit kept the pace going, and the chorus did magnificently in those big numbers.
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