Overview
- Lotte de Beer’s new staging opened in Munich with applause and boos, with much of the dissent directed at the production team.
- Christof Hetzer’s rotating, museum-like set creates pictorial tableaux and supports tightly choreographed choral and crowd scenes.
- Jonathan Tetelman made his role debut as Faust alongside Olga Kulchynska’s Marguerite and Kyle Ketelsen’s Méphistophélès, with strong notices for the principals and chorus.
- Nathalie Stutzmann led from the pit in her Bayerische Staatsoper conducting debut, drawing praise for lyricism as well as critiques for underpowered drive and softened edges in the score.
- The production trims Goethe-derived elements to present Faust as a rejuvenated seducer and shifts dramatic weight toward Marguerite within a war-tinged visual world.