It seems appropriate that the Royal Opera should start its French-themed season with Gounod’s Faust, perhaps the grandest of all grand operas. Over the coming months we’re being treated to a mixture ...

Celebrating its sixth revival, David McVicar’s critically acclaimed production of Faust is a spectacular success with stunning sets and costumes, a magnificent cast, and some of Gounod’s greatest ...

Heartbeat Opera’s radical adaptations of classic titles can soar or fall flat, but one constant has always been music director Dan Schlosberg, whose ingenious maverick arrangements—such as February’s ...

Few operas have enjoyed such an enviable fate as Gounod's Faust. Well received at its premiere, followed by international success, which still makes it the most performed French opera in the world ...

First seen in 2004, McVicar’s staging still has all the illicit sheen and lure of Marguerite’s jewels. In an era of austerity (even at the Royal Opera) this kind of old-school, expensive theatricality ...

When David McVicar’s production of Gounod’s Faust was new in June of this year, the experience was hell in all but the literal sense. McVicar simply didn’t take the work seriously enough, and clearly ...