A landmark event in November will be the return to the stage of the National Opera of Ukraine "Fausta" Sh. Gounod. This performance at one time, in his own reading, the Italian director Mario Corradi offered the audience in the capital, and which, we hope, will occupy a prominent place in the theater's repertoire.
The story told by Goethe and Gounod has been transferred to our time. Faust, an IT professional, wanting to go to the next world, chooses not poison in a cup, but an injection in a vein. Mephistopheles and his henchmen turn out to be excellent plastic surgeons who successfully perform rejuvenation surgery on Faust.
Corradi explained this "modernization" of the plot with the desire to interest the youth who grew up on "Star Wars" and "The Matrix", with the idea of showing the younger generation that classical opera can meet their aesthetic tastes.
This found its mark in Andrii Zlobin's scenography and Anna Ipatieva's costumes, and in the production of choreographic scenes by Viktor Yaremenko. Then the performance did not last long on the stage of the theater, as the Kyiv public, brought up on the classics and classical traditions, received this director's version ambiguously. But everything is moving, everything is moving forward. And, as the chief director of the theater Anatoly Solovyanenko believes, commenting on the return of "Faust", modern readings of the classics should also be in the theater's repertoire so that the National Opera can satisfy the aesthetic demands of the widest possible audience.
In addition, during this time, the troupe of the theater was replenished with new performers, who can play Faust (Valentyn Dytyuk) and Mephistopheles (Serhiy Kovnir). Dmytro Kuzmin and Taras Shtonda, who already sang in this production 10 years ago, are also preparing to play their stage characters in the updated performance.
The creative group that is carrying out the renewal of the production: conductor - Alla Kulbaba, director - Mykola Tretyak, choir master - Oleksandr Tarasenko, choreographer - Viktor Yaremenko, scenography by Andrii Zlobin, costumes - Anna Ipat'eva.
