Gilliam's Damnation de Faust reaches the Staatsoper

By Hugo Shirley, 29 May 2017

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“while it’s a great show, the main question is whether or not it should be, given what it portrays”

Reviewed at Schillertheater: Großer Saal, Berlin on 27 May 2017

Berlioz, La Damnation de Faust

Staatsoper Berlin

Sir Simon Rattle, Conductor

Terry Gilliam, Director

Hildegard Bechtler, Set Designer

Katrina Lindsay, Costume Designer

Magdalena Kožená, Marguerite

Charles Castronovo, Faust

Jan Martiník, Brander

Florian Boesch, Méphistophélès

Peter Mumford, Lighting Designer

Finn Ross, Video

Martin Wright, Choirmaster / chorus director

Staatskapelle Berlin

Staatsopernchor Berlin

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***11

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*****

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****1

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**111

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Hugo Shirley

Hugo Shirley is a Berlin-based writer and musicologist. He has written widely as a critic in the UK, including for The Spectator, the Financial Times and Daily Telegraph, and has held editorial posts at both Opera and Gramophone. He was editor of 30-Second Opera (Ivy Press, 2015) and has a PhD in musicology from King's College London, where his thesis focused on Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s Die Frau ohne Schatten.

The Third Reich Show: Terry Gilliam's Damnation de Faust reaches the Staatsoper