Eternally popular opera Faust's secret- striking a balance of moods

Charles Gounod's five-act opera Faust has defied gravity for so long that if you don't already know the work, it's well worth the outlay to find out why.

Courtesy of Le French May, the opportunity to do so is just around the corner: Opera Hong Kong (OHK) is presenting the work in a co-production by Opéra Nice Côte d'Azur, Opéra Grand Avignon and Opéra Théâtre de Saint-Étienne this coming weekend at the Cultural Centre. Director Paul-Emile Fourny oversees an international cast of soloists and the OHK Chorus, with Benjamin Pionnier and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta in the pit.

Because of the equivocal nature of its musical style and dramatic identity, many observers over the years have expected Faust to gradually bomb. The work remains as buoyant as ever, however, more than 150 years after its premiere in Paris in 1859.

For many, the name Faust is synonymous with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's two-part tragic play, which first recounts how the title character sells his soul to the devil to regain his youthful appeal for the alluring Marguerite, before moving on to some serious observations on the human condition.

Gounod's opera doesn't tread so heavily. Based on a libretto drawn from Michel Carré's loosely related play Faust et Marguerite, it gives us an easier intellectual entrée to the ups and downs of dabbling with demons. And much of the music is effortlessly lyrical with a good serving of toe-tapping show stoppers to get the stalls humming.

Consequently, the director's role is crucial in marrying these two disparate elements of a serious core and a sugared coating. Scottish director David McVicar's 2004 version is still wowing audiences, most recently at London's Covent Garden, in which Gothic arches were offset by an appearance of the redoubtable Bryn Terfel as the devilish Méphistophélès wearing a tiara and a black sequinned frock for the Walpurgis Night ball scene.

New York's Metropolitan Opera received rather less enthusiasm for its 2011 production, directed by Des McAnuff. Set between the two world wars and with the science of the atom bomb as the medium for the message, the attempt to read more into the opera than is actually there wasn't appreciated by the critics.

Opera Hong Kong's upcoming presentation was conceived more than a decade ago by Fourny, who has been in town for the past week overseeing rehearsals. "The production was a big success in France," he says. His version brings the action forward to the first world war, simply because the libretto at the start of the work refers to a war being waged, "but we don't know exactly where, only that it's close by. For that reason I thought we could easily transport the story into this part of the 20th century, without changing the fundamental thread of the original, mythic story.

"Our staging is like a movie. The set consists principally of painted backdrops, so you can change them really quickly. The story embodies a year in the lives of Faust and Marguerite. If you take too long, it loses impetus."

The three performances feature tenors Stefan Pop (on May 9 and 11) and Marc Laho (May 10) as Faust and bass Dimitry Ivashchenko as Méphistophélès. Sung by Tatiana Lisnic (May 9 and 11) and Kimy McLaren (May 10), the role of Marguerite has more significance than the opera's title might imply.

"I think the part of Marguerite is really, really important," Fourny says. "It is the story of a woman in a man's world. When this work was first performed, it was referred to in Europe as Marguerite, not Faust."

Alongside Georges Bizet's Carmen, Gounod's Faust is among the most important operatic works from the French tradition, its mix of the devilish and the divine, spiced with judicious drops of humour, ensuring the work's continued accessibility and popularity. "For me, the devil in Faust is more human," Fourny says. "He takes the metro or the car or walks the streets like you or me. With comic situations alternating with really serious moments, I find this vision of Méphistophélès really interesting."

Gounod's Faust , Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Fri-May 11, HK$150-HK$880