Selling your soul to the Devil in exchange for youth, love and pleasure: few stories have travelled through the centuries with the enduring power of Faust. Charles Gounod’s opera returns to La Scala after an absence of sixteen years, in a new international production. Inspired by the legend immortalised by Goethe, Gounod’s Faust premiered in Paris in 1859 and places the relationship between Faust and Marguerite at the heart of the drama. Méphistophélès offers the ageing scholar the youth he longs for, but seduction comes at a tragic price. Gounod turns the story into compelling theatre, blending passion, temptation and darkness with some of the most memorable melodies in the French repertoire. At La Scala, Daniele Rustioni returns to the podium after twelve years, while Johannes Erath makes his directorial debut at the Milanese theatre. Vittorio Grigolo stars as Faust, Marina Rebeka as Marguerite and Alex Esposito as Méphistophélès. For anyone who thinks opera belongs to a distant world, Faust may be the perfect reason to reconsider: it is a story about desire, the passing of time and the timeless temptation to have everything without paying the price.
A journey through time, both real and virtual, takes shape in the public park of Porta Venezia, thanks to a spectacular immersive experience dedicated to Planet Earth.
