Arrigo Boito Mefistofele opera to a libretto by the author. Directed 2015 by Roland Schwab at the Bayerische Staatsoper (Bavarian State Opera). Stars René Pape (Mefistofele), Joseph Calleja (Faust), Kristine Opolais (Margherita), Heike Grötzinger (Marta), Andrea Borghini (Wagner), Karine Babajanyan (Elena), Rachael Wilson (Pantalis), and Joshua Owen Mills (Nerèo). Omar Meir Wellber conducts the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Chor (Choir Master Sören Eckhoff), and Kinderchor (Choir Master Stellario Fagone). Sets by Piero Vinciguerra; costumes by Renée Listerdal; lighting by Michael Bauer; video by Lea Heutelbeck; choreography by Stefano Giannetti; dramaturgy by Daniel Menne. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini. Sung in Italian. Released 2016, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Eric Myers, writing in the June 2017 Opera World (pages 58-59) says the "entire opera is set in a dark netherworld, neither here nor there, with Heaven and Earth occupying the same bare, Stygian space." Myers also complains of hyperactivity with much "tossing of chairs." Mike Ashman at page 86 of the February 2017 Gramophone, says that Schwab's production "overfills the stage with extras trying too hard to be diabolical or sexy or both. Still, both writers find good things to say about the singers and the orchestra—so if Regie is your rage, bite the apple.
Here's an excellent discussion clip, in German with English subtitles, on this production from Video Magazine. I can't tell if any of the images in this clip come from the video used in subject title, but you get the picture pretty well:
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