OPERA REVIEW : Gounod’s ‘Faust’ at Arts Center Spiritually Gripping

Spiritual catharsis and dramatic urgency are not qualities one expects at a performance of Gounod’s “Faust,” not in the secular 1990s, when the fire-and-brimstone implicit in this most popular of 19th-Century French operas seem permanently--dare one say, eternally?--out of fashion.

Startlingly, then, Ken Cazan’s new “Faust” production for Opera Pacific, seen and heard a second time Sunday afternoon at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, reinstates with a vengeance the theological content and spiritual crisis audiences of 100 years ago took for granted. The results are no less than gripping.

The visual elements, including the acting of the principals and a large, accomplished chorus, contributed again, strongly. Cazan clearly gave each individual much to do, and to project. Even with vocal or histrionic weaknesses, every member of this cast added to the realization of the director’s concept.

Of three new principals, the most convincing proved to be Jeffrey Wells, an imposing, virile and well-sung Mephistopheles who dominates with hauteur as much as with nastiness. Constance Hoffman’s wrongheaded costumes may flatter this devil as little as they do both Faust and Marguerite, yet Wells’ elegant manner overcomes the handicap.

Brenda Harris’ Marguerite, undistinctive at mid-voice but brilliant on top, achieved dramatic credibility at every opportune or awkward moment--this staging is strong, but overloaded, with details--while singing quite effortlessly.

Almost the opposite can be said of Joseph Wolverton’s Faust, a conscientious performance sometimes nicely vocalized yet particularly hard pressed above the staff.

As at the opening, the orchestra and chorus performed Sunday afternoon like troupers: reliably, solidly and valiantly.