Stage/Theatre

What: Faust
Where: Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W.
When: Now, until Sat., Nov. 2
Highlight: The visual feast that is Emma Ryott’s set/costume design
Rating: NNNN (out of 5)
Why you should go: Amy Lane’s resplendent new production draws on a cornucopia of esthetic influences.

CONTRAST ABOUNDS at the Canadian Opera Company this fall. While the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s take on Verdi’s Nabucco is gorgeous but a hair light on directorial ideas, the same criticism cannot be hurled at Amy Lane’s resplendent new production of Gounod’s Faust, which draws on a cornucopia of esthetic influences, from Tim Burton to Bob Fosse — an appropriately packed approach to a legend that itself explores a man’s insatiable need for more, more, more.

The oft-produced opera follows the fallout of the titular philosopher (tenor Long Long) signing his soul over to a daemon named Méphistophélès (bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen). That’s the same as most riffs on the Faust story (Toronto audiences might remember indie company Dandelion Theatre’s pared-down production of Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, which premiered last October); the intervention of librettists Jules Barbier and Michael Carré is to centre Marguerite (soprano Guanqun Yu), an ingenue-like figure whose beauty enamours Faust.

Lane’s busy production piles on layers of its own. A glowing X-ray of lungs is a near-constant presence on the back wall of Emma Ryott’s non-literal set. From the floor pokes a row of trees resembling blood vessels and a narrow spiral staircase that looks like a spine, completing the body-related visual concept. Faust’s desire to overcome his earthly circumstances, including his decaying physical form, means such framing might resonate with any version of the story. But it makes extra sense in the context of an art form that pushes the human body’s ability to produce sound to its very limit.

As Long’s Faust yearns — first for youth, then for Marguerite — the singer’s rich tones spill forth as the notes creep higher and higher, reaching toward the heavens but never quite arriving. Yu’s soprano floats like a hummingbird above it all; the profusion of Faust-Méphistophélès duets make this an extraordinarily male opera, especially in the first 30 minutes (it runs three hours with a single intermission), so Marguerite’s fluttering melodies arrive as if from another world. (Conductor Johannes Debus leads the COC orchestra with his usual virtuosity as this interplay unfolds.)

Though fairly bold, Lane’s overarching concept remains in the background — literally. More prominent are the pair of devilish dancers dressed in 1930s garb, reminiscent of Liza Minnelli in the song Mein Herr from Cabaret (costume design by Ryott), who strut in circles around Faust, tempting him to sin further. Other visual splendours include an array of food-themed hats, a giant stained-glass window that’s actually a piece of flowing fabric and an underworld reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland (hello, playing cards). A grand but playful comic strip of a production, this bubbly Faust proves an easy, fiendish sell.