Paul Dufficey

Arrigo Boito's Il Mefestefele was first performed in 1868 and his most known work. In Ken Russell's modern interpretation presented by the Genoese Opera, it has Faust as an ageing hippy. He smokes marijuana and is tormented by his lost youth. Mephisto makes a bet with God that he can turn anyone to pagan life, even someone as innocent as Faust. From then on it is a battle of good against evil in a flamboyant, surreal display of primary colours, PVC costumes, nurses with swastikas, rocket trips, love and even characters dressed as Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. Ken Russell said because the devil is always with us is his reason for the contemporary setting.

“ザ・フー”の傑作ロック・オペラの映画化で、舞台での上演を想定して製作したレコードが大元。先の大戦で空軍パイロットの夫に先立たれ、ノーラは息子トミーと訪ねた夏のキャンプのガイド、フランクと再婚。が、ある夜、顔にひどい火傷を負い突如帰還した前夫に錯乱したフランクは彼を殴り倒し、それをトミーに見られてしまう……。