Arrigo Boito's most known work is Il Mefestefele, first performed in 1868. Russell's modern interpretation presented by the Genoese Opera has Faust as an ageing hippy, who smokes marijuana and is tormented by his lost youth. Mephisto bets God that he can turn anyone to pagan life, even someone as innocent as Faust. It becomes 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.

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