© 2026 The Couch Critic
David McVicar’s powerful Royal Opera House 2008 production of Strauss's opera – based on a play by Oscar Wilde – takes the controversial and disturbing film 120 Days of Sodom as its visual reference. The action is set in a debauched palace, which has suggestions of Nazi Germany. Strauss’s ravishing and voluptuous score adds to the sexual alchemy that is conjured by an international cast led by Nadja Michael in the title role.
18 Cast Members
Nadja Michael
Salomé
Michael Volle
Jokanaan
Michaela Schuster
Herodias
Thomas Moser
Herod
Joseph Kaiser
Narraboth
Christian Sist
First soldier
Alan Ewing
Second soldier
Daniela Sindram
Herodias's page
Vuyani Mlinde
A Cappadocian
Pumeza Matshikiza
A slave
Adrian Thompson
First Jew
Martyn Hill
Second Jew
Hubert Francis
Third Jew
Park Ji-min
Fourth Jew
Jeremy White
Fifth Jew
Iain Paterson
First Nazarene
Julian Tovey
Second Nazarene
Duncan Meadows
Naaman (Executioner)
