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.
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