On Sunday, a matinee of Wolf Trap Opera’s “Faust” didn’t feel all that far removed from the muggy afternoon beyond the sturdy walls of the Barns, set as it was in the deep heat of fin de ...

Faust’s verbal meltdown happened Sept. 13 near the end of his 8-10 a.m. shift at hard-rock station KFNS (100.7 FM), where he is a weekday host.

The goal, as always with Heartbeat Opera, is to breathe urgency into a classic. And “Faust,” which isn’t performed often, was once the classic. Perhaps the most popular work of its day, it ...