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
as Salomé
Michael Volle
as Jokanaan
Michaela Schuster
as Herodias
Thomas Moser
as Herod
Joseph Kaiser
as Narraboth
Christian Sist
as First soldier
Alan Ewing
as Second soldier
Daniela Sindram
as Herodias's page
Vuyani Mlinde
as A Cappadocian
Pumeza Matshikiza
as A slave