Composer Charles Gounod titled his opera "Faust," but the story is about Margarethe (the innocent young maiden), and the driving force is Mephistopheles (the devil).

The opera does begin with Faust, but he is only the catalyst for all that happens to Margarethe — her seduction and downfall, being shunned and imprisoned, madness, murder, and finally, finally, redemption. She traverses a lifetime in Faust’s one year.

Fittingly, director Henry Akina asks whether "Faust" is about external or internal demons: It is hard to tell whether Mephistopheles is himself or the dark side of Faust, just as it is hard to tell which of them causes more sorrow for Margarethe.

First and foremost, "Faust" is a morality tale, a dramatization of the battle between good and evil over (and within) human souls. More importantly, it is fundamental to much of Western literature.

Faust is a man who has dedicated his life to science and learning — physician, philosopher, alchemist, astronomer — and who now faces the cold impotence of age. Scenic and lighting designer Peter Dean Beck introduces him amid gothic stone arches, with a giant astrolabe (an instrument for calculating the movements of stars and planets) looming in the background and a cadaver wheeled in for dissecting.

The crux of the Faustian tale — an unquenchable thirst for knowledge — slips past in barely a line, so the opera can launch into Faust’s pact with the devil, that infamous selling of his soul.

As Faust, Akina cast John Bellemer, a fine tenor with beautiful tone and excellent technique. His voice is not especially large, and he had to work to hold his own, but that actually worked out well: Bellemer’s Faust was less a hero than an earnest and well-meaning fellow, a pawn among stronger characters.

In Akina’s casting, the (anti)hero was Mephistopheles, sung by Jamie Offenbach, a Hawaii Opera Theatre regular. Tall and thin, with a large, rich bass-baritone and dramatic charisma, Offenbach seems made for the part. Clad in black leather, thigh boots, with striking features (great makeup job!) and a long black wig topped by horns, Offenbach’s Mephistopheles was the center of attention almost every time he stepped on stage.

Rounding out the triumvirate, Melody Moore struck that perfect balance between sweet innocence and piety set in steel. Moore looked and sounded the part — artless, chaste, virtuous, trusting. Her large lyric soprano has the power to stand up to Mephistopheles, but her youthful tone has the gentle warmth of sunshine.

The three leads were ably supported: Dorothy Byrne, another HOT regular with a great voice, made an absolutely charming lusty old woman, and dark baritone Luis Ledesma upheld social convention as Margarethe’s stodgily orthodox brother. Buffy Baggott returned to HOT as Siebel, another of the trouser roles she does well, and Leon Williams, with his bright baritone, made the side character Wagner into a notable role.

"Faust" being a French opera, the HOT Chorus provided a lead role — as a chorus of women, men, townsfolk, demons, angels and so on. Rehearsed by director Nola Nahulu and coach/rehearsal pianist Beebe Freitas, the Chorus was excellent, delivering fine ensembles while enlivening many scenes. The opening women’s chorus was particularly beautiful.

At the end of Act I, Akina cleverly solved the scene’s staging challenges by turning the Chorus’ Villagers into stiff marionettes of Mephistopheles as they sang. Maintaining good tone while acting stiff is no mean feat, but the Chorus managed to do so.

In fact, throughout, Akina worked his usual magic of imagining details so vividly that the tale came alive: There were flowers that wilted at the wave of Mephistopheles’ hand, wine pouring from the ceiling on Mephistopheles’ command, a symbolic medallion that passed to Margarethe from her dying brother, devil’s minions as stage hands, a comic lovers’ chase, and many more touches that made Akina’s production a treat.

Costume designer Helen Rodgers created a medieval world in the rich earth tones of art’s Old Masters and added delightful touches, such as placing rat tails and medieval "beak" and "shame" masks on the devil’s minions, giving Mephistopheles a whip a la Indiana Jones, transforming Margarethe into an angel in plain sight, and having Mephistopheles’ costume morph from scene to scene, his horns growing longer and his legs becoming satyr hooves.

Conductor Mark Flint provided firm support, occasionally pushing the singers to maintain tempi, which caused momentary phasing, but generally creating a well-crafted tonal world. (Be sure to notice the excellent oboe and clarinet solos.)

Gounod’s "Faust" presents a number of structural challenges, including a long final scene in Act II and characters that can easily slip out of balance, but HOT’s artistic team has created as delightful a production as one is likely to see anywhere.