Orpheus In The Underworld Tickets
Eno Orpheus In The Underworld Review Essay
The balloon-tutu clad chorus provides the heavenly clouds. Olympus, the home of the gods, is an Art Deco ocean yacht, the core feature of set designer Lizzie Clachan's inspired concept which sits within a structure common to all four of the productions. When the present evening begins with Orpheus and Eurydice's baby dying at birth, anyone who's come along in the hope of cheering up can kiss goodbye to that idea. Over on Broadway HADESTOWN, which played at London's National Theatre won the Tony award for best musical (mystifyingly in my opinion) whilst the English National Opera are presenting four interpretations this ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD at the Coliseum Theatre. Director: Emma Rice. Offenbach and his librettists took Virgil's version of the Orpheus story, complete with abduction, murder, rape and incarceration and made it bearable by over-the-top lampooning, mocking the heaviness of the original.
Without wit, lightness and snappy pace, and instead cudgelling us with desperate relevance, the frothiest works crash to earth stone cold dead. This was followed by Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld which is a splendid comic romp and then, as a total contrast, came Harrison Birtwistle's Mask of Orpheus which is utterly confusing both for plot and musical content. The costumes for the main characters are a block colour with writing all over them with words like "Do not look", "hero", "want", a bit on the nose for me, whilst the dancers have a few costumes, including neon, there's a long scene at the end of Act 2 where the singers have stopped singing and it's just music and dancing with the neon costumes on, it looks nice but as to how it fits in to the story? 2019. Review: ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD at the Coliseum Theatre. Latest customer reviews.
Olympus and all the sybaritic antics of gods on display. Aristaeus is the alter ego of the demi-god of beekeeping and here he is "covered with bees from nape to knees". Sian Edwards finds the pools of lyric interlude that lie amidst the mayhem, but still works up a storm with the orchestra in the sections that require it. Alice Coote sings Orpheus, the star of the opera and she is phenomenal, her voice is strong and full of emotion, fantastic acting. The theory of this interpretation of the plot is that the death of their child causes the rift between Eurydice (Mary Bevan) and Orpheus (Ed Lyon). Most striking of all, however, was British soprano Jennifer France in the very demanding role of the Princess. The final act is nine episodes 'of death and transformation', catching Orpheus the Man again in the traps of his memory, from which emerges a new language of artistic creation, contrived by Zinovieff to suggest artistic and personal rebirth. It is still one of Offenbach's most notable operettas of which he produced almost 100 examples. Whatever the individual result, ENO should be saluted for their courage at doing something different and very exciting. Snoo Wilson did a marvellous job on the book, making the songs witty, sexy and far more interesting and incisive than the subtitled translations of the plodding 1977 version under review here. Orpheus in the Underworld was ok, but it should have been hilarious, and a great escape.
Orpheus And The Underworld
He told the Norwegian press that any. Everyone else tries very hard to be funny: only Alan Oke as a dipsomaniacal John Styx succeeds. It's a dreadful sound; it just doesn't sound like the human voice". He's given Salomé back her dignity, twisted, death obsessed, vain and impulsive she may be, but here she's in control of it all. He is, as always, married to Eurydice but falls for the allure of a mysterious lady known as "the Princess", who turns out to be death itself. What is an operetta and how is it different from an opera? Offenbach's operetta Orpheus in the Underworld was up next, this is the operetta that features the music known today as the can-can and changed and influenced popular culture ever since. And why employ a choreographer, albeit a distinguished one, Wayne McGregor, to direct an opera? But if a radical feminist reinterpretation of the Orpheus myth is required, wouldn't it be better to commission a good new one, rather than force Offenbach's twinkly toes into a shoe that doesn't fit? The overall effect is unsettlingly beautiful, evoking a shadowy world in which we're never quite sure what is real and what is merely dreamed. Mary Bevan (Eurydice) & Lucia Lucas (Public Opinion). Having said that; this production by the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, although slow by comparison, does have some fine singing.
ENO's Orpheus season kicks off with a production of Gluck's 1762 opera with a strong singing cast consisting of Sarah Tynan, Soraya Mafi and Alice Coote (above with Mafi). Simply log into Settings & Account and select "Cancel" on the right-hand side. Running time: 2hr 40min. Supposedly a comic operetta. Mears plays Orpheus as a zippy, fast-moving satire on contemporary mores, exactly Offenbach's conception in the 1858 Parisian original. And the special effects are, well.. special. During the overture (which, incidentally, featured some excellent and very exposed playing from the orchestra's solo woodwind players) Rice conjured up a bizarre sequence from the early lives of Orpheus and Eurydice as they fall in love, marry, consummate, conceive and produce a child who promptly dies.
If this were a preview (which operas sadly don't have), the team could slice 20 minutes off the awful yakking, put back the rest of the truncated overture, ramp up the soggy, saggy pace of the drama and send us out smiling, in good time for the 10. By signing up you are confirming you are 16 or over. A beautiful, thrilling, emotionally convincing evening in the presence of a splendid cast, and tremendous music, the ENO at its best. It tells the story (sort of) through small scenes with the odd random scene strolling in about something completely different, think the sketches in Monty Python's Flying Circus with less humour. One of my favourite operettas was transduced into a miserable, discordant mess by Emma Rice. Glass has been nominated three times for Academy Awards for his musical scores and the music in Orphée is often reminiscent of really good background film music. Emma Rice's whole package is something you wish you hadn't opened. Choreographer Etta Murfitt elicits a storm of energy from everyone on stage as the music's tempo continually increases. Taking a swipe at Mrs Thatcher by parodying her as Public Opinion did date it but nevertheless it was a snappy and witty production, done during the time when the ENO was at its peak and with wonderful sets by Gerald Scarfe. "Habersham, a confident soprano with high notes that sparkle, sets the tone of her story and the show... Sanders, a limber tenor with a warm vocal tone, goes further than anyone in his attempts at physical comedy, prat-falling and flailing. The jokey introduction of a wreath with the words Baby is miscalculated: not a good start for a comedy, even a black-comedy, and it takes a while for the show to get back into gear. But once the operetta is on the road, it motors along a fair old rate.
Orpheus In The Underworld
An operetta, in simple terms, falls somewhere between an opera and a musical. Nevertheless, this is a piece that is visually impressive, witty and bold, and is executed with consummate skill by its artistes and propelled by the baton of conductor Sian Edwards (formerly ENO's Director of Music) and the ENO Orchestra. It is not clear to this reviewer that this frothy confection can bear the weight of so much ideological freight, or that it is necessary given that the figures of fun and bearers of negative reputation in this work are always the lecherous, sensation-surfeited gods, not the humans. These sounds are metallic and rasping; when combined with orchestra in full flight they are truly awesome and terrifying. SO SO disappointing. Miskimmon, 45, began her career at Welsh National Opera and, unlike her co-directors at ENO, Stuart Murphy (CEO) and Martyn Brabbins (music director), she has previous experience of running companies. This is her first venture into opera, and while this work is robust enough to survive rough handling with many of its virtues intact, there are many points at which more respect for the original would have paid dividends. At last, some good news at English National Opera. The director was Emma Rice, making her ENO, and, indeed, her opera directing debut after her short and controversial spell at the Shakespear Globe. Hell indeed, and made worse by the omnipresence of her gaoler, the drunken John Styx. I did wonder if Emma Rice had really wanted a completely different opera to make her directing debut with but, landed with this one, attempted to mould into preconceived ideas of her own that she was determined to portray regardless of the piece. And goes off hot-foot.
Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the "Settings & Account" section. He and his ciphers wore red, whereas Eurydice and hers are clad in blue, in a clarifying design decision. Public Opinion soon convinces Orpheus to win back Eurydice from her dalliance with Aristaeus, the shepherd, a man full of conceit at his own handsomeness. Now the set is completed by an opera by the American composer Philip Glass, who is often described as "minimalist" and "repetitive", but I found his Orphée surprisingly pleasant and tuneful. The ENO orchestra, shorn of strings to make way for acres of percussion, crackled and keened with an intuitive grasp of the score. There's a star turn from Alan Oke as the unfortunate John Styx and ENO Harewood Artist Alex Otterburn makes a seriously strong impression as a charismatic Pluto (pictured above). And there is a notable ENO debut by mezzo-soprano Idunnu Münch, as Diana, rich-voiced and a huntress no prey could overcome, animal or human. However, his voice is somewhat subdued in the first Act, coming more into its own by Act II. Faced with a daunting brief to expand audiences, tour more, and make productions popular and accessible, he's created for Northern Ireland Opera a show that's full of fizz, contemporary relevance and belly laughter, without cheapening the core artistic values the company will need to build on as it develops further into the future.
The minimalist set complements the score, ably conducted here by Geoffrey Patterson. Act I sketches, in recursive fashion, the coordinates of the story: Eurydice's marriage, her rape by Aristaeus (sung with oily menace by baritone James Cleverton), her death and descent into the underworld, Orpheus' resolution to pursue her. Now, Rice does return to the Offenbach sense of ridicule. Any changes made can be done at any time and will become effective at the end of the trial period, allowing you to retain full access for 4 weeks, even if you downgrade or cancel. Recommended for:Anyone (0%). But then again, in an interview in May 2012, she was asked, "Is there an art form you don't relate to? " The Series takes four different approaches to the classical myth of Orpheus descending into hell to try to bring back his dead wife Eurydice, with four very different composers and with four very different directors, each with backgrounds of different genres. Orpheus is presented to us not as the tragic musician of the original myth but as a poet struggling to recreate the success of his youth. This squalid and repellant crime scene is at odds with Offenbach's exuberant music, and the abuse of Eurydice is plain nasty, whether it be the ogling of the dirty mac brigade, the unwanted attentions of seedy John Styx (Alan Oke), the rape by Jupiter in the form of a fly, or the dance that Eurydice is compelled to perform. But it is ultimately the unifying vision of director Oliver Mears which matters most in getting this bold re-imagining of Orpheus to gel theatrically. But it should not have to fight so hard against the director's search for extraneous meaning. Get exclusive access to priority onsales and special offers, plus never miss out on the biggest stories from the West End, Off-West End and beyond. Whilst the production is more of a dance than opera visually, the most important aspects of this opera (the music and the singers) are there and well worth watching.