Jacques Offenbach: Orpheus in the Underworld

Apart from a couple of touches that are somewhat enjoyable like Alexandru's Badea's fiddle playing and Offenbach's picture falling off the wall, this Orpheus in the Underworld is a mess. The production values fail to be convincing, some scenes like the locomotive scene are too darkly lit, while the costumes and sets are far from sumptuous in colour and design. The video directing is uninteresting and there are too many close-ups revealing things like Dale Duesing's sweating, which is natural on an opera stage but really not a pleasant sight on camera. You'd think the staging would help, but it is also the complete opposite. It is far too gimmicky, often distasteful and has no life, magic or charm, and that is including the most famous part of the work the Can Can. In short, it is really dreary stuff with only a couple of touches kind of working. I wish I could say the musical values were better, but even they failed to work. Offenbach's score is irresistible, but the orchestral playing gives the impression that they just want to get home and the conducting fails to give any zest to the performance too. The chorus mug their way through the production and are poorly balanced. The principal performances aren't that much better. Alexandru Badea's fiddle playing is nice, but he completely fails to give an already narcissistic character like Orpheus any likability and he sounds strained a lot of the time. I like Dale Duesing's voice but he looks lost and doesn't seem to be enjoying himself at all(and I can't blame him). Elisabeth Vidal has the best voice of the cast, but her performance is let down by overused and really off-putting facial expressions. The rest of the cast fail to make an impression, as nothing in the stage direction, apart from Juno's boredom and mockery, gives them anything that is interesting. Overall, has a couple of decent ideas but the rest is a disaster. 2/10 Bethany Cox

At the time of its first night (1858) the critics strongly objected to the parody of the Orpheus legend and to the satiric use of Gluck's music for Orfeo e Eurydice. So naturally it became immensely popular after that! Like "La Belle Hélène" of which I also reviewed two DVDs, it's a takeoff on Greek mythology and also, incidentally, the French Empire Period of the reign of Napoleon III.

But unlike both those DVDs, this production doesn't sparkle. The attitudes of the characters are so odd throughout that it totally lacks understandability as far as I'm concerned. And attitude here is all-important since it is necessary to understand both the original myth and the humorous intent of the librettists Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. (Halévy was also one of the collaborators on "La Belle Hélène".) The singing is quite acceptable for the most part and Elizabeth Vidal as Eurydice is much more than that. The music, like that of "Hélène", is excellent but it seems mostly flat here and, considering both it's quality and familiarity, that is a pity. The Can-Can is especially familiar and is even more risqué in this version than usual.

But that doesn't cure the "tired blood" of this production and I don't recommend it.

One of the delights of attending a live performance of an opera, operetta, play, musical, etc is that you might see a production that is so much better than any productions of the work that you have seen before. Far Worse is when you see a production that is so good that you later wish it had been recorded for posterity; and it wasn't.

Anyone fortunate enough to see the English National Opera's London production of "Orpheus in the Underworld" will know what I mean. 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. 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. It is possible to buy an audio CD of the ENO production; it is one of the tragedies of the Arts World that nobody ever recorded it on video.

Having said that; this production by the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, although slow by comparison, does have some fine singing. It also has a nice theatrical device that draws its inspiration from a famous photograph of a railway accident at a Paris station. It probably has more international appeal than the ENO production I am comparing it with.