View: Next message | Previous message Next in topic | Previous in topic Next by same author | Previous by same author Previous page (July 1999, week 4) | Back to main OPERA-L page Join or leave OPERA-L Reply | Post a new message Search Options: Chronologically | Most recent first Proportional font | Non-proportional font ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1999 00:36:44 +0000 Reply-To: "H.E.Elsom" Sender: Discussion of opera and related issues From: "H.E.Elsom" Subject: Orpheus in the underworld, Holland Park, 23Jul99 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Eurydice Sally Harrison Orpheus Wynne Evans Venus Alison Buchanan Cupid Jacqueline Varsey Juno Katherine Steffan Mercury John Upperton Public Opinion Caroline Zygadlo John Styx Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts Mars Paul Keohone Jupiter Peter Snipp Diana Louise Walsh Director John Abulafia Conductor Tom Higgins Translation by Snoo Wilson with David Pountney, new dialogue by John Abulafia This was dreadful, but quite enjoyable. Someone behind me keep collapsing into uncontrollable giggles. Holland Park Theatre is a stage under an all-weather marquee over the courtyard of (I think) Holland Park House, in the park in Kensington. There are picnic tables, and tonight there were some hampers that had probably also been to Glyndebourne. But the productions are closer to summer stock, based on small touring companies and intended for a pleasant summer evening out. (They have The Consul next week, which doesn't appear to be packing them in.) This version of Offenbach's Orpheus was based on the idea that Eurydice spends all her days watching television: Jupiter is captain of the starship Olympus, Juno is Oprah with a puritanical streak, and the bacchantes are the (four) Spice Girls. Orpheus is, roughly, Nigel Kennedy, and Public Opinion musters the paparazzi. The alleged topical jokes would have been too whiskery for Footlights in 1985, and there were random silly accents, and dodgy American ones. Before the overture, Eurydice tried to work the audience, disastrously, and before the second half the Love Police (Cupid's crew) coached the audience in participatory kissing, panto styel, with more success. It's not a completely stupid idea. The lowlife in the underworld came out of the cabarets and of course the can-can went straight back there. But Offenbach's Orpheus is a rework with self-referential jokes of the Ovidian approach to Greek myths, exemplified by Cavalli's Callisto (who gets a name check) and Handel's Semele (which also ends with an anarchic praise of Bacchus). It's a kind of classical counterpart to the romantic look at obsession and death in Hoffman. Only Peter Wedd as a sinister cockney good old boy Pluto and Jeffrey Lloyd-Jones as a masochistic "John Styx" gave any hint of the danger implicit in the idea of desiring death. Another problem was that all of the scenes had very weak endings with get-them-off-the-stage exit lines. But the music survived and supplied some of what was missing, including a demented can-can. The orchestra under Tom Higgins was free of fluffiness and nifty with the musical jokes, though they couldn't make Che faro sound really tedious. The singers, who all played along with the production schtick with gusto, sang the music straightforwardly and generally well. Sally Harrison had all the notes and the idiom as Eurydice, but somehow wasn't quite fluent. Alison Buchanan as Venus had a great operetta "ha ha!", and sounds as if she has a lot of potential. Caroline Zygadlo sounded too rich and warm as Public Opinion. Her tabloid-print suit was cool, but she wasn't quite uptight enough. Peter Snipp as Jupiter was very funny as the fly. He just stood next to Eurydice and acted out what was happening to the fly as she picked it up by one wing and put it down her cleavage. Wynne Evans has a beautiful voice, but he was low on charisma for the great musician. All good infantile fun. Regards, Helen - H.E. Elsom he@helsom.demon.co.uk http://www.helsom.demon.co.uk/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main OPERA-L page ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back to the LISTSERV home page at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU.