Operatic favourite Orpheus gets a refreshing and spectacular makeover
A refreshing and gravity-defying take on operatic favourite Orpheus & Eurydice is a triumph of sight and sound.
Local
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- First night stunner from rising star soprano
- Show-stopper Rinaldo case of art imitating life
- Sliding door moments lead to Bach celebration
- Top classical label goes onstream
Usually a production of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orpheus & Eurydice ends happily with the heroine being resuscitated by Cupid and the couple’s love for each other conquering death.
True, love triumphs in Yaron Lifschitz’s compelling Opera Australia production – we’re told that by the gory capitalised graffiti “THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE” that the hero smears in red paint on the wall of the asylum where he has been kept – but everyone expires before the curtain falls.
This is a refreshing and daring take on the familiar tale of the mythological twosome in which Eurydice descends to the Underworld after dying on her wedding night and her shattered husband, superbly sung by French countertenor Christophe Dumaux, is finally allowed by the Furies to rescue her on condition that doesn’t look back at her face on the journey out of Hades.
Lifschitz sets the 80-minute three-act drama in what we would today term a “mental health facility” of white walls, sterile beds with rope restraints and a miniature glass and metal see-through house. But the innovation doesn’t stop there. As well as the two soloists – with Chinese born Australian soprano Cathy-Di Zhang making her Opera Australia lead debut in the twin roles of Eurydice and Amore (Cupid) – and the excellent OA Chorus is the 10-strong team of acrobat-dancers of Circa Ensemble.
This Brisbane based troupe, of which Lifschitz is artistic director, have made a huge impression in their collaborations over the years with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. One of their star turns is artistic aerialist Billie Wilson-Coffey, whose breathtaking gymnastic displays suspended high above the stage on two lengths of silk hung from the flies made for a dramatic opening as Eurydice in a red frock descends to the Underworld.
Conductor Dane Lam kept the Opera Australia Orchestra, led by Huy-Nguyen Bui, on a tight schedule as the action opened on a disturbed Orpheus roped to his bed. He can only utter his love’s name as his mind battles through grief and confusion. We see several imagined Eurydices, all in their red skirts, as they tumble and climb on the shoulders of their male colleagues, often seeming to defy gravity.
Dumaux was perfect in the part, his clear and bright falsetto powerful and full of emotion, but never prone to the “hooting” you hear from some countertenors. In a fast paced evening that left little time for applause between arias, his rendering of the opera’s hit tune Che faro senza Euridice? (What will I do without Eurydice?) brought a loud ovation.
Some of his arias had to be delivered while clambering over the bodies of the dancers or being lifted on to their shoulders to form a human pyramid, but he didn’t miss a beat.
Equally impressive was Zhang, who missed the opening night through illness. Her creamy even soprano and fine acting skills are highlighted in the third act in the duet where she can’t understand why her lover won’t look at her, effectively played out in the confines of the miniature house, and her anguished aria Che fiero momento? (What kind of life is this?) in which she believes Orpheus has been unfaithful.
Gluck included several ballet scenes in his score, including the thunderous scene with the Furies which inspired Mozart’s hell scenes in Don Giovanni, and the lovely Dance of the Blessed Spirits. These give the Circa team the chance to show off their acrobatic strength and grace in a series of routines that often draw sharp intakes of breath from the audience.
Lifschitz’s Orpheus is a triumph and there are still six performances left. I urge you to go and see it.
SYDNEY FESTIVAL
• OPERA Orpheus & Eurydice
• WHERE Sydney Opera House
• WHEN January 16, 2024
• SEASON Until January 31
Two charged over teen stabbing on ritzy street identified
Two men have been charged after a teenage boy was allegedly stabbed and assaulted in a ritzy North Sydney suburb. Read the latest.
‘He’s with me’: Messages from the grave guide bereft mum
As a family braces for a coronial inquest into the death of a young man in an Oxford St brawl, a distraught mother is finding some comfort in her youngest child’s presence throughout the ordeal.