LA Opera has brought Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion March 10 – 25 for six performances.
The production completely modernises the traditional opera, beginning with the story line. Orpheus is a choreographer rehearsing his new ballet inspired by Arnold Böcklings’ famous painting The Isle of the Dead, with his temperamental wife Eurydice being the show’s star performer. The diva arrives late for a rehearsal, they quarrel, she slaps him on the face, stomps out, runs her car into a tree, and ends up dying.
The devastated and grieving Orpheus imagines himself in Hades encountering the Furies, but manages to persuade them to let him enter Elysium to get Eurydice back. The third character, Amour, traditionally the winged boy god with bow and arrow, is now just Orpheus’ assistant.
All characters wear modern clothes, including the dancers. Memorable ones include those of the Furies, with Stone Furies envisioned as human disco balls. They come from Joffrey’s costume shop.
Gluck had composed two versions of this opera for two different audiences with different tastes. First came Orfeo ed Euridice in Italian in 1762 for Vienna, and then Orphée et Eurydice in French in 1774 for Paris. The latter greatly expanded the dance portion to satisfy French taste of the era, and this is the version chosen for the LA performance, which is why the production is a joint production with the Joffrey Ballet. The partnership allows for extensive use of modern dance to interpret the emotions and feelings.
The updated set design shows Eurydice’s accident complete with the car on stage, and moves on to Orpheus grieving in his modern apartment. In the Elysian fields large abstract shapes using mirrors and the Blessed Spirits in white flowing costumes capture the peace and serenity of the Elysian fields. Act III recreates The Isle of the Dead, the famous painting at the heart of the opera as a backdrop.
The production’s moderning of the opera on all these different levels removes the opera’s underpinnings to its older time and place, striping the show down to its universal core of a husband grieving over losing his wife and then sublimating that experience through his art. The production is able to bridge the centuries since when the opera was first composed, giving it the feel of a totally contemporary opera. It lets you appreciate the universality of Gluck’s creation. The heart breaking final scene of Orpheus left holding Eurydice’s veil speaks – or rather sings – volumes!
Gluck’s music strove to emphasize dramatic expression over what he perceived as the vain exhibitionism of the opera stars of his era and bridges the musical worlds of Handel and Mozart with its ornate vocal lines and flowing melodies.
With great artists vying to interpret the central role of Orpheus, the protagonist’s voice type has evolved over the centuries from the original castrato to mezzo-soprano, which stayed after the castrati tradition died; it has also ventured into tenor, and even baritone.
John Neumeier is director, choreographer, and designer; James Conlon conducts, and Grant Gershon provides chorus direction.
Maestro Conlon and others give a free, informative pre-performance talk before all performances. The running time is two hours and thirty minutes with one intermission.
For more information and tickets, please visit LAOpera.org.