Orphée aux Enfers

Orphée aux Enfers

120 mins | Music | May 1, 1997

Orphée aux Enfers, Offenbach's riotous parody of the dissipations of French life in the Second Empire, fairly gallops past in this 1997 Herbert Wernicke production staged at the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels. Based on Offenbach's meatier second version (1874) of the Orpheus legend, it features nicely judged performances across the board and some stunning special effects, notably the explosive locomotive crash signalling the breach of the divide between Heaven and Hell. Satire reigns, not least in the reactionary figure of Public Opinion, a pinny-clad bossy boots with a hint of Dame Edna Everage about her. Olympus is a moribund salon full of bored Gods, sick of the Ambrosian diet.

Orphée aux Enfers

120 mins | Music | May 1, 1997

Orphée aux Enfers
Orphée aux Enfers, Offenbach's riotous parody of the dissipations of French life in the Second Empire, fairly gallops past in this 1997 Herbert Wernicke production staged at the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels. Based on Offenbach's meatier second version (1874) of the Orpheus legend, it features nicely judged performances across the board and some stunning special effects, notably the explosive locomotive crash signalling the breach of the divide between Heaven and Hell. Satire reigns, not least in the reactionary figure of Public Opinion, a pinny-clad bossy boots with a hint of Dame Edna Everage about her. Olympus is a moribund salon full of bored Gods, sick of the Ambrosian diet.
Producers Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Arthaus Musik
Original title Orphée aux Enfers
Directors Herbert Wernicke, Dirk Gryspiert
Writers E.T.A. Hoffmann, Jules Barbier

Cast

Alexandru Badea

as Orphée

Elizabeth Vidal

as Eurydice

Dale Duesing

as Jupiter

Reinaldo Macias

as Astrée-Pluton

André Jung

as John Styx

Desirée Meiser

as L'Opinion Publique

Laurence Misonne

as Minerve

Michele Patzakis

as Vénus

Franck Cassard

as Mercure