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.

Cast

Alexandru Badea Orphée

Elizabeth Vidal Eurydice Dale Duesing Jupiter Reinaldo Macias Astrée-Pluton

Marie-Noëlle de Callataÿ Cupidon

André Jung John Styx

Desirée Meiser L'Opinion Publique

Laurence Misonne Minerve

Michele Patzakis Vénus

Sonja Theodoridou Diane Jacqueline van Quaille Junon Franck Cassard Mercure

Metadata from the source database.