Orpheus in the Underworld
Music by Jacques Offenbach
Translation by Robert Derwae
Orpheus… is a fully staged production presented by the Light Opera of New Jersey (formerly Ridge Light Opera)
WHEN:
- Thursday September 26th at 8 PM (Understudy Show)
- Friday September 27th at 8 PM
- Saturday September 28th at 2 PM
- Saturday September 28th at 8 PM
WHERE: St. Mark’s Episcopal Church at 140 So.Finley Ave in Basking Ridge
TICKETS: $20, $25 and $30 and are available on line at www.lightoperaofnewjersey.org or by calling 908.303.7351.
If you are planning to come see Orpheus in the Underworld this week-end we strongly encourage you to get your tickets in advance as all the good seats for the evening shows are almost gone.
Call 908.303.7351 or go to www.lightoperaofnewjersey.org and click on tickets. You can select your own seats, pay by credit card and print your tickets at home.
SYNOPSIS:
After a brief overture the curtain rises in the countryside around the ancient Greek city of Thebes. Eurydice enters and sings of the shepherd boy Aristaeus, with whom she is having an affair. Orpheus appears and demands to know what Eurydice is doing. She tells him she loves Aristaeus and adds that she cannot stand Orpheus’s fiddle-scraping. In revenge, Orpheus starts to play his latest 75-minute concerto and completely ignores his wife’s pleas for him to stop.
Orpheus would love to relinquish Eurydice to Aristaeus, but Public Opinion would not allow it. Instead, Orpheus decides to get rid of Aristaeus and tells Eurydice of the nasty surprise which he has left in the shepherd’s cornfield. When Aristaeus appears, Eurydice tries to stop him from entering the cornfield, but he ignores her. Eurydice follows him and suffers a snake bite. Suddenly, Aristaeus turns into his real self: Pluto, Lord of Hades. Eurydice falls, dying, into Aristaeus’ arms; she dies, but Pluto brings her briefly back to life so she can leave a farewell note for Orpheus. That done, Pluto takes her down to his underworld realm.
Orpheus finds Eurydice’s note and, after his initial surprise, realizes how pleased he is to be rid of his wife. His joy is short-lived. Public Opinion enters and demands that Orpheus go down to Hades to get Eurydice back. Orpheus protests, but mindful of his professional reputation, he grudgingly agrees.
The scene changes to Mount Olympus where the gods and goddesses are fast asleep. Venus, Cupid and Mars, however, have been up all night. They return home decidedly worn out. Soon afterwards, Mercury, messenger of the gods, arrives. The young, hyperactive god, ordered by Jupiter to investigate the disappearance of Eurydice, comes breezing on to Mount Olympus to tell of his findings. The gods and goddesses sing of revenge because they are tired of ambrosia and nectar. Jupiter, who is intrigued by Eurydice, decides to go to hell to look for her, taking all the gods and goddesses along for fun.
Orpheus enters with Public Opinion, who wants to ensure Orpheus does the honorable thing, that is, ask Jupiter to return his wife to him. Pluto, of course, has lied to Jupiter about the location of Eurydice, whom he is keeping in his boudoir in Hades. She is guarded by John Styx, the King of Boeotia. Now reduced to being Pluto’s jailer, Styx entertains Eurydice with an account of his royal past.
When Orpheus and the gods and goddesses arrive, Styx locks Eurydice in an upstairs bedroom. Jupiter enlists the help of his young son, Cupid, and the love police to locate Eurydice. Jupiter turns himself into a fly to get through the keyhole. Eurydice loves the fly. Jupiter reveals himself and invites Eurydice to meet him at a party in Hades later that evening.
Eurydice attends disguised as a bacchante, a follower of Bacchus, god of wine, but Pluto realizes who she is and blocks Jupiter’s path when Jupiter tries to make off with her. Jupiter again accuses Pluto of abducting Eurydice. When Orpheus and Public Opinion appear, Jupiter tells Orpheus he can take his wife away, but only if he does not look back at her as they go. When Orpheus fails this test, Pluto claims Eurydice. Jupiter, however, takes her away from Pluto by announcing that he is turning her into a real bacchante. Everyone, except Pluto and Public Opinion, is delighted and the operetta climaxes with the energetic Can-Can.
