Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers
- Date: Sun, Feb 05, 2017
- Time: 16:00 - 21:00
- Venue: London
- Location: Hackney Empire
Royal Academy Opera
Gareth Hancock conductor
Martin Duncan director
Alex Doidge-Green designer
Steve Elias choreographer
Eurydice Alys Roberts
Diane Ilona Revolskaya
Venus Frances Gregory
Cupidon Leslie Bickle
Minerve Carrie-Ann Williams
L’opinion Publique Helen Brackenbury
Junon Hannah Poulsom
Orphée Mikhail Shepelenko
Aristée William Blake
Mercury Alexander Aldren
Jupiter Dominic Bowe
John Styx Alexander Otterburn
Mars Timothy Murphy
Bacchus Richard Walshe
‘You can listen to the next generation of classical musicians at the Royal Academy of Music’ (Sunday Times), and now the opera stars of the future return to the legendary Hackney Empire for Jacques Offenbach’s famous ‘opéra bouffe’, Orpheus in the Underworld.
This irreverent satire was unleashed on Parisian audiences in 1858 to a combination of shock and delight: ‘a profanation of holy and glorious antiquity’, ‘a coarse and grotesque parody’, said the critics. Its many memorable set-pieces include the risqué Galop Infernal, better known as the ‘can-can’ – one of the most famous dance tunes of all time.
This new production is conducted by Gareth Hancock, Director of Royal Academy Opera. The director, Martin Duncan, promises to bring us an entertaining show that is ‘funny, colourful, all-singing and all-dancing’.