Performance dates
01 October - 19 November 2019
9 reviews
Run time: 2hr
Includes interval
How far would you go to rescue the one you love?
Gluck’s elegant account of the Orpheus myth is a milestone of eighteenth-century opera.
Willing to go to any lengths to be reunited with his one true love, the gods agree to let the grief-stricken Orpheus rescue his wife Eurydice from the underworld. But there’s a catch. To be together again, Orpheus can’t look back at Eurydice, or she will be lost to him forever.
Gluck’s score is filled with sublime melody and richly colourful orchestral writing from Orpheus’s anguished outbursts at Eurydice’s death, through to the exquisite classical beauty of the ‘Dance of the Blessed Spirits’.
Multi-award winning choreographer Wayne McGregor whose work has stood as a testament to his ceaseless curiosity and innovation makes his ENO directorial debut with 13 dancers from Company Wayne McGregor.
Distinguished mezzo Alice Coote returns to ENO as Orpheus, with company favourite Sarah Tynan singing the role of Eurydice and ENO Harewood Artist Soraya Mafi as Love.
In collaboration with Studio Wayne McGregor
Supported by a syndicate of donors
PLEASE NOTE: Sung in English. Surtitles for sung words are displayed above the stage. There will be NO SURTITLES for the Friday 17 October performance.
I thought that overall it was quite plain - no climax, the opulence I expected with opera was not delivered.
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Modern and original
Wonderful singers, especially Orpheus , she was unforgettable. A magnificent orchestra and chorus! They were wonderful. But the rest? The sets and strobe/ tv / flashes were like revisiting German theatre in the 1980’s. So over! Quite a few audience members left because they couldn’t take it. It hurt our eyes- and expressed nothing. The dancers were possibly good, but who would know? They barefoot danced , and were dressed up in a mixture of Flower Power colors , and modernized Nijinsky- costumes, what they danced had nothing to do with the opera. They were such a distraction! One sublime singer, one wonderful orchestra, and a beautifully singing chorus, who , for no reason at all, were dressed in black and hidden away in the pit. Why??The directors and choreographer and set / costume designers over- self- indulged. The result was an amateurish production, where the gripping story of Orpheus and Eurydike were sacrificed because the directors were busy being childish and .., destroying the work. Gluck’s music and the story are so profound, that If they just dare to tell the story on stage, the audience will go home shattered and moved and inspired. But this was a mess of a production.
Beautiful singing, stunning dancing and costumes, very effective evocation of the Underworld. We loved it !
Great show, memorable music, enthusiastic performances, loved the stage set-ups.
Great use of a minimalist set; very well acted so that you could really imagine they were speaking in different languages - Certainly did justice to the clever script.
Didn't care for the production
Wonderfull presentation as expected; was a pleasure to listen! Modern visual interpretation of Hade, the underground post-mortem world, presenting such as the digital chaos ( reminds old- fashion black-white tv screen before setting-up). Scenography is great. Really worth to go and see and enjoy.
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