Texas Classical Review

The Dallas Opera’s first performance of Orfeo ed Euridice by Christophe Willibald Gluck brought a poignant twist to the venerable classic. 

Director Joachim Schamberger reconceived both the myth of Orpheus and Gluck’s setting as a metaphor for loss due to prolonged illness. The production’s principal setting is the bedroom shared by an elderly Orpheus and Eurydice.  After a full life together, conveyed by a series of nostalgic slides projected during the overture, Orpheus is grieving over the dying Eurydice, who is largely unresponsive to him due to the effects of dementia as he cares for her.

The musical, visual and dramatic elements in Schamberger’s production resulted in a particularly moving and effective performance. Gluck’s music, in which he avoided overtly theatrical gestures in favor of a “noble simplicity,” proved especially suitable for Schamberger’s approach, establishing an emotional foundation for the whole that also allowed room for action and images to further flesh out the emotional depth of each scene.

The three leads were excellent, both for their marvelous singing and for their sensitive acting and embodiment of their respective characters.

Hugh Cutting was magnificent as Orpheus.  A winner of the Tagore Gold Medal and a BBC New Generation artist, Cutting’s countertenor range may have caught a few unprepared audience members by surprise, but his tone and clarity were consistently outstanding throughout the production. His somewhat restrained rendition of “Che faro senza” was particularly touching, coming in response to Eurydice’s death upon their return to their shared bedroom. Cutting’s presence on stage was also remarkable; his gestures and gait during the performance were convincingly those of a man much older than himself.

As Eurydice, Madison Leonard was an ideal complement to Cutting. Having previously appeared as Gilda in the Dallas Opera’s presentation of Rigoletto, Leonard’s clarity and tone were also superb, evident in her lament at Orpheus’s supposed unfaithfulness, “Che fiero momento,” and her duet with Cutting, “Vieni, appaga il tuo consorte.”  Her fine singing was matched by her portrayal of Eurydice’s emotional states, capturing the character’s agitation and confusion in Act I, her ecstatic response at her reunion with Orpheus in Act II and her despair at his perceived coldness toward her in Act III.

In addition to setting up the conditions for Orpheus’s quest, Amber Norelai as Amore also provided several lighter moments in the drama, notably in Act I when she momentarily stunned Orpheus out of his despondency by emerging from a slide image. Norelai’s vocal quality easily matched that of Leonard and Cutting, but the slight humor underlying her portrayal was curious, particularly in her interactions with Orpheus in Acts I and III.

The orchestra under Emmanuel Villaume reinforced the emotional impact of each scene while also allowing the principals to take the lead both sonically and dramatically.  Orchestral colors were generally subdued with a notable exception being the wind choir’s accompaniment for the depiction of Elysium in Act II that drew on the pastoral character of the flutes, oboes and bassoons to conjure an atmosphere of arcadian serenity that pervaded Eurydice’s inner psyche.

The chorus under Paolo Bressan provided foils for the principals throughout the opera, giving voice to Orpheus’s unspoken despair in Act I, to the Furies as they attempt to dissuade Orpheus from pursuing Eurydice in Act II and contributing to the final number in which all sing praise to the power of love in the form of Amore.

Schamberger’s staging consisted of two distinct environments:  a realistic set for the couple’s bedroom and a more abstract set with a series of full height translucent screens hosting projected images that were occasionally re-arranged to make up the spaces within the Underworld.  Recurring graphics of firing neurons suggest that the Underworld exists within Eurydice’s own brain where she is imprisoned as a result of her illness.  These two environments were bridged by the set of images of the shared lives of Orpheus and Eurydice, first seen during the overture, that convey the depth of their love through the variety of their depicted experiences.  Orpheus views these slides in the bedroom while lamenting Eurydice’s condition, and these images recur randomly in the Underworld during Eurydice’s moments of agitation.

The lighting enhanced the screens and their associated projections to accentuate the impression of space in the different environments on stage.

Costumes for the non-singing players of the Furies and nymphs were abstract, reflecting their imaginary and figurative status.  Similarly, Norelai’s costume as Amore included only a few details – small wings and the trademark bow and quiver – to suggest her character.

In contrast, Cutting and Leonard as Orpheus and Eurydice were transformed by their costumes. With their gray hair, her bedclothes and his sweater and glasses, they absolutely looked the part of an older, contemporary couple, an illusion made utterly convincing by their onstage movements.  Their appearance carried a concrete realism that, together with the realism of the bedroom set, resonated with the contemporary frame in which Schamberger had cast Gluck’s opera, making the personal tragedy between Orpheus and Eurydice both more immediate and more effective.

Orfeo ed Eurydice runs through February 15.  dallasopera.org