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Orfeo ed Euridice
Stylishly done … Orfeo ed Euridice. Photograph: Kk Dundas
Stylishly done … Orfeo ed Euridice. Photograph: Kk Dundas

Orfeo ed Euridice review – good-looking but musically bereft

This article is more than 9 years old
Theatre Royal, Glasgow
For a work devoted to the transcendental force of beautiful music, Scottish Opera’s production gets everything right but the most crucial part

Gluck called his 1762 setting of the Orpheus legend an “azione teatrale”, a kind of pocket-sized musical play in which vivid drama was paramount. It was also the first of his “reform operas”, a new stylistic thrust that aimed to strip away the frills of the baroque era and hone in on real emotion. There are elements to enjoy in Scottish Opera’s new production, whose modernist chic nods to the 20th century’s reclamation of clean lines after romanticism. But there’s an irony in its best parts being its frills. The costumes are eye-catching, set and lighting clever, crowd scenes stylishly done. But musically, things are ropey. In an opera fixated on the transcendental force of beautiful music, whose hero can seduce wild beasts and lost souls with his singing, something crucial is missing.

This is one of the last productions that designer Johan Engels created before his sudden death in November, and it looks good. Its fulcrum is a huge Perspex cube that rotates to transport Orfeo to and from the underworld and becomes a popup bar for slick cocktail parties. Amor is done up as Grace Kelly, gorgeous in pink Dior. The Furies, head to toe in red PVC, look a bit like flayed ants.

Director Ashley Page is a choreographer first and foremost, and knows what to do with bodies on a stage. Eight dancers add lyricism to various scenes, while the cast and chorus often end up communicating better with their body language than with their singing. As Orfeo, mezzo Caitlin Hulcup doesn’t have the intensity of expression to credibly win over the gods. Lucy Hall’s Euridice is more ardent and open; Ana Quintans’s flirtatious Amore steals every scene she’s in. Kenneth Montgomery draws plodding basslines and shapeless melodies from the orchestra, and the chorus sounds limp. Musically, nothing dances.

In rep until 28 February. Box office: 0844 871 7627. Then at Festival theatre, Edinburgh, from 3 March. Details: scottishopera.org.uk

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