Would Gluck have approved? The composer who mocked the excesses of singers and the composers who indulged them in his famous preface to Alceste is here – in Sydney, but previously in Brisbane – given a Gesamtkunstwerk-out by a man of the circus, director/designer Yaron Lifschitz. So total is the acrobatic approach it affects not only the two eponymous singers but the heroic chorus and even the subtitles – which are seen to speak emphatically or to melt away on the stage’s back wall. Only the orchestra resists the madness – playing dynamically or sweetly as required under Dane Lam’s baton.
While Circa Company’s ensemble of ten acrobats seem to constantly fill the mostly bare stage with action that reflects the opera’s emotions, it’s amazing how clearly Christophe Dumaux’s suffering Orpheus emerges from the scrum, even when strapped to a madhouse bed, hung upside down or stepping precariously across a series of bare backs. Wisely, his glorious “Che faro senza Euridice” is uninterrupted by action, sung by a broken man on his knees.
But did it allow him to re-recover his bride from the grips of Elysium? Gluck of course cheated the Gods of the Underworld by creating this loveliest of laments to move the stoniest hearts, especially that of Amore – who, in 1762, brings Eurydice back to life yet again. Lifschitz will have none of it – no fewer than six acrobatic “Eurydices” are turned, embraced and die before Sandy Leung’s heroine meets her fate, Dumaux is strapped down and hauled aloft and the chorus complete the work singing dead on the floor.
Emotion flows, as does a standing ovation. For this 90-minute version of the opera succeeds in concentrating the mythical story while strangely justifying its cruel original ending by emphasising Eurydice’s aggravating torrent of questions to her saviour, for the pair are trapped in a miniature greenhouse, Orpheus all the while trying to avoid her face. “Am I still beautiful? Do you still love my eyes?”, she demands infuriatingly.
Sandy Leung, lifted from the chorus to cover Cathy-Di Zhang, managed her double roles of Eurydice and Amore with heroic aplomb, though it was undoubtedly fortunate that she had fewer acrobatics to undertake than her fellow lead. The vocally and physically agile French countertenor’s role debut will be one he won’t forget.
Opera Australia’s new life post-Lyndon Terracini has got off to a fine start with a 5-star review for Sarah Giles’s regional Traviata and now the same for this Opera Queensland production. The UK’s Jo Davies, just arrived to take up the Artistic Director post, will surely have noted the local talent on offer, for Dane Lam also directs the State Opera of South Australia.
