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The Light Opera Company of Southern Maryland takes aim at the
ancient world of Greek mythology and modern social and political mores with its
production this summer of Orpheus in the Underworld, a comic opera by
Jacques Offenbach, in an English version by Thomas Petiet. Although Offenbach's targets were C. W.
Gluck's opera "Orfeo ed Eurydice", as well as the politics and society of France
in the mid 1800's, his barbs still hit close to home in 21st
century America.
The dramatic and tragic myth of the musician Orpheus, who has lost his
beloved Eurydice to Pluto, the god of the Underworld, and whose playing brought
the gods to tears, is retold in this opera as a quarreling married couple on
the verge of divorce. Eurydice is
lured to the Underworld by Pluto, to Orpheus's great relief, but Public Opinion
insists that he appeal to the gods to allow him to retrieve Eurydice. Realizing that his career as a
violinist and composer is at stake, he reluctantly follows Public Opinion to
Mount Olympus, the abode of the gods and goddesses. Sensing an opportunity to escape the boredom of Mt. Olympus,
all the gods and goddesses threaten revolt unless Jupiter allows them to
accompany Orpheus on his quest to the Underworld. In a raucous bacchanal, where the revelry is heightened by
the Galopp Infernal—known today as the "can can"—all comes to a
satisfactory, if hedonistic, finale.
DATES AND TIMES: AUGUST 1
AT 7:00 P.M.; AUGUST 2 AT 4:00 P.M.
PLACE: PORT
TOBACCO PLAYERS THEATRE
508
Charles St
La
Plata, MD 20646
TICKETS: (301)
934-6813 OR ONLINE AT www.ptplayers.com
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