When Luigi Rossi’s “Orpheus” was performed in Paris in 1647 it led to five years of bloody civil war. The Royal Opera must be hoping history won’t repeat itself.Modern day audiences are unlikely to be inflamed to angry bloodshed by this new staging. Rossi’s piece turns out to be a lively and tender affair, with heart-melting music and a clever mix of tragedy and comedy. There’s some confusion as well, with a host of complicated sub-plots and role-doubling, but Keith Warner’s intimate staging in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse – a stunning recreation of a candle-lit indoor Jacobean theatre – does a terrific job at keeping the plates spinning.One of the reasons that the 1647 show caused such a fuss was its lavishness: the six-hour marathon, commissioned by wily Cardinal Mazarin, needed two hundred men just to build the sets. It was seen as an attempt by Mazarin to increase his authority at court. Noblemen got upset, and riots broke out.To avert any chance of civil war, the Royal Opera has sensibly cut the score down to three hours and simplified the set. Warner’s staging makes the most of the small space and creates wondrous spectacle by simple means. A goddess descends on a swing; characters pop up through a trap door; Hymen bursts out of a wedding cake. The gorgeous costumes are predominantly in period with an occasional amusing modern twist. At one point Venus appears in face glitter which wouldn’t disgrace a Las Vegas drag queen.Some of the cuts mean that the plot and motivations are sometimes hard to fathom, despite Christopher Cowell’s witty English singing translation, but the singers - uniformly excellent actors - make everything as emotionally clear as possible. Siobhan Stagg (replacing an indisposed Mary Bevan as Orpheus) has an exquisitely rich voice which she uses with impressive subtlety, and she’s matched by Louise Alder as a fine and touching Eurydice. Another standout performance comes from Caitlin Hulcup as Aristeus, a lovelorn suitor of Eurydice. The tragi-comic role includes a substantial mad scene, but Hulcup is as dazzling in comedy as is in pathos, and has a terrifically caressing voice too.It’s all underpinned by Christian Curnyn’s lively conducting of the Orchestra of the Early Opera Company. The audience applauded it all enthusiastically – and there wasn’t a hint of a riot afterwards.“Orpheus” is presented by the Royal Opera at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in a co-production with Shakespeare’s Globe.
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