Aerial artist Marcy Richardson. Photo courtesy of Mark Shelby Perry
“It’s not an opera,” promises Peggy Kriha Dye, artistic director of Opera Columbus.
Strange at it may seem, she’s talking about the organization’s upcoming production of Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice, which concludes its 2017-2018 season.
Instead, Dye says, it’s an experience that includes opera. And that experience, she further promises, will be a spectacle.
Based on the Greek myth of Orpheus, the scene opens with our hero, played by Siman Chung, mourning the death of his lover, Eurydice. Amour, or Cupid, appears, offering him the chance to journey to the underworld and rescue his love.
Groundbreaking when it was originally performed in 1762, the opera is undergoing a serious reinvention at the hands of Opera Columbus.
“One of the things we wanted to experiment with was how we can take a classic, beautiful piece of operatic history and make it appealing to a modern audience,” Dye says. “How do you modernize it without completely changing it?”
To that end, the company took the everyday sights and sounds that a new audience is used to experiencing in a movie theater or on an iPhone and made them part of the show.
Technological Wonder
Photo courtesy of Mark Shelby Perry
The first step to incorporating this modern-day revolution was introducing a virtual chorus, made up of voices both professional and amateur from around the world.
Somewhere between 60 and 100 faces and voices, submitted electronically, will be stitched together and projected onto the set, singing backup for a more traditional live chorus and the principal performers. Along with the virtual chorus, the music has been updated, with additions such as electric guitar and synthesizer.
“Everything seems to have been given the upside-down treatment for this particular piece,” says Mireille Asselin, who plays Eurydice.
More traditional dancing has been replaced with a burlesque ballet troupe, New York’s Company XIV, and aerial silk dancing. The character of Amour, played by Marcy Richardson, will perform her entire role suspended in the air.
“The burlesque element is something that is so different from the often buttoned-up classical approach to things, and I think it’s going to be amazing,” Asselin says.
The juxtaposition of the traditionally sophisticated opera with the seductive quality of burlesque may seem surprising, but it’s oddly fitting for this love story. Burlesque is often associated with an artistic underworld of sin, a place Orphée quite literally traverses in Act II, where the demonic furies embody enticing emotions.
Motivation
Photo courtesy of Mark Shelby Perry
So why take these kinds of risks with a modern-day performance? Dye says it’s because she loves opera, but it’s time for opera to evolve in order to survive as an art form.
“Opera is something that’s been around for hundreds of years, and I don’t think it’s going anywhere, but I think with every art form, you have to adapt to what modern society is interested in,” says Katy Tucker, video and projection designer. “And I think our lives are completely inundated with technology and social media.”
After Orphée et Eurydice takes the stage in Columbus from April 20-22, it will tour across Canada with Toronto’s Against the Grain Theatre.
“Every opera that came out for the first time was pushing the envelope,” Dye says. “Because they’ve been around a long time, we’ve made them so precious, but they were actually pretty edgy. Opera’s known for innovation. That’s what I’m trying to bring back: innovation.”
Keeping it Together
“When you bring up something that’s an old myth, sometimes that’s alienating and people don’t relate to it, but this breaks it down to this really universally relatable experience,” says Katy Tucker, video projection and set designer.
It’s Tucker’s job to tie all of the technological and spectacular elements together, allowing the audience to focus on what’s important: the music, the story and the emotions.
“They will without a doubt be entertained, but there’s also this really strong emotional and human element to it that is not to be missed,” Tucker says.
Rosie Robinson is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
