A NEW UNDERWORLD
Orphée+ reboots classic tale with modern technology
Joel Ivany pulls no punches when asked about the Toronto performances of Orphée+, the bold reinvention of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s 18th-century Baroque opera Orphée et Eurydice that will be performed in Banff later this month.
Initially, he thought they seemed a little rough.
A co-production between the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Opera Columbus and Ivany’s Toronto-based Against the Grain Theatre, the new opera’s wellreceived, three-night run at the Fleck Dance Theatre in late April came less than a week after debuting in Columbus.
“We had three performances back to back to back simply because that’s all we could, in theory, afford,” says Ivany, stage director of Orphée+ and artistic director of Against the Grain Theatre. “It was very tight pressure in terms of the turnaround from Columbus to Toronto. I felt like it wasn’t as smooth as it could have been. I guess, in that search for perfection, you’re always hoping for more.”
But in hindsight, Ivany has come to a much more generous appraisal of the opera’s Canadian debut in Toronto. Clearly, the technically dazzling, multi-disciplined retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice packed a punch, and not only with audiences and critics. On June 24, Orphée+ picked up five Dora Awards, including one for best opera production. It had been nominated for nine trophies, making it one of Canadian theatre’s success stories of 2018.
“I think it just speaks to the team and the production itself and how powerful it was, considering it was under such tight constraints,” says Ivany, in an interview with Postmedia.
There was plenty of curiosity about the opera even before its impressive haul at the Doras, which honour theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. But the wins will give another boost in profile to Orphée+ as it enters its third and, at least for now, final run on July 12 and 14 at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
As a concept, Orphée+ is the sort of production that was sure to raise eyebrows even before it hit the stage.
It keeps the structure of Gluck’s opera intact — which was itself considered groundbreaking during its 1762 Vienna debut — but updates it with a mix of fearlessness and irreverence.
It still tells the tale of Orpheus, who journeys to the underworld to bring wife Eurydice back from the dead. But among its innovative updates are burlesque dancers from New York’s Company XIV, dizzying lighting and sound design, video projections and a dazzling aerial performance high in the rafters.
There’s also electric guitar and synths in the orchestra, which may approach sacrilege for some opera purists, and an international “virtual chorus” of voices recorded after Against the Grain put out an online call for volunteers. The Banff Centre describes it as an “electronic, Baroque burlesque, descent into hell.” The Globe and Mail one-upped that definition by dubbing it “sci-fi-burlesquemeets-David-Lynch.” Whatever the case, the idea was to push boundaries.
“The main hook we had was to be true to the piece, let’s maintain what the piece is and the players in it, but then let’s be open to everything,” Ivany says. “We all had a respect for where this work came from, but also said ‘Let’s cross as many lines as we can to see what the possibilities would be.’ That’s exciting when you’re dealing with opera, because it tends to have this very traditional, reverential esthetic and feel to it.”
It’s not completely new territory for Against the Grain Theatre. They are known for their inventive reboots of classic operas, whether it be turning Puccini’s La Boheme into an English-language modern love story that unfolds in a Toronto bar or spinning Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte into A Little Too Cozy, a “comedy of manners” set in the surreal world of reality TV.
Mounting Orphée+ in Banff had its own unique challenges, including the need to recast two of the three main roles. Counter-tenor Siman Chung will return in the title role. But Mireille Asselin was not available for the Banff performances, and has been replaced by Lebanese-Canadian soprano Miriam Khalil as Eurydice. Soprano Marcy Richardson won a Dora for her performance as Amour in Toronto, but was also unavailable to reprise the role. This one proved to be a bit of worry given the unique skills required. Richardson, who is also an aerialist and pole dancer, performed it all while perched on a hoop suspended from the rafters. Various solutions were floated, including using an acrobat in the rafters and singer in the orchestra pit.
But Ivany was able to find Hong Kong-born soprano Etta Fung, Richardson’s replacement, through an efficient and uniquely modern manner.
“I Googled ‘soprano aerialist’ and found this incredible singer singing Queen of the Night from silks,” Ivany says. “So she was suspended about 25 feet in the air and sang one of the most difficult arias you’ve ever heard. I thought, ‘this is interesting.’ So I found her website and emailed her. She was trained in the United States in terms of opera. But she is a silk artist and an opera singer.”
It’s yet another aspect of the production that broadens the form and, Ivany hopes, brings a new audience to opera.
“It’s showing people, if this is their first opera, something interesting so they say ‘I had no idea this could be in an opera,’ ” Ivany says. “It’s to cross the lines in terms of sounds that we hear today and a look but also remaining true to what a piece was.”
Orphée+ will be performed Thursday, July 12 and Saturday, July 14 in the Eric Harvie Theatre at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Visit banffcentre.ca/ events
The main hook we had was to be true to the piece, let’s maintain what the piece is and the players in it, but then let’s be open to everything.