Orpheus in der Unterwelt

Orpheus in der Unterwelt, by Jacques Offenbach, Hamburg Opera ★★★★
This opera is part of a set, whose review you will be seeing in completion in the next six months, titled Cult Opera. These are operas filmed at the Hamburg Opera, in color, and meant for television. Regardless, they are very well done, with modest but adequate staging, and superb performers. The opera is a comic opera spoof by Offenbach on the Orpheus motif, and a touch raucous, thus, not suited for young children, who wouldn’t be watching this opera anyway. It is a fun opera to watch, and gives the viewer the lighter side of opera, though laced with much speaking. This production ranks with the other Orpheus opera productions that I have. This opera does not have many available productions on DVD, so it’s difficult to compare with other Aufführungen. That’s too bad. I still prefer Les Contes d’Hoffman as my favorite Offenbach opera, but this ranks high.