Jacques Offenbach
ORPHEUS IN DER UNTERWELT

LIVE RECORDING FROM DEUTSCHE OPER BERLIN 1984

Orpheus DONALD GROBE
Eurydike JULIA MIGENES JOHNSON
Jupiter HANS BEIRER
Juno ASTRID VARNAY
Hans Styx HELMUTH LOHNER
Pluto / Aristeus GEORGE SHIRLEY

DEUTSCHE OPER BERLIN
Conductor JESS LPEZ COBOS
Stage Director GTZ FRIEDRICH

Orpheus in der Unterwelt, Offenbach's satirical answer to Gluck's Orfeo, was premiered in Paris 1858 and portrays society as amoral, the upper class as lax and indifferent to all and public opinion in charge of both. In the early 1980s legendary director Gtz Friedrich created his own contemporary version of the operetta at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, in German, filled with allusions to the contemporary cultural scene and society in general. Starring a large cast of renowned artists singers and actors Orpheus' odyssey to the Olympic Gods and to the Underworld, in order to save his wife, receives a new face away from Paris in the 19th century and to bourgeois West-Berlin. The performance stars Julia Migenes Johnson, Donald Grobe, Astrid Varnay and George Shirley, to name but a few. Jess Lpez Cobos has the musical direction in this production.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo
Picture Format: 4:3
DVD Format: DVD 9 DVD 5 / NTSC
Subtitles: DE (Original Language), GB, FR / GB (Bonus)
Running Time: 161 mins + 27 mins Bonus
FSK: 0