Be warned: this article is neither arty nor farty. Is Mick an internationally renowned opera authority? No. Mick is delighted that (after ten years of searching) he has reacquired "Chef of the Future" by the legendary New Duncan Imperials.
(It's punk. About a chef.)
So: ordinary DFA, dipped in high culture. Honest observations follow.
One of the best things about a night at the opera is that a beautiful, well-dressed hottie hangs off your arm the whole evening. Mine wore black and high heels. A few other birds tried to be better looking, up in the Gaiety's bar before the show, but only revealed themselves for the aging bottle-dependent posers they were. Ha!
This opera crowd contained vaguely familiar-looking faces. My companion enjoyed spotting a TV presenter. Also a minor celebrity who reputedly had a baby for disgraced politician Charlie Haughey. Average age: forty-nine. One friendly intellectual settled her white wine at our table, due to lack of space. Orfeo pulled in a full house.
"The Orpheus legend has been made into thirty-five operas," she related. "First performed in 1762, this yokie bob of Gluck's is highly regarded."
"It says in the program, Sung in Italian with English subtitles. How are they going to manage that?" I wondered, but the announcement that the performance would start in three minutes axed any chance of forewarning.
Lights! Music! Action! The play started with... a movie? Actors gathered around the screen. The setting; a funeral. Images of Orfeo's beautiful bride (Ailish Tynan) flickered before them, laughing and lively. It worked, actually: here was her memory, but only as a cold, faded image. Then Orfeo began to sing. Gadzooks! Flavio Oliver- the voice on that guy! No microphones, no amps, and he filled a house the size of a small stadium. And the pitch he sang in! It was hard to believe that that sound was coming from a living man. Opera is not weird and arty, I recognized. It's refined.
Then the giant bird head appeared. The troupe was performing a funeral dance, heaving themselves about with umbrellas. And occasionally an enormous unicorn mask would be poked up out of the crowd. "Hmmm," appreciated the D4 posers beside me. Refined? Me arse! Big deer heads belong on the walls of fishing lodges, ya prancing poofters.
Granted: as the show progressed, weird animal heads gradually made sense. Orfeo got his countertenor butt down to Hades and met the gods there. Animal gods, who danced very like swooping birds when not making incognito appearances in the world of man. Some other cleverness- Cupid (Daire Halpin) guiding herself with a cane, because love is blind- I found cool rather than confusing.
Credit is due: every detail- whether costumes, choreography, sets, lights, you name it- showed long and careful attention. This evening redefined professional production. Amazing that so many people invested so much thought and effort into a show scheduled only to run four performances.
In the end, Orfeo found his love, began guiding her home, looked at her the wrong way and lost her again. No surprises there. It makes a better show to give the audience a happy ending, though, so Gluck chucked the Greek legend right out the window and did exactly that. Cupid unexpectedly intervened and the pair emerged- with fantastic, simple, startling special effects- from Hades to a big celebratory picnic. Lot of singing, lots of dancing, and English subtitles displayed on three large electronic billboards near the stage.
At 90 minutes, Orfeo Ed Euridice is just the right length for an introduction to opera. Without exhausting the newbie, the evening demonstrated what could be conveyed, and in what distinct style. Even my uncultured arse was enlightened into believing that such a production is something that everyone should see at least once in their life. The company of Opera Ireland did the job right, so give their next performance a shot. Sure, where else would you be going?
My lovely opera mot agreed. And since that day, what have I been singing?
"Can't core an apple/chef of the future! Can't toast a bagel- chef of the future!"
- Added to the DFA Guide, January 2005.
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