Orpheus in the Underworld at the Gaiety
THE Manx Gilbert and Sullivan Society will be performing Orpheus in the Underworld by Jacques Offenbach at the Gaiety Theatre, Douglas, this week.
Click the green icon to the right to hear an audio interview with Karl Cubbon
Last performed in the Island by the Douglas Choral Union in the early 70s, it is famous for featuring the can-can music or 'Infernal Galop' as it is called in the show.
It will be staged from tomorrow (Wednesday) until Saturday.
Chairman of the society, Karl Cubbon, said: 'It is a modern reworking of a 19th century show, it has plenty of modern day saucy humour combined with a bit of satire and local humour and some great singing, and most especially, the can-can. Although the dance of the can-can may have been around earlier in various forms, the first time the can-can music that everyone recognises was actually performed was through Orpheus in the Underworld.'
There will be can-can dancers in the production towards the end of the show. Karl, who plays the character of Pluto, King of the Underworld, explained the plot.
'It's a fairly simple storyline. You have a female character called Eurydice who is married to Orpheus and Eurydice is kidnapped by the King of the Underworld Pluto down to Hades. The show after that is Orpheus going up to the Gods to plead with them to get her back and then going down to Hades to argue with the King of the Underworld.'
The production has been updated for modern day audiences.
'The original translation we got was written in the 1960s and the translation itself was quite dated. In addition when Offenbach wrote Orpheus originally he was satirising conditions at the time so we felt it was quite legitimate to update the dialogue to make it more suitable for modern day and to make certain alterations to make reference to modern day events and local events as well.'
Meanwhile the society has enlisted the talents of Leon Berger to direct the production and he will also be starring in it.
'Leon Berger did a wonderful job directing our last show, Ruddigore, so we had to get him back this year to do Orpheus in the Underworld - another darkly themed musical,' Karl said.
'This time we thought his singing voice was too good to be missed, he is a professional singer of course. Getting him on the stage and playing the title role of Orpheus was too good an opportunity to let go.'
The society held auditions for the production in May and started serious rehearsals in June.
Karl added: 'I think we are going to have a fantastic show, everyone has put in 100 per cent, we are going to walk away with one of the best shows we have produced for a long time.'
To book ring the ticket hotline on 694555.
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Weather for Isle of Man
Tuesday 07 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 1 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 3 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: South
