Cape Town City Ballet | Orpheus in the Underworld

Orpheus in the Underworld

29 September - 7 October 2004 Artscape Opera House Due to popular demand, Cape Town City Ballet's Orpheus in the Underworld will be re-staged and presented at the Artscape Opera House from 29 September- 7 October, 2004. This highly comical ballet is based on the Greek legend of Pluto, God of the Underworld, who falls in love with Eurydice, wife of Orpheus, and lures her to his kingdom. Paeper has based her ballet on Jaques Offenbach's operetta and sets the action in the 1920's with Pluto as the head of a Mafia-type Underworld and Public Opinion as Calliope, Orpheus' mother.
The mythical world of Orpheus is set in a hotel. Orpheus and Eurydice inhabit the ground floor. Jupiter and his Gods and Goddesses occupy the penthouse with its swimming pool and the underworld is the Nightclub in the basement of the hotel. The Ballet will feature several stars of the past. Janet Lindup who has made the role of Calliope her very own appears at all performances as will Owen Murray as the benevolent Offenbach who keeps an eye on all the proceedings. John Simons and Nicolette Loxton bring their own brand of humour to the roles of the Elderly Couple in Act 1. Izak Botha and Andrew Warth appear with Mervyn Willams as the somewhat odd, Elderly Gods.