Darling, I’ve shrunk the opera! Who said opera isn’t funny or isn’t for children? A preconception that Valérie Lesort playfully overturns in this mini-opera featuring… mini-singers! Here, the plot of Gluck’s *Orpheus and Eurydice* is condensed into fifty minutes and the heroes are… 80 cm tall! The trick? The performers, who are female singers, are part of the puppetry ensemble, just like the puppeteers. Creatures of all kinds, descended from the underworld, round off this tender and whimsical reimagining. Lighting effects, illusions and black theatre bring it all to life.
The story, however, remains the same. Eurydice dies on her wedding day to Orpheus. He can only bring her back from the realm of the dead on two conditions: he must charm the gods of the underworld with his music and must not look back at her. But the journey will prove more difficult than expected. Orpheus is a tad of a whinger. As for Eurydice, though rather capricious, she is in the throes of an existential crisis. But then again, who wouldn’t be after a stay in the underworld?
Together with her collaborator Christian Hecq, Valérie Lesort—a multiple Molière Award winner—has already won over audiences in Caen with her funny and poetic world (Gulliver’s Travels, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Hilton Sisters). The same will be true of this new production, which is ideal for introducing young audiences to opera. As for the adults, they too will feel like children again in the face of such fantasy!
