This year’s opera production put up by the Teatru Manoel Youth Opera is Jacques Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld set, however, in the 1980s.

A form of operetta, the work was first performed in 1858 and was longer and more musically adventurous than Offenbach’s earlier pieces. It is an irreverent parody and scathing satire on Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and gave the world the risqué Galop infernal (Infernal Galop), mistakenly referred to as the can-can due to its extensive usage for that type of dance. Orpheus in the Underworld focuses on the titular character of Orpheus (played by Sean Borg) and his wife Eurydice (played by Maria Eleonora Schembri) who hate each other, with Orpheus, however, having to travel to the underworld to rescue his dead wife or incur the wrath of Public Opinion.

Several Greek deities put in an appearance in this version directed by Brock Roberts and conducted by Philip Walsh.

■ Orpheus in the Underworld is taking place tomorrow and Sunday at 8pm at Teatru Manoel, Valletta. It is suitable for those aged 16 and over. Tickets available from www.teatrumanoel.com.mt.

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