One Minute World Arts- Interpreting Greek Myth on Stage: The Story of Orpheus and Eurydice

The ancient Greek #myth of Orpheus and Eurydice has often been adapted and put on the stage; be it a #play, an #opera, or a #musical, the audience always awaits the moment when Orpheus turns back to look at his beloved Eurydice, and is thereby doomed to lose her forever. Over the last two decades, almost all theatrical pieces based on the story have tried to re-interpret this Greek classic with #contemporary #perspectives. In 2003, playwright Sarah Ruhl wrote an acclaimed play by re-imagining and re-telling the story from Eurydice’s point of view. Several years later, she adapted her own text into a #libretto for the opera Eurydice, which was then performed at The #Metropolitan Opera in 2021. Another famous adaptation of the story is the musical #Hadestown, created by American song-writer and playwright Anaïs Mitchell. Mitchell blended into the plot a few key scenes with Hades and his wife Persephone, so as to further illustrate the love and pains experienced by Orpheus and Eurydice. The musical received a total of 14 Tony Awards nominations and won 8 of them in 2019.

It is customary that a musical would end with something cheerful or uplifting to inspire the audience. However, Hadestown shows courage in keeping the #tragic ending of the story the way it is, as if telling the audience: despite its sadness, the love story of Orpheus and Eurydice deserves being told from generation to generation.

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舞台轉譯神話- #奧菲厄斯與尤麗迪絲 (Orpheus and Eurydice)

#希臘神話 中奧菲厄斯與尤麗迪絲的故事，一向是戲劇舞台上廣為人知的經典；無論是以哪一種形式呈現，觀眾們都在等著奧菲厄斯回頭張望、乃至永遠失去摯愛尤麗迪絲的那一刻，以迎來故事的高潮。現今《奧菲厄斯與尤麗迪絲》的各種演出版本，幾乎都會透過 #當代觀點，來重新詮釋這段 #愛情神話。劇作家莎拉魯爾曾於2003年，將女性視角融入這篇故事裡，寫成一部備受推崇的劇本；之後，她又動手改編自己的文字為唱詞，推出 #歌劇版 的《尤麗迪絲》，並於2021年在 #紐約大都會歌劇院 上演。另一齣以之為本的名作，則是美國全才型創作者艾奈絲．米契爾所編寫的音樂劇《#黑帝斯城》 (Hadestown)；她在劇情中添加了許多「冥王」黑帝斯與其妻波賽芬妮的橋段，以對照奧菲厄斯和尤麗迪絲所經歷的愛情和痛苦。這部音樂劇更於2019年獲得 #東尼獎 14項提名，最後拿下8座大獎。

值得一提的是，慣例上來說，音樂劇往往要在劇終之際，訴諸美好結局，以提振觀眾的精神；然而，《黑帝斯城》卻保留了原故事中悲愴收場的安排，大膽直白地告訴觀眾：奧菲厄斯與尤麗迪絲的遭遇雖然哀傷，但依然值得我們代代傳頌下去。

Source https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/theater/hadestown-eurydice-broadway-opera.html

Photo Credit: Hadestown Broadway Official; Sara Krulwich The New York Times