AllMovie

French composer Christoph Willibald Gluck adapted his 1774 opera Orphée et Eurydice from the Greek myth that alternately inspired like works by Monteverdi, Offenbach, Haydn and Birtwistle, plus critically championed films by Marcel Camus and Jean Cocteau. It tells the story of Orpheus venturing into the underworld to rescue his betrothed, Eurydice, and tragically disobeying the gods' orders by glancing back at her over his shoulder as they ascend from Hades. In composing the work, Gluck eliminated Da Capo arias and basso continuo recitatives, and alternately employs the strophic and rondo forms. The home video issue Orphée et Eurydice features a filmed record of a September 20, 1993 stage production of the work, mounted and performed at the Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia, and directed by Stefanos Lazaridis, with choreography by Meryl Tankard and musical accompaniment by The Australian Opera Chorus and The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. David Hobson and Amanda Thane portray the leads.