From Tuesday 10th to Saturday 14th May 1988 the Bristol Light Opera Club presented Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, billed as “A Musical Romp” in Geoffrey Dunn’s English version, at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The title page announced the club “in their Theatre Royal debut”, and chairman Alan Seager wrote that it was “the first time that Bristol Light Opera Club has been honoured to appear at the Royal”, recalling patrons “throwing orange peel from the gods”. Alex Turasiewicz directed, with David Clarke as musical director and Suzy Cooper as choreographer. The programme also mourns Freddie Neath B.E.M., who “first joined the Club in 1934” and worked for it for 54 years, and looks ahead to Oklahoma! at the Hippodrome in November.
Cast
- Calliope — Sylvia Jordan
- Eurydice — Christine Parker
- Orpheus — Robert Hurst
- Pluto — Roderick Young
- Footman — Peter Townsend
- Venus — Helen Harries
- Cupid — Lucy Bernard
- Mars — Chris Punter
- Jupiter — Andrew Cunningham
- Juno — Peggy de Lacy Adams
- Diana — Alison Sutton
- Vulcan — Andrew Symon
- Hebe — Susan Mitchell
- Aurora — Adrienne Higgins
- Minerva — Vicki Sealey
- Ceres — Anthea Arnold
- Bacchus — Gary Oxenham
- Mercury — Peter Marlow
- Neptune — Alan Williams
- John Styx — Ken Crowhurst
- Cerberus — Joyce Greenhalgh, Iris Shopland, Joan Walke