Bear At The Movies: Orfeo ed Euridice

I had such high expectations for this production - it is one of my favourites; a perfect marriage of music to singing, Gluck trying to make the music as important to the singing. This should be achingly beautiful and tragic. This production only managed to be beautiful I think.
Mark Morris' (self-professed 'opera queen' wrapped in a pink pashmina) direction was adequate. For a dance choreographer the dancing element was lacking. The focus was out. Trying to mesh singers and dancers together did not work.... and really since in previous Morris productions the singers were even banished from the stage I was disappointed with the lack of ambition in the direction....
James Levine's obvious love for this piece was born through in his conducting which was suitably dramatic.... perhaps it was the singing the made me deflated with the overall piece. Now, I had heard rave reviews of Stephanie Blythe's Orfeo - great range, and impassioned in parts but she left me cold.... Yes, her voice is beautiful, yes, she does have a good tone but there was no tie in with the words; there was no notion of the real tragedy. I know that she had missed a performance due to illness and I wondered if this was the reason for the sometimes lack of emotive force. Was she concentrating on controlling her voice particularly in the higher registers?
Heidi Grant Murphy's Amor in a pink polo shirt and chinos brought a little more baroque feel to the piece - cheeky but every so charming. The surprise for me was Danielle De Niese as Eurydice - the best I have heard her... An extraordinary impassioned performance - she still overacts but she did manage to raise the emotional charge of the piece and encourage a little more passion from Stephanie Blythe.
A note about the set..... when Eurydice is re-united with Orfeo the whole scene looks like it set on a staircase made of glistening coal.... The set was definitely the star in this scene.
Overall this was a rather disappointing production. Morris could have made more of the dancers and for me this was a missed opportunity. I did so want this to be a great production but then may be I just had too high expectations.