For its fourth Offenbach release ArtHaus Musik offers a 1997 production from the Théâtre de la Monnaie‚ Brussels. Max Loppert described it in Opera magazine as ‘simply dreadful’‚ and I share his opinion of a musical performance as sluggish as any I have heard. Of the production I’m less sure‚ because this is a notoriously difficult work to stage. How does one replace the original contemporary satire today? Producer Herbert Wernicke chooses a relatively unchallenging but‚ at least‚ original option. There is no Mount Olympus here‚ no cornfield in which Eurydice is bitten by a snake. Instead he sets it in a 19th­century Brussels café called A la Mort Subite (‘Sudden Death’)‚ thereby anticipating Eurydice’s own demise. The café setting provides an excuse for some piano accordions and half­hearted can­can dancers‚ and the Gods are the café’s Society patrons. John Styx is a drunkard who emerges from the engine of a steam train that‚ for no obvious reason‚ crashes through the roof. Public Opinion is a Mrs Mop – which is fair enough‚ though her cavortings on stage and in the audience do become a little hard to take. On stage‚ Elizabeth Vidal’s light­voiced Eurydice delights the eye as well as the ear‚ while Dale Duesing is an imposing Jupiter‚ and Alexandru Badea is an Orpheus who really does play the violin. Altogether it’s an intriguing alternative to more conventional productions of Orphée aux enfers. Whether prospective purchasers want an alternative production for repeated viewing‚ only they can decide.