Word: cocteau
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...COCTEAU described his 1926 play Orphee, an adaptation of the Greek myth, as "part farce, part meditation on death." While the Adams House version retains much of the original's structure, Cocteau's description doesn't really hold...
Written by Jean Cocteau...
...Cocteau wove overt references to popular culture into his adaptation of the classic. Hints of thrillers, dime romances and detective films abound in the tale of the poet Orpheus's (Jim May) descent into Hades and return with his bride Eurydice (Magdalena Hernandez). Prascak, perhaps true to Cocteau's intentions, begins the play with a Madonna medley and transforms Death (Jennifer Lyn Bader) into a lovely Material Girl in white...
...most part, Prascak maintains Cocteau's scene structure and characters. His major switch is to replace a talking horse with a small Oscar the Grouch figure, the same Muppet that starred in The Dream Play. This horse-turned-Muppet opens the play with cryptic messages that provide Orpheus with poetic inspiration. It is helpful to keep in mind that this--like much of what else is odd in the production--is weird thanks to Cocteau, not Prascak...
...other Costa-Gavras films, including a recent and little-known picture about an American woman who is sucked into spying for Israeli intelligence yet who thinks she is in love with a handsome Palestinian, lack both political insight and quality. Unfortunately, Costa-Gavras is no Cocteau and does not succeed in being a jack of all trades...