REVIEW: A river of truly tragic twists in ‘Eurydice’ at the Underground

The original myth tells how Eurydice dies on their wedding day and Orpheus goes to bring his bride back from the dead. His music charms even Hades himself, who tells Orpheus he can lead his bride back to the land of the living, but only if he does not turn around until they are both above ground.

Orpheus looks back a second too soon and Eurydice vanishes.

Ruhl explores Eurydice’s virtually nonexistent side of the story to find new levels of tragedy.

An opening scene at the seashore gives weight to the romance. Eurydice seems an odd match for Orpheus. She likes to read and lacks musical abilities. But Shayna Schafter imbues her with such a sense of sweetness we see an ordinary young woman in a series of extraordinary circumstances.

Similar qualities are possessed by Justin Peck as her father and firmly established when he reads the speech he will never give at her wedding. Theirs is the key relationship in this play, underscored by the declaration “a wedding is for a father and a daughter.”