
The Egyptian Helen 2001
When magic fails…
…true love triumphs in Strauss’ shimmering jewel as Helen and Menelas revive their marriage after the Trojan War.
Synopsis
Act I
The Trojan War, between Troy and Sparta, began when the Trojan Paris seduced and abducted Helen. She was the wife of the Spartan King Menelas and was considered the most beautiful woman in the world. After ten years of battle, the Spartans finally defeated the Trojans, with Menelas killing Paris and reclaiming Helen. Menelas starts to sail home, intending to offer Helen as a sacrifice for the many casualties of the war.
Palace of the Sea-Goddess Aithra, overlooking the ocean. Aithra longs for her absent lover, the sea god Poseidon. As Menelas’ ship passes her magical island, Aithra decides to foil his plan to murder Helen by calling up a storm. Shipwrecked, Helen and Menelas are cast up upon the shore. Menelas is still bent upon killing Helen – using the same sword with which he slew Paris. Aithra and her elves use sorcery to deter him, making Menelas believe he is back at war and must fight Paris again. Aithra gets Helen to drink a “Potion of Forgetfulness” that lulls her to sleep and erases memory of the past. When Menelas returns, believing he has killed both Paris and Helen, Aithra drugs him with the same potion. Aithra makes them believe that the terrible events of the last decade were all imaginary – that the gods had rescued Helen from Paris and hidden her away during the war and that the “Helen” whom Menelas has just slain was her ghostly twin. Menelas is happy to accept this fiction and be reunited. Helen asks Aithra to transport them to a remote place where no one has heard of the Trojan Helen.
Artists

Christine Brewer
Soprano
Helena

John Horton Murray
Tenor
Menelas

Judith Howarth
Soprano
Aithra

Mark Delavan
Baritone
Altair

Jill Grove
Mezzo-soprano
The Omniscient Mussel

John McVeigh
Tenor
Da-Ud

Candice Hunter
Soprano
Hermione

Coral Owdom
Soprano
First Servant

Stephanie Woodling
Mezzo-soprano
Second Servant

Carollyn Rock
Soprano
First Elf

Deborah van Renterghem
Soprano
Second Elf

Mary Poetschke
Mezzo-soprano
Third Elf

Tracie Luck
Mezzo-soprano
Fourth Elf

John Crosby
Conductor

Bruce Donnell
Director

Adam Stockhausen
Scenic Designer

Rick Fisher
Lighting Designer

Sara Rudner
Choreographer

Robert Wood
Chorus Master