Funny / L'Orfeo

• In the filmed 1978 production conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, Orpheus repeatedly tries to board Charon's ferry during the instrumental breaks in Act III, while Charon waves him off once he takes notice. When Orpheus persists in trying to cross and attempts to plead to Hades directly, Charon gets in his face and whacks him with his oar.
• A production directed by Antonio Florio had Orpheus become so distressed when Charon refused him that, in waving his arms around, he hit Charon and made him more upset.
• In the midst of the darkness of David Bösch's 2014 production comes a funny moment with Charon, who in keeping with the modern setting is depicted as driving a modern ferry. Orpheus lulling him to sleep and stealing the oar is represented by stealing his boat keys and sailing off.
• When Persephone thanks Hades for giving Orpheus a chance and says losing the sun was worth it to wed him, Hades reminds her to focus on their marriage bed instead of aboveground stuff like the sun. The Antonio Florio production took it further by having them lay on the stage floor and make love in a stylized way.
• A production by the New Belgrade Opera had Orpheus make it past Charon and immediately pass out, leaving Hades and Persephone to discuss what to do with the guy that fell asleep on their floor. Making it funnier is that some of the shades retain their horns from when they were satyrs in earlier acts, giving a Bedsheet Ghost look.
• The William Christie & Les Arts Florissants production had Hades and Persephone's scene take place in the royal bedroom, with Hades climbing into bed to begin the scene, being irritated that Persephone wouldn't sleep with him, and then standing on the bed to give his proclamation, after which they finally go to bed together.
  • The same production had Charon use telekinesis on Orpheus to make him go away, which translated into him rolling himself back and forth on the floor.
• A production by the Princeton University Opera Theater had Hades and Persephone's scene take place at the dinner table, initially leading to a case of They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich as Persephone pleaded with Hades and ignored the food...until they took so long singing they started to eat anyway, with Hades munching on fruit and passing his wife a pomegranate.
• A production by Staatstheater Nürnberg did a semi-modern take on the story that had Apollo talking to Orpheus via flip phone. Additionally, Hades and Persephone's scene had a projection of a giant-sized, dead Eurydice lying across their dining table...which didn't distract them from the meal at all, but when Persephone mentioned Zeus/Jupiter, Hades choked on his food. It ended with a lustful Hades shedding his shirt to make love as Persephone egged him on.
• Orpheus begins his journey out of Hades and, instead of thanking the gods or looking forward to being with Eurydice, immediately starts singing the praises of his all-powerful lyre. The Garsington Opera version made this even funnier by staging it in slow-motion to show the long journey, which coupled with the red backlight made it look like Orpheus was doing an Unflinching Walk from an explosion.
• A production by Detlef Soelter had Persephone watch Orpheus's ascent and faint when he turned around to a dramatic gong sound.
• Depending on how it's played, Apollo descending from the heavens to scold and comfort Orpheus can be read as him sternly telling Orpheus to knock it off with the angst already.

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