Act I, Scene 1: Near Thebes

Public Opinion appears and explains who she is, setting herself up as the guardian of morality. However, she has her work cut out for her: Eurydice is having an affair with the shepherd, Aristaeus, and Orpheus is having affairs with as many women as he possibly can. When Orpheus mistakes Eurydice for his newest conquest, the game is up, and Eurydice insists they get a divorce. However Orpheus decides it would be better to torment her with his latest violin concerto, later threatening to kill Aristaeus.

While Eurydice runs off to warn him, Aristaeus (who is, in fact, Pluto, God of the Underworld) arrives and keeps up his disguise by singing a pastoral song about prancing ponies and buzzing bees. Eurydice re-enters, begging Aristaeus to stay out of the cornfield, where she thinks Orpheus has laid a trap for him. Pluto tricks her into walking into the cornfield by showing no fear of death, and, after being bitten by a snake, Eurydice finds that death isn't as bad as she thought it might be. They descend into the Underworld as soon as Eurydice has left a note telling her husband she's found a new lover.

Orpheus returns, only to find his wife has "departed." He is thrilled until Public Opinion catches up with him, and threatens to ruin his career unless he goes to rescue his wife. A slave to public opinion, Orpheus reluctantly agrees to go.

Act I, Scene 2: Mount Olympus

On Mount Olympus the Gods sleep out of boredom, except for a few of the gods and goddesses who return from a long night of carousing on Earth. Diana comes home last, complaining that her latest love, Actaeon, was nowhere to be found. Jupiter, shocked at the behavior of his supposedly virgin goddess daughter, admits to getting rid of him. Mercury arrives, telling Jupiter that Pluto has killed a mortal so he could take her to Hades. Jupiter summons Pluto to Mount Olympus, where he denies all knowledge of Eurydice and her untimely death. After revealing to the other gods the pleasures of Hell, Pluto leads them to revolt against ambrosia, nectar, and the sheer boredom of Mount Olympus. Jupiter's demands to know what is going on lead them to point out his hypocrisy at great length, describing - and poking fun of - all of his mythological affairs. Orpheus' arrival forces the gods to get onto their best behavior. Pluto is worried he will be forced to give Eurydice back, and, after a rather uninspired plea from Orpheus to get his wife back, Jupiter announces that he is going to Hell to sort everything out. The other gods beg to come with him, he consents, and mass celebration breaks out.

Act II, Scene 1: Pluto's bedroom

Eurydice is being kept locked up by Pluto, and she finds Hell (and Pluto) very boring. Her jailer, a dull-witted fellow by the name of John Styx, is not helping, particularly his habit of telling, at the slightest provocation, all about how he was King of the Beotians* until he died.

Jupiter (with the help of his son, Cupid, and her love police) spots where Pluto hid Eurydice while being shown around, and slips through the keyhole by having himself turned into a fly. He flirts with Eurydice and sings a love duet with her. After he reveals to her that he is no fly, but really King of the Gods, he promises to help her escape, mostly because he wants her for himself.

*Beotia is a part of Greece that Aristophanes fills with idiotic rural rubes - rather appropriate for John Styx.

Act II, Scene 2: A party in Hades

The scene shifts to a huge party the gods are having in Hell, where ambrosia, nectar, and propriety are nowhere to be seen. Eurydice sneaks in disguised as a Bacchante, but Jupiter's plan to sneak her out is interrupted by calls for a dance. Unfortunately, Jupiter can only dance minuets which everyone else finds boring and awful. Things liven up, though, as the music of the Can-Can starts, and everyone throws themselves into it with wild abandon.

Ominous violin music heralds the approach of Orpheus and Public Opinion, but Jupiter has a plan, and promises to keep Eurydice away from him. As with the original myth, Orpheus must not look back, or he'll lose Eurydice forever. Public Opinion keeps a close eye on him, to keep him from cheating, but Jupiter throws a lightning bolt, making him jump and look back. Pluto thinks this means Eurydice can stay with him, but Jupiter decides to give her to Bacchus, the god of wine.