All aboard the railroad car! Next stop: Anaïs Mitchell’s “Hadestown.” This Broadway musical addresses the struggles of the 21st century through the storyline of an ancient Greek tragedy.
Hadestown brings to life the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus (Reeve Carney) and Eurydice (Eva Noblezada), with a few detailed changes. Overall the plot remains the same: guy—Orpheus—and girl—Eurydice—fall in love, girl dies, guy goes to the god of the underworld—Hades—to try and save her, guy sings song and makes god of the underworld’s wife—Persephone—happy, god of underworld says he’ll let girl and guy go if guy can pass a test of faith, guy fails the test at the last second, and the lovers are separated by death. Fun, right? In the original myth, Eurydice dies from being bitten by a poisonous snake. However, in the musical she goes to the underworld after Hades offers her a better life where she would never be hungry—if she gives up her identity. This detail was changed to fit the message of the play regarding capitalism today.
The myth is a tragedy, and the musical makes no false promises that the play will end happily, as we wish it would. One of the really cool aspects of the show is that it opens with an upbeat and lively number, “Road to Hell.” However, the lyrics sung in this tune are telling the audience that this is in fact a tragedy—it will be sad but they’re going to sing it anyway. Then at the end of the musical, the reprise of the opening number, “Road to Hell (reprise),” slows down the melody of the song and basically says we told you this would be a sad story, but that’s the whole point. Even though it is sad that Orpheus and Eurydice don’t end up together, the whole point is to have that (false) hope.
Hadestown opened on Broadway in April 2019, after having been on off Broadway in 2016, on stage in Canada in 2017 and on London’s West End in 2018. From its Broadway run, it has won eight Tony awards, including Best Musical. The show is beyond deserving of such praise. I was lucky to have seen it with the original Broadway cast, and they are truly incredible. Each and every actor is so talented. The fates (Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer and Kay Trinidad) and Orpheus have numbers in which they are not only singing but also playing instruments.
The show doesn’t have a pit; the entire band is set up on stage like a New Orleans club, which was a cool choice of set design because it makes the show feel more intimate. This also allows for members of the pit to come and dance during some of the numbers like “Living It Up On Top” while playing their instruments. Also in the song “Our Lady Of The Underground” Persephone (Amber Gray) introduces every member of the pit by name, and the pit acts as the chorus to the song. Out of all the Broadway shows I’ve seen, this production gave the most attention to the pit, an essential aspect of these performances that are usually overlooked.
A cool concept in Hadestown is the parallel made between Hades (Patrick Page) and Persephone’s relationship and the relationship between Orpheus and Eurydice. We see Hades and Persephone’s relationship as it’s deteriorated over the years of them having been separated for a portion of every year. The lovers are separated when Persephone must go aboveground to the living to bring the change of seasons. Hades becomes controlling over Persephone, as he fears she will lose her affection for him, his desperation only pushing Persephone away as they both forget why they fell in love. While Orpheus and Eurydice’s relationship is still in the “honeymoon stage,” their love echoes what Hades and Persephone once had.
Hades’ and Orpheus’ characters are juxtaposed in other ways. Hades is portrayed as being cynical and cruel towards the idea of love, whereas Orpheus is the definition of a hopeless romantic. Not only are their characterizations juxtaposed, but their vocal ranges contrast as well. Hades sings in a deep baritone voice, while Orpheus sings in a high alto. Their vocal ranges being on complete opposite ends of the spectrum makes their harmonies really cool to listen to.
Hadestown is amazing not just because of its talented cast and beautiful soundtrack but because of the message the musical is trying to convey. The show is bold because it is taking a stab at capitalism and politics today. Hades is framed as a capitalist who is making a profit off of the souls of those below him with less power, and he uses people as laborers in order to gain wealth for himself. There is a number in the musical titled “Why We Build The Wall” which describes poverty as the enemy and people who sneak through the wall are trying to take what they have. Sound familiar? The play is meant to make us think about where our society is going and who it is harming. I would 100 percent recommend going to see this play in person, but more realistically, I would suggest going and listening to the Broadway cast album online.
