Hadestown

[meteordust]

I've spent years deliberately not listening to songs from Hadestown, not watching clips of Hadestown, and avoiding spoilers for Hadestown. Because I knew I wanted to see it one day. (I guess it fell into that middle zone of me being invested enough to want to be unspoiled, but not so invested that I had to check it out right away.)

Anyway. It finally came to Australia! I saw it at the Theatre Royal in Sydney, and later it will move to Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne.

Was it worth the wait? Totally! I loved it from the very first moment. Me, I'm the audience for this.


Expectations

What I knew going in:

1) It's based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, but in a modern day setting, with Hades as a company town.

2) The music is kind of jazz and folk?

3) People have opinions about the Act 1 closing number.


The cast

Everyone was awesome. I always think it's a shame that we rarely get Australian cast recordings, because there's so much talent here. And sometimes this is the version I want to listen to over and over at home.

* Hermes - One reason I was excited about this production, was that the headliner was Christine Anu, living legend. She was fantastic as the narrator Hermes. (I also loved that she got to use her Australian accent!)

* Eurydice - Abigail Adriano was Kim in a recent Miss Saigon production. So you know she can bring it. And she did. Intensity, and the ache of a cynic who starts to believe.

* Orpheus - Whenever you're trying to convey a character who's the best singer in the world, you've got a lot to live up to. Noah Mullins gave Orpheus a sincerity and vulnerability that really stood out. I could believe his singing could make the stones weep.

* Persephone - Elenoa Rokobaro lit up the stage whenever she appeared, bringing the vibrant energy of spring, and the underlying strength.

* Hades - Adrian Tamburini is an opera singer! A deep bass voice fits Hades perfectly. Also made an interesting contrast to Orpheus's lighter and higher voice.


The story

A lot of stuff happened! But this is what I had the most feelings about.

I know the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. But I wanted to go into Hadestown unspoiled, because what if they changed the ending? And then that turned out to be the whole damn point of the story. They played me beautifully, and it was devastating and amazing.

Hermes says up front at the start, "It's a sad tale, it's a tragedy" and "We're gonna sing it anyway" and "Maybe it will turn out this time".

And then when it happens - The Moment - and Hermes says, "It's a sad song, but we sing it anyway" and continues with:

"'Cause here's the thing
To know how it ends
And still begin to sing it again
As if it might turn out this time
I learned that from a friend of mine"

It gave me so many feelings. It feels trite to describe it as meta, but it just crystallised so much about storytelling and human nature and mortality and belief.

Another part that gave me a lot of feelings. In the underworld, where love threatens to start a revolution. And the power of Orpheus's song. When the workers are singing, "Show the way the world could be. If you can do it, so can she. If she can do it, so can we." That maybe they can walk out of hell. Damn. So hopeful and heartbreaking.

And about that Act 1 closing number. I agree that "Wait for Me" is the kind of big emotional finale that I love and that normally works well to close an act. But, as others have pointed out, it's the Act 1 closing number for a version of Hadestown where Orpheus doesn't look back. It's making a certain promise to the audience. So instead, you need the sinister and unsettling "Why We Build the Wall", to set the tone. So I get why they did that.


Final thoughts

To the world we dream about
and the one we live in now

I just keep thinking. About Orpheus's song. About the story and its themes. Art can change the world. Art can show you how the world could be. You have to dream it before you can make it happen. But it's hard to think about those things when you've starving and cold. It benefits those in power to keep you starving and cold, because then you don't have the time and energy to think about anything else. It feels like you don't have the luxury for art then. But imagining another possibility is the first step in changing the status quo. The human capacity for hope is persistent. As humans, we keep on dreaming, even when it seems impossible, maybe especially when it seems impossible. We keep on dreaming that it could be different. Maybe this time.

No matter how many times history smacks us down, humans keep asking, "Yeah, but what if?"

Anyway. Not just a banging musical. Hadestown, everyone.


A random comment online

"I tried the 'Orpheus Challenge' in a Costco with my boyfriend and made it like 15 feet before looking because I was so scared to just leave him behind in a busy ass Costco"


Australian trailer

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[ivyfic]

I saw Hadestown on Broadway with its original cast. I had the same thought watching it—how are they going to end it? You’ve got all these themes, of art, of the systems of poverty, oppression, there’s a brewing slave rebellion, so how will they end it? I was gobsmacked when it ended the exact way it has always ended. (I don’t know if your staging was the same, but the Broadway set has several concentric rings that rotate, and the center is a lift. So when Orpheus looked back, Eurydice literally dropped out of sight.) My wife, who did not know the myth thought the play was fine and wasn’t particularly moved by it. :)

I don’t know if you’ve dived into the creation, but I remember thinking there were some structural weirdnesses to the show. And then realizing it started as a concept album and went through many iterations explains them. Like, ending Act I the way they did is an odd choice, but it started as a one act album, so ending on the strongest song for the intermission makes sense. And then you have Persephone’s song, which works very well as an Act ii opener, but is weird to put that late in the play as a character introduction. It’s fascinating. I have a whole book on the history of the revisions of the lyrics.

Man, I’d really like to see it again. Unfortunately, last time I wanted to go back I was too pregnant to sit through a show and now I have a one year old. Just have to hope it keeps chugging on Broadway til I can go!

[meteordust]

Yeah, it's pretty impressive that even when we know the ending, we're not expecting the ending! I saw it with a friend who wasn't familiar with the myth, like your wife, and she thought it was sad but probably not as devastated as I was.

We had the rotating rings, but not the lift. Instead, on the back wall of the stage there were these horizontal double doors, where one slides into the ceiling and the other slides into the floor. It was used as the entrance to the underworld. When Orpheus looked back, Eurydice was standing just inside the open doors, and it looked like the mouth of a cave. There were like a few agonising seconds where they just stared at each other, then the doors slid shut.

I'd heard it started as a concept album, but I didn't know there was just the one act! I'll have to check out the book, I'd love to know more about the creative process.

I hope the show has a long run on Broadway and you can go see it again!

[ivyfic]

This post has sent me into a Hadestown relisten-- When I first saw it, the Broadway cast recording had not been released, there was only the concept album and the NYTW recording. Both of which are very different from each other and from the final. For example, in the concept album, whenever Orpheus sings, it's a trio. This is something that still has remnants in the final--enough that when I first saw it I was like, oh *brilliant*. That's a way to show he's a demigod--when he sings it is with multiple voices. Of course, that's unworkable in a full length stage show. Also, there are changes like the NYTW version doesn't have "Is It True," which I think is a key part of showing one of the themes of the show, that art is important for showing all of us a way out of oppression. The confrontation is also not just between Hades and Orpheus but between Persephone and Euridyce, with her trying to warn Euridyce away from Orpheus. That's a major and less sympathetic turn for Persephone, but removing it also removes so much agency for the female characters.

I think it is the uneasiness with which Hadestown with its themes that makes it so compelling. It makes me turn it over and over in my mind to try to make it have a cohesive thematic statement, but it resists that. On the one hand, Euridyce makes a choice in this version of the story, instead of just dying--but that choice is enslavement. So is this saying that she is disempowered because of poverty, rather than because of being a woman? Orpheus is a poor boy, but extraordinarily priveleged--he's a favorite of a god and a muse's son. He can walk into and out of Hades--he only risks someone else's fate.

Honestly, Orpheus is a hard character to like. When winter comes he gets so involved with his art that he doesn't notice Euridyce dying. So we're saying that art can give us hope and strength in the struggle, but also that art can cause us to turn our backs on our loved ones? And because we're doing a Greek myth, Orpheus can bring spring back by making Hades change his mind. So there's the story that what we must do with oppressors is persuade them, rather than defeat them? It's compellingly collectivist but ultimately individualist. And the ending--it leaves such a small ray of hope. That fighting oppression led to destruction this time, but maybe it won't next time.

Oof. Need to see it again.

(The fact that my wife doesn't like this show and is vaguely annoyed that she's expected to know the greek myths to enjoy it means I'm geebling here.)

[meteordust]

I've been listening to the Broadway cast recording too! So good. So catchy. I hope to check out all the versions eventually. I'm glad they kept some parts where Orpheus's singing has multiple voices in it - I loved that, it felt very much like there's supernatural power there.

I started reading the book about the lyrics! Turns out there's an audiobook version, so I've been listening to that. It's fascinating to hear about all the evolutions and choices. Including the problem of making Orpheus more likeable. Because I had no problem liking him in this version. For the most part anyway - I think the most unsympathetic moments are (1) when he's so busy writing that he doesn't hear Eurydice (it's a bit of a Great Man situation, working on his Big Ideas, while his wife is having to make sure people are fed and clothed) and (2) when he turns around (you had one job! though I feel it's really the Fates with their thumbs on the scale).

But learning that Hermes telling Eurydice, "He's not like any man you've met", was originally Orpheus's line, "I'm not like any man you've met" - wow, totally different impact! No wonder early audiences thought Orpheus wasn't very sympathetic. And it's impressive that who delivers a line can make that much difference.

And it was interesting what Anaïs Mitchell said about the scene before the storm - if Orpheus dismisses or ignores Eurydice, the audience will start to hate him. But if Orpheus does nothing wrong, the audience will start to hate Eurydice for abandoning him. It must be really hard to navigate that.

I read somewhere online that the reset beginning has a few differences from the first time around - hinting that maybe enough might have changed to make a difference this time? Kind of like a Groundhog Day. I find it kind of hopeful. I want to believe it anyway.

At the same time, I find the fact that Orpheus failed kind of galvanising instead of depressing? Maybe the way a bad ending inspires fix-it fic. With everything going on in the world, the songs feel very relevant and anthemic. I think I'll probably be listening to them a lot.

[dolorosa_12]

This sounds staggeringly good. One of my friends in the UK just saw the London production last week, but I had no idea there was also an Australian production running concurrently.

[meteordust]

It really blew me away, I was so impressed. I hope your friend enjoyed the show too!