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.)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2025-02-23 04:12 pm (UTC)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.)