8/17/2023 0 Comments Hadestown cast![]() Songs at a low pitch alone aren’t going to make us think we’re in the presence of an underworld King. As Hades, Quinn delivers the baritone but falls short on the bombast. The hope for future performances is that, as Persephone, Oliveras retains her humorous/ballsy manner but finds a way to rein in the breathlessness that haunts her energetic numbers. To be fair, Houston is the first stop for a new principal cast of this touring show, so allowances can be made for a somewhat less-than-perfect effort. It’s almost a shame that Graham gets the energetic and chugging full steam ahead opening number, as the charisma/talent he exudes then and throughout the show is never matched by the rest of the lead performers. His silver shiny suit with winged sleeves and sequin vest may twinkle, but the true spark comes from the performance itself, marrying seductive bravado with masterful vocals. However, it’s hard to feel anything but glee when it’s Graham’s turn on stage. It’s a sad tale it’s a tragedy Hermes (Nathan Lee Graham) reminds us once again as we dust off from the fateful ending. He’ll let the lovers go (and possibly his now rioting forced laborers to follow) as long as Orpheus can keep his self-doubt at bay and trust fully in the love he and Eurydice share. Reminded of his original love of Persephone, Hades offers Orpheus and Eurydice the chance to escape, with a catch. The result is a deal with the devil kind of proposition. It's an arrangement she grows increasingly dissatisfied with, causing emotional distance between her and Hades. Her moments granting spring become shorter and shorter each year while her husband robs the earth, putting seasons out of tune. This love-driven self-sacrifice catches the attention of Hades’ wife, Persephone (Maria-Christina Oliveras).Īs both the Queen of the Underworld and Goddess of Spring itself, Persephone must split her time equally between Hade’s barren territory and the world of living things up top. When Orpheus (Chibueze Ihuoma) learns of Eurydice’s whereabouts, he sets off on a hero’s journey to rescue her from the bowels of the earth. He grants her eternal life, but also eternal overtime as forced labor, building an impenetrable wall around his vast coal/oil/electric grid industrial fortune. Once there, Eurydice is an easy target for the tyrannical Hades (Matthew Patrick Quinn), King of the Underworld. ![]() ![]() Exhausted and starving, her will beaten down by the mind-whispering Fates (Dominique Kempf, Belén Moyano, and Nyla Watson serving wonderful vocal harmony), she’s lured into the underworld by promises of an easier, more comfortable life. Ravenous, she roams, struggling to find something to eat on her climate-changed planet. A storm is coming and preparations must be made. While Eurydice (Hannah Whitley) loves the dreamer in him, her worries about food and shelter occupy her mind. Orpheus (Chibueze Ihuoma), the optimistic poet, works obsessively on a song he’s sure will cure the ills of the world, namely the increasing lack of spring and the verdant, warm rebirth that comes with it. The kind that casts an undeniably cool factor on each number as the story unfolds. Thankfully Mitchell ensures her existential mythic/issue layer cake is moist and tempting all the way through by icing it with often joyfully percussive New Orleans-style jazzy blues music. Rather, the musical is an examination of an archetype how we step forward and then back in the dance of industry versus nature, greed versus love, haves and have-nots, and so on.īig ideas to wrestle with. ![]() However, don't assume finger-pointing at any one recent place, time, or person - Hadestown was written long before our present politics. In fact, it’s as big as the whole world.īased on a concept album Mitchell wrote in 2010, Hadestown the musical, modernizes the mythic tale by layering issues of climate change, depletion of natural resources, economic inequality, capitalistic greed, nationalism, fear/hatred of foreigners, and yes, wall-building, onto the timeless story. However, by the time we get to the end of the 2019 Tony winner for Best Musical, we realize the sad tale Hermes alludes to is far bigger than one ill-fated love story. After all, Hadestown (music, lyrics, and book by Anaïs Mitchell, direction by Rachel Chavkin) does present a version of the young lover’s story, intertwined narratively with the crumbling marriage of King Hades and his wife Persephone. The calamity of which he speaks is that of Orpheus and Eurydice, one of Greek mythology's most beloved tales, young lovers torn apart by Godly forces and failings of man.Īt least that’s what Hermes (Nathan Lee Graham) is speaking of in the literal sense. “It’s an old song…… a sad tale it’s a tragedy," warns Hermes, the flashy and fabulous messenger God turned musical narrator in the opening number of the exuberantly illuminating Hadestown. ![]()
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