Hadestown

[osprey_archer]

Hadestown is on tour, and as so many of my friends have raved about it, of course I had to see it when it came to town last week.

Since it earned rave reviews on all sides, I went into it expecting to love it, and perhaps because this expectation had built it up so much, I was a little disappointed. But also, I’ve been thinking about it on and off all week, which is not true of some shows that I enjoyed more in the moment, so I may end up loving it in the end.

Some great songs for sure. I liked the Hades/Persephone duets best, especially the one where she's basically singing “Why did you go full Saruman and turn your kingdom into an industrial wasteland?” and he's like “Think of the fires as the heat of my desire for you, babe!” Although of course the lyrics are far richer and more poetic.

In comparison, Orpheus/Eurydice seemed underpowered, which I suppose is fair enough when you're going up against the gods. But since Orpheus's whole thing is that he's such an amazing singer that he nearly sings his wife out of Hades, surely he ought to have the powerhouse voice of the show? Whereas I thought that he was the least interesting singer, although of course this may reflect more on my weakness as a listener than any deficiency in him. I’d like to listen to the original Broadway cast recording to compare.

Whatever my quibbles, the musical struck me enough that I finally wrote down my own Orpheus retelling. This is in fact a retelling of a story I wrote in high school, which has been lost to digital rot, probably for the best as I think having to rewrite it from scratch with my adult powers made it a stronger story attempting to polish up a high school tale. So I’ll be looking for a home for that!

Comments

[troisoiseaux]

Since it earned rave reviews on all sides, I went into it expecting to love it, and perhaps because this expectation had built it up so much, I was a little disappointed.

You're the second person I've heard this from recently— I think it's been so hyped at this point that it can't possibly live up to the expectations.

(On the flip side, I recently talked with someone who went into Hadestown with minimal expectations or context and she loved it! But also she was like "the moral of this story is Don't Date A Musician" lol.)

But since Orpheus's whole thing is that he's such an amazing singer that he nearly sings his wife out of Hades, surely he ought to have the powerhouse voice of the show? Whereas I thought that he was the least interesting singer

To be honest, this is also true of the original Broadway actor. (Who at least sounds better on the OBC than he did when I saw the show... it was very "white boy with guitar" mumblecore.) Not sure how any of the subsequent replacements measure up.

Glad to hear the art about art has inspired you to create more art, though!!

[asakiyume]

I forget whether you have the original concept album as well? In that, Orpheus songs are sung by Justin Vernon (from Bon Iver), who definitely has a high, thin singing stye. I feel like the Orpheus character maybe kind of IS white-boy-with-a-guitar in Mitchell's retelling. I feel like the retelling is wondering in story form just how far love (and by extension music and poetry) can take you. It can move the hearts of the gods! ... For a moment. In the Is-love-alone-enough? debate, Hadestown seems to come down on the No side, while still managing to really center love (quite a feat!). But if you're going to come down on the No side, maybe inevitably your Orpheus character has to be a kind of wispy, not-very-substantial presence? If he had more heft and strength, maybe we'd wonder why he failed? (Not deeply committed to this analysis, just sort of playing with the ideas...)

[troisoiseaux]

Mitchell's original concept album is the Hadestown of my heart - I am still annoyed with some of the lyric changes in the Broadway show, which feel "dumbed down" for absolutely no reason at all - and I do see your point re: Justin Vernon, but at least he does sing.

[asakiyume]

Oh, I definitely agree!

So is the problem that some of the actors--like maybe the one Osprey Archer saw?--just aren't quite as good when it comes to singing?

[troisoiseaux]

Yeah, I was responding to Osprey's "surely [Orpheus, famously good at music] ought to have the powerhouse voice of the show" comment— although I suppose, on the flip side, if we're thinking of musical talent = magic power, the gods should be the best singers, in which case the OBC and the Persephone I saw both times on Broadway absolutely killed it. (I saw the same cast twice, about a year apart; Jewelle Blackman as Persephone and Eva Noblezada as Eurydice were the standouts, imo.)

[osprey_archer]

IMO the gods were the best singers here, too, which may add more evidence to your musical talent = magic power equation. The choice is purposeful, maybe! Although if I were Hades, I wouldn't have let Orpheus out of Hades for that song, let alone let him take his girlfriend, and also possibly my entire labor force, since we seem to be unionizing the underworld through the power of music?

[osprey_archer]

It's not NOT a story about Don't Date a Musician. Orpheus! Maybe if you had paid more attention to your poor starving girlfriend, this all could have been avoided!

Always nice when art inspires more art.

[asakiyume]

Interesting. Do you think it was the performer that underwhelmed, or the songs that he sang? (Or both?)

I've never seen Hadestown performed as a show: my only experience seeing it live was when I saw Anaïs Mitchell and the original backing band she had for the concept album perform the concept album, and that was a good show, but not as good as it would have been if she'd had Ani DiFranco (Persephone), Greg Brown (Hades) and Justin Vernon (Orpheus) with her. But I ADORED the concept album--loved all the songs, loved the poetry, loved the idea of it. And I got the first live cast recording, when it first was done up as an actual show but before it was on Broadway, and I loved the new music that had been added. But I've never heard the Broadway recording or seen the show.

I think I fell in love with aspects of her retelling, which is maybe like falling in love with a story as opposed to a movie--the movie being the actual show.

[osprey_archer]

Hmmm. It's hard to entirely separate the two, but both the performer and the song, I think. (I mean, for a lot of the show his signature song is literally "la la la," so.) As I said to troisoiseaux above, I just don't think that I would have let Orpheus out of Hades for that song, let alone let him take along his girlfriend and also disrupt my whole labor force, who are trying to follow along too.

Maybe I should give the concept album a listen instead of the Broadway cast album.

[asakiyume]

Most of my favorite songs from the album are sung by other characters, but I can't listen to "Wait for me" [link is to the concept album version] without getting tears in my eyes. Admittedly, that song doesn't have many lyrics either, and also, plotwise, it happens before he even gets to Hadestown.

[osprey_archer]

Have you ever seen the musical or movie rent? Early in the show, one of the characters has a power ballad about how he wants to write a memorable song that will live after his early death, and that's his goal for the rest of the show, and at the end he sings it... and it's this dippy little song that doesn't hold a candle to his early power ballad of artistic yearning. Dude! You already wrote your song! It's just at the wrong part of the show!

Anyway, Orpheus's misplaced most powerful song reminded me of that.

[troisoiseaux]

Early in the show, one of the characters has a power ballad about how he wants to write a memorable song that will live after his early death, and that's his goal for the rest of the show, and at the end he sings it... and it's this dippy little song that doesn't hold a candle to his early power ballad of artistic yearning.

I feel like framing any art-within-art - for some reason the first example coming to mind is the novel The Plot, which is about an author plagiarizing someone else's story idea because it's got The Best Plot Twist Ever!! and it turns out to be a bestseller because of The Twist!! and, iirc, spends most of the book hedging around what that twist actually is until revealing it, and then I was just, like, really? that? - ANYWAY. I feel like anything that tries to tell you everyone in-story thinks this is brilliant! honest! is inevitably going to fall flat.

But also lmaoooooo re: that specific example. "One Song Glory" is so good! A certified banger! I... genuinely cannot remember what his ""actual"" song was.

[osprey_archer]

Novelists have it easier IMO because in a book you can just write about a painter or a sculptor or a musician, and tell the readers their work is so mind-blowing without ever having to actually show it. If you have to actually produce the poem or whatever - woof.

"One Song Glory" IS a certified banger! It's playing in my brain as I type! His actual song is... maybe something that someone would think is sweet and beautiful if their personal boyfriend wrote it for them specifically? But completely unmemorable as a piece of music.

[kore]

Heh, I thought that was kind of the point? It's kind of just a sweet dippy song, and that's what he's got.

[asakiyume]

I haven't! But I definitely understand what you're saying.

[kore]

I LOVE the concept album too! (I heard some songs before they were an album! //HIPSTER), watched a lot of the tours on YouTube, thought the OffB show was good, and while the Broadway cast is phenomenal, I just can't get into how simplified it feels. It's very....different. I did love the mini version that cast did for Tiny Desk.

I will say that while all the Orpheuses (Orpheii?) I've heard did have kind of thin reedy voices, Justin Vernon on the concept album does his multitrack thing and that made it sound much fuller, like he was such a good singer he had several voices. I liked that effect a lot. Some of the guys on tour were much better than the Broadway Orpheus even without that (he was the weak link, for me).

[asakiyume]

troisoiseaux mentioned about the Broadway show being simplified too! What a shame!

So does the fact that you heard some of the songs before they were an album mean that you've followed Anaïs Mitchell's career since forever? ... She sure is an AMAZING songwriter.

[kore]

She is VERY amazing. I can't remember exactly when I heard of her but it was before the concept album came out, 2007 or 2008 maybe? I know other ppl, like coffeeandink, were following her well before me.