Hadestown
While musicals may be niche entertainment when compared to Taylor Swift or the Marvel Cinematic Universe, every few years, a new Broadway production manages to creep into the lexicon of pop culture. The music, the lyrics, and the book gain in popularity as stellar reviews, word-of-mouth praise, and an award-winning night at the Tonys give the production that all-important push to heightened relevance. Despite existing in a medium that might elicit a wince from your stereotypical Cowboys fan, the musical becomes a phenom. Examples include “My Fair Lady,” “West Side Story,” “Cabaret,” “Les Misébles,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Wicked,” and, more recently, “Hamilton.” And I’ll note that the source materials for all of the above are unrelated to Hollywood blockbusters — though many would go on to become silver screen hits. We’re not talkin’ “Lion King” here.
Though it has yet to reach the heights of its forebears, “Hadestown,” which is showing at Bass Performance Hall through this Sunday, July 2, seems primed to take the leap into “classic” musical territory. Its songs will become standards and productions, from amateur playhouses and high schools to the Toronto Theatre District, will become commonplace. Yeah, “Hadestown” is the “it” musical of the moment. The thing you absolutely have to see.
And for good reason, too. The musical is, indeed, brilliant.
Based on the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice — which, yes, is a total spoiler if you know how the story goes, which you likely do — “Hadestown” updates the classic tale of love, loss, and resilience with politically and socially relevant nuances without crossing into preachiness or losing sight of the legend’s overarching moral: A person of power’s own morality and rules, no matter how absurd and arbitrary they may seem, demand a most unfortunate amount of respect.
The title characters and star-crossed lovers, the son of a God and a nymph in the original story, respectively, are now a poverty-stricken pair in a depression-era world of famine, inclement weather, and an impenetrable class system that breeds, perhaps even purposefully, a certain amount of hopelessness. Hades, the God of the Greek underworld where Orpheus must travel to rescue Eurydice, is now a baritone-voiced industrialist and factory owner. And his underworld, Hadestown, is the factory, where its workers are doomed to a life of monotonous hard labor in exchange for basic needs. It’s Steinbeck meets Sophocles.
The legend always seemed ripe for a musical interpretation. I mean, one of the protagonists is a freakin’ singer and lyrist. And the production smartly expands the role of Eurydice, replacing the mute symbol of beauty whose trip to the underworld is the result of a snake bite with a pragmatic realist who voluntarily goes to Hadestown —a “safe” and “secure” place — to escape hunger and despair. She, along with Hades’ wife, Persephone, whose free spirit and sympathetic nature are at odds with Hades and his town, are now the story’s most complex and fascinating characters. Orpheus, on the other hand, is a wide-eyed optimist and folk singer who even naively believes that the writing of a song can cast away their troubles. He serves as a balanced duality with Eurydice.
All of this is the brainchild of Vermont-based folk artist Anaïs Mitchell, the show’s writer, composer, and lyricist, who first assembled a DIY production of the work in 2006. An album followed in 2010, which featured Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon as Orpheus. His contributions along with the songs’ winsome melodies and delicate compositions make it a wonderful listen. Two years later, Mitchell teamed with director Rachel Chavkin, wrote an additional 15 songs, and premiered the new musical in 2016. By 2019, the musical had fully transferred to Broadway, and the folky production of Mitchell’s initial album was replaced with lusher instrumentation (at least by comparison) and emotive and enunciative singing.
The production has been on tour since 2021, and this marks the first time Fort Worth has welcomed the Tony-Award-winning musical. The performance is, as expected, flawless. Bass Performance Hall is truly getting the Broadway treatment. On press night, the part of Orpheus was played by an understudy, Jordan Bollwerk. I admittedly had no clue he was an understudy until receiving a notice the following day on cast changes. These guys are pros, and it shows.
With a purposefully drab and dingy set design and costumes that veer toward minimalism, it’s the music and the performances of said music that easily win over the audience. The climactic reprise of “Wait for Me,” which I found akin to “Phantom of the Opera’s” reprise of “Point of No Return,” is a particular goosebump-inducing moment.
If you have yet to purchase tickets, and you have no weekend plans, I highly recommend you take in this one-of-a-kind musical, no matter who plays Orpheus. Again, the show will be in Cowtown through July 2 and will include matinee and night performances this Saturday and Sunday. You can purchase tickets at basshall.com.
