I loved this reaction. I’ve seen the original cast twice in New York and had the blessing of meeting Reeve and my favorite ensemble member Timothy after the show waiting at the stage door. I purchased a poster signed by all of the original cast members it was for charity as well which gave me incentive. But this was such a wholesome reaction. My favorite musical by far not even close imo.
Plus, the whole wanting her to sing to him here was a lie. He just wanted another worker and didn't care about her voice. She actually loses her identity, instead. Now that I think of it, that's actually more powerful than had he wanted her to sing.
Literally Hermes in the very first song: “It’s a sad song, it’s a tragedy.” Every single person that’s ever listened to Hadestown: This sign can’t stop me because I can’t read!
I KNEW how this story was gonna end, and these lyrics make pretty clear that the ending was gonna stay that way, and I and I still hoped that it'd go differently. That's what you get for optimism I guess?
No other way to respond to that name, really. There's only the one of him. "Oh Zeus, not this shit again. I've already cried my eyes out to this story a hundred times. Hope it turns out better this time...?"
@@iusethisnameformygoogleacc1013 The reaction to hearing the name Zeus is also commonly "oh no". Like half of greek mythology wouldn't have happened if he had just kept it in his pants...
@@IamWibbly Yes, the way Patrick and Anaïs talk about the song and the development of it come from that. Human nature, infallibility of it, how people will do what they feel is necessary to put their foot down and claim control over something they need/love that they feel they're losing. In this case, how Hades feels like he's losing Persephone.
@@Barbara2.0 Yeah, the whole thing has always felt Very on the nose. I remember showing the song to a friend way back in 2015 and it absolutely blew his mind to hear that it predates the Trump campaign. But given that I didn't even know the musical existed at the time, it was a lot easier to prove back then with an obscure concept album with a release date way too damn early for it to work any other way. But yes, in reality, it isn't at all on the nose, it's a fantastic element meant to be about as weird as when Orpheus just sings until the walls melt. It's just that the real world got really, really weird in the intervening decade. For what it's worth, that you immediately Got the way "Why We Build The Wall" subtly characterizes Hades, and how he ends up directing the chant, was awesome.
“Is he literally just gonna go sing lalala while everyone freezes to death?” Literally the plot of the whole musical😂 Hadestown is my favorite musical bro
"Does Hades look as threatening as he sounds?" I mean, the man shows up in a pinstriped suit with a leather trench coat over top, black leather gloves and sunglasses that he takes on and off as needed, so uh, you tell me.
Fun Fact: “Our Lady of the Underground” is actually really depressing live. Persephone is on stage all alone with the band, drinking while she pretends to help people around her. When she says that the moon is in her “pay per view” she frowns and gestures to her head.
Oh my, I definitely didn't visualise it like that, since you can hear so many people in the song. But this just makes me love the character even more to be honest
About that moon... Artemis was the virgin Goddess of the Moon, and did very nasty things to men who peeped on her naked. Persephone using her indirectly as a pinup girl is both taboo and hilarious.
It's really hard to explain for me, but there is something so special about Hadestown being a show that is played time after time. It is mostly obvious in both versions of Road to hell, but, out of the context of the story, it reflects hope. Hermes is telling us Eurydice and Orpheus' story night after night, in hopes that one day, it will come out right, with a happy ending. After so many iterations where Orpheus loses the love of his life, he (along those who know the story) is hopeful that they still can turn it around. I think that is both beautiful and heartbreaking. Like... I believe they should change the story and make it with a happy ending on the very last performance on Broadway. It would make a beautiful message that goes beyond one performance and the myth itself
I absolutely agree! I got chills just reading this comment ❤ I'll be selfish here and say that the only bad thing about them changing the end for the very last performance is that I would never forgive myself if I missed it
I like that way of looking at it! I also like to think of it this way. Yes, the show is a tragedy and we always hope it will come out right, no matter how many times we see it. But you know what? Part of the joy of watching this show is that each time we see it, in essence, we get to watch Orpheus and Eurydice meeting again. So really, in a way, they *do* kind of get their happy ending, because as long as the story is retold, they *will* meet again.
one of my favorite parts of this show is how they chose to go about eurydice’s death. instead of her simply dying, she chose to go to hadestown for her own will- adds a lot of character to her mythology counterpart.
@@Barbara2.0 Actually Orpheus didnt know in Papers [Intro] Hades says "Everything and everyone in Hadestown I own- but I only buy what other choose to sell- oh, you didnt know? She signed the deal herself- and now she-" "It isnt true!" "Belongs to me" "It isnt true! What he said? Eurydice!" "I did, I do" Pretty much admitting Orpheus didnt know she chose to leave, he thought Hades took/kidnapped her. But still get yourself a partner like Orpheus. They barely knew you, and when you die on your wedding day they march down and face the god of the dead for you like relationship goals LOL
@@teaspyllz3936 well they had time to get to know each other! At min a few months - Road to Hell says Persephone arrives in Summer, and then “Way Down Hadestown” its “early” so probably early-mid Fall or so
Eurydice: Orpheus plea- Orpheus: La la la la *Ok Bye* Fates: Stop right there! You can't pa- Orpheus:La la la la la la la Fates: *Understandable have a nice day*
Hadestown is an absolutely beautiful show. There’s a reason it won Best Musical. It was written in the late 2000s to early 2010s so most of the social critiques regarding the wall were unintentional, although it still works really well. If you want another Greek Mythology inspired show, I’d recommend The Lightning Thief Musical, based on the Percy Jackson book series by Rick Riordan. It’s a lot more lighthearted than this and is an original story set in the modern day using Greek mythology , rather than an adaptation of a Greek myth, but it’s still really good.
@@Barbara2.0 Also there's a guy called Jorge Rivera-Herrans who is currently writing a musical about the Odyssey and posting song snippets on his tiktok, maybe that would interest you too.
Well, the Wall has been floating around since Reagan, even Clinton tried to do it It's more just "This is how powerful people keep trying to do things"
One thing I don't see mentioned much is how Orpheus' alto is intentionally cast to be in total opposition to Hades' baritone. This show is so amazing in so many different ways.
The one thing I just absolutely love about this musical, is that the musical is a legit musical where the cast is acting like the characters and the ending lowkey feels so abrupt, like it's not unexpected but it's still just so shocking and unfulfilling. What I mean about this is that in the end, Hermes says that they will continue to sing the songs hoping for the ending to change. The cast sings everyday, as every Broadway cast does, and the ending never changes (because obviously lol), and us, the audience, continues to come back to the soundtrack and show expecting, hoping for something to change. The way Hermes is so fond of Orpheus and has to take time to continue singing in the last song, and the way they said the Fates always followed Eurydice because she was always so close to death. I just love this interpretation of the myth. I also love the fact that they gave Persephone and Eurydice the power to choose. Persephone chose to be with Hades and Eurydice chose to die. I love this Broadway recording and the Live recording, the musical is just so amazing, I'm obsessed
I'm 100% with you in all your points here Blanca! 👏👏👏 I can't stop listening to this soundtrack, it has definitely become a favourite. It's funny because once I realised what the show was about I couldn't help but think "oh no, the end is gonna be disappointing...", but they wrote it so beautifully and all the pieces fit so perfectly that you're still smiling through the tragedy (that sounds bad, but you know what I mean haha). I'm deeply in love too.
Orpheus felt like my ex's youngest daughter who was autistic. Though not quite. But he really get gets stuck in his own head and forgets checking on others and his emotions are 100% on his sleeve.
Here's how I see things: the fact that we get so upset at the tragic ending- the fact that we want so badly for Orpheus to not turn around- proves just how invested we are in this story. If we didn't care this deeply about these characters, then we wouldn't be this devastated at the fact that they didn't get the happy ending they deserve. For that reason, I can confidently say that Hadestown is THE best version of the Orpheus and Eurydice story I have ever experienced because no other version of this story has made me wish so badly that it wasn't a tragedy.
In the song "Flowers", Eurydice sings: "I remember someone by my side who turned his face to mine, and then I turned away in to the shade" ... It seems that she's having a premonition of what's going to happen in the end, ... but she is also remembering, because this story has already been told ... Because it's is told as a cycle in which the end is also the beginning ... her past self is trying to tell her that Orpheus will hesitate and turn around to see if she is still there ...
I’m sure someone has already told you, but when Eurydice said “how did you do that?” in Come Home With Me, Orpheus had grown a flower out of the palm of his hand (The red carnation that appears on the album artwork, and that he holds in the stage production of Wait For Me)
I always thought the tables they placed in front of him as he walked were simulating him walking on air by the magic of his song. He is a demigod after all.
The first time I heard this musical all the way through, I found myself applauding as Hermes introduced everyone, that's how much of a good mood it put me in. Of course it went and broke my heart, but we can't have everything.
A few opinions/things I noticed: I love that this musical goes full circle and that Hermes basically says: We all know how it ends but we still tell it again hoping it will turn out different. The first and last song (before Curtain Call aka Raise Our Cups) are very similar. "It's a sad song but we're gonna sing it anyway" It's so devastating that the way Orpheus matures goes against him. Usually the characters develop and stop blindly believing (like Orpheus does at the beginning). In the end he doesn't "childishly" believe anymore and that's what causes him to turn around unlike most other stories where it helps the character. Here it is his doom. During "You think they'll make it?" Hades avoids looking at Persephone as he says "I don't know" I like to think it's because he knows how it will end but he doesn't want her to lose hope. On a positive note. That trombone player deserves all the awards! I love them smh
Something hit me harder today than it had before on a listen-through: Orpheus compares his experience falling in love with Eurydice to Hades falling in love with Persephone in Epic III, and while singing "His Kiss, the Riot," Hades compares his experience doubting Persephone (and walling himself off emotionally as a result) to what he anticipates will happen to Orpheus when Orpheus is likewise forced to trust in Eurydice's love. Hades knows that he's likely to win and to keep his workers because he recognizes his parallels with Orpheus, and that's exactly what happened to him with Persephone: he couldn't do it. Couldn't trust her love for him. It's like this endlessly revolving truth about being human: this is what happens when you love and hope with others, and this is what happens when you wall off and doubt alone, and at some point, everybody does both, and everybody will do it again (and again). It makes for the perfect Greek tragedy.
I saw this musical live on Broadway with the original cast. I wasn't huge on musical theater before but this show changed my life. This show was one of the best things I've seen in my life.
@@Barbara2.0 There's "slime tutorials" of it online, and I have copies as well if you ever need it. Obviously it not as great as it was seeing it in person but until they come out with a Hamilton style Disney+ version, this is the best were gonna get for now.
I wasn’t taught the story between Orpheus Eurydice so I went into this show hopeful, but skeptical because the the title had the word “Hades” in it. I found a slime tutorial and watched it, and *when I tell you I was balling at the end-* Like this show makes me cry the most.
Yace! I adore this show with all my heart and soul. Eva's voice is stunning. Was fortunate enough to see the show on broadway last summer. The set design is brilliant (though I will say, I thought Beetlejuice should maybe have won the Tony for set) it's based on a Greek amphitheater meets a Louisiana bar. You want an immersive you need to check out Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet. Also fun fact The song "why do we build a wall" was written years before Trump began spitting his wall rhetoric. Also yes, Patrick Page is incredibly intimidating as Hades. The whole cast is sensational
Aaaah you're so lucky! I think if things were normal right now this is the show I would try my best to see, top of the list. Absolutely agree about Beetlejuice though, that's a hell of a production. It totally feels like a Louisiana bar, so freaking cool! 🤩 I'm speechless with the cast tbh, haven't paused this soundtrack since last week
yes!! It was so cool seeing it tour in New Orleans, it really felt like the music belonged. I saw the understudy cast with Nathan Salts one and he’s my favorite performance I’ve seen/heard
Eurydice is played by Eva Noblezada(I also love her voice, you are literally me) She was in another musical called Miss Saigon and it is sooo good you sould really listen to it.
I want to watch more people react to this show. The first time I listened to it I absolutely bawled at the ending, even knowing the myth. When I saw it for the first time on Broadway, the music is so well written and it was so well acted that even though I KNEW it still caught me off guard. The entire audience gasped and there was audible sniffling during Hermes' solo. You should check out the video of their Tony Performance, and there's another of Wait for Me from a CBS morning show. The incredible scope of the staging was incredible. When Orpheus sings and opens a crack in the wall the entire theater shakes.
COOL (re: opening a crack in the wall) - I didn't know that, and was wondering why everyone in the bootleg was gasping and saying "oh shit!" then! XD Thank you!
I love how Persephone says “it ain’t right and it ain’t natural” it’s so meaningful coming from her because of her being goddess of seasons and her mother being Demeter goddess of nature
If you want another amazing sung through musical with Amber Gray (Persephone) that was actually done with an immersive staging, may I recommend Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812.
There are definitely some "slime tutorials" you can watch for this show. The beginning of the show is small, in a pub-type setting, and then the stage...opens? It's actually very simple set dec, it's the stage and the lighting that does most of the work.
I remember when I saw this live, I cried basically the entire time. Even before anything sad happened I was crying, both because I knew the original myth and knew it wouldn’t end well, and because the show was so beautiful. My favorite part was the setup of the stage: not only is the band right onstage with them, but the main part of the stage actually rotates, and the middle part raises up and sinks down. So when Orpheus and Eurydice are walking out of Hadestown, they’re walking in place on the track, and when Orpheus turns around, Eurydice literally gets swallowed up by the stage. It’s amazing. Best show I’ve ever seen.
Best reaction ever. Love how you knew the characters before they were introduced. Also love your Epiphony at 17 07 when you realize how the stories are connected.
Thank you so much for your kind words Leon 🥰 And yeah, realising Orpheus' song is literally the pillar of the plot - and of all other songs as a matter of fact - seriously blew my mind haha
@@Barbara2.0 kind of got it blew your mind when you put you fingers to your head and made the mind blown sound. I don't know how reactors listen to these cast album, speak as crucial info is being imparted, and still know what's going on. Myself I have to hear the cast twice before I start getting it, and that's with no pithy remarks.
4:47 a red flower appeared in his hand :) Also this was very amusing watching your reactions lol Also... (This vid was prob posted a while ago) what was your reaction to Epic ||| (They Danced)? Like the song after Orpheus finishes his song? That song is just so sweet
Watching this live, it really felt we (the audience ) were in the amphitheater thousands of years ago. How the band is on stage interacting, Hermes narrating . It was beautiful
I highly recommend listening to the New York Workshop version. It's got a lot of different pieces, and imo, Hermes himself is characterized completely different from the Broadway version. Both are amazing versions of the musical. Even moreso the concept album. The history of Hadestown is a very cool rabbit hole. Anais Mitchell wrote this in the early 2000's and went on small tours and performed the concept album as individual songs in an album rather than a musical, which some of the songs were later added later? I'm unclear of all the details BUT- Also my dad says that Eurydice/Eva Nobelzada should be a Disney princess and honestly, I can't disagree.
If me having wait for me as my ring tone (also my favorite song in the musical) doesn’t show that this is one of my favorite musicals ever that I went down a rabbit hole of finding the Greek legends the characters were based of after just finding this musical.
@@Barbara2.0 nah it’s like the most well known song in the musical and I barely get called so😂😂😂😂 and if I can listen to it 50.000 times it can’t be spoiled for me
I love that when he sings this song, “spring will come again”, and that the symbol of their love is a flower blooming… also, after a long time of darkness and cold in hades and persephone’s marriage, the flower signifies that the thaw has begun. UGH!!! It’s just so sweet
I’m reading “Working on a Song” which is the songwriter giving the lyrics of each song and then tracking the development of the songs from 2007-2019. Its amazing how much the songs changed and how much thought and effort went in to this.
So, ya remember how Persephone introduces the band? The names said are the actual players. It implies to me, that those performing, are in a very meta sense, essentially doing as old storytellers who kept these myths alive did, retelling the same story as characters in a Greek tragedy instead of the mythological characters themselves. Remember how Hermes started, and ended the story. "It's a sad song, it's a tragedy, but we sing it anyway" And that's because tragedy is so powerful as a style of tale. Hadestown is my favorite freaking musical. I so badly want to see it in a theater, when the apocalypse ends
Your reaction in the end is exactly why they kept the ending from the myth. Because it's a story that we keep telling, even though we know it turns out bad in the end, because we experience something important while telling it. Because, as Hermes points out, there's some part of you that wonders if maybe *this time*, it'll turn out different, because if Orpheus can confront the impossible- changing Hades' heart- then maybe we can hope that the story of Orpheus and Eurydice will turn out differently too. The fact that you were biting your nails and hoping, THAT was the feeling they were going for. Hoping despite knowing how it will end-- because everyone KNEW that Orpheus could never change Hades. And yet, he did. The soundtrack is amazing, but actually seeing the show really brings home the point that this isn't just a stage performance, it's a *self-aware* stage performance. They are actors playing the roles, which is why they repeatedly point out the chorus and the musicians. They're singing this song to us, because the point of the show is that it is "The world we dream about", where Orpheus can change the impossible, and "The world we live in now", as in, those of us in the audience. It's even made explicit- during his toast, Orpheus turns to the audience on that last line, and gives a long pause while staring out. You are as much a part of the story as the actors are. And in the end, the cycle starts over. They start the 'song' over again, and in the show, they reset the stage to how it is in the first song while Hermes re-introduces the protagonists. The cycle begins anew, the song is sung, they prepare to put on another show. BUT, there IS one key difference; Hermes puts emphasis on "Everybody looked, and everybody saw, that *SPRING* had come again". Persephone was leaving the Underworld in time for Spring, having rekindled her love with her husband. Even if Orpheus didn't save Eurydice, his song DOES, indeed, return Spring, the promise he makes early in the musical. The whole show is telling you that the effort is still worth it, even if you 'lose', because you might still change something for the better. The chorus in the "Wait For Me" reprise is *the audience*, chanting, "Show the way so we believe". Anyway, sorry, this essay brought to you by someone who loves this musical Too Much and cries at "It's a sad song.... But we sing it *anyway!*" every time. It was a pleasure seeing your authentic experience hearing this soundtrack. p.s. It's worth looking up the slime tutorial. ;)
I love this reaction! Especially your face when you figured out which myth it focusses on. I just recently listened to Hadestown for the first time myself and felt very much the same.
Both versions of Epic III make me cry every. single. time. They're so beautiful (although I love the original version a bit more, the broadway one is also great)
There's something strangely beautiful about how you were hoping it would turn out better for the, than in the original myth before even hearing Hermes singing about that exact same idea
I believe that Hadestown was set over the backdrop of the early 1930s America. At the same time as the Great Depression we also had the Dust Bowl happening so food was scarce in some places. I saw Hades as representing the tycoons who got rich arranging projects for the New Deal. Building the wall & the electric city were things like the Hoover Dam which provided electricity, as well as roads etc. These were the infrastructures that helped America become the superpower that they became after World War Two and becoming a superpower meant we weren’t attacked by outside forces from December 7, 1941 (Pearl Harbor) until September 11, 2001 (9/11). If you can’t tell I love American history, Greek mythology and Broadway theater. I have seen the show 4 times on Broadway and once as a traveling show. Reeves from the OBS played his character perfectly.
0:57 Road to Hell 2:44 Any Way the Wind Blows 3:34 Come Home With Me 4:04 Wedding Song 4:57 Epic I 5:37 Livin' It Up On Top 6:33 All I've Ever Known 6:58 Way Done Hadestown 7:41 A Gathering Storm 8:20 Chant 9:23 Hey, Little Songbird 10:10 Gone, I'm Gone 10:41 Wait For Me 11:28 Why We Build the Wall 12:13 Halfway through, mythology talk, and thoughts so far 12:58 Our Lady of the Underground 13:59 Way Down Hadestown (Reprise) 14:45 Flowers 15:18 Come Home With Me (Reprise) 15:37 Papers (Intro) 16:17 Chant (Reprise) 17:02 Epic III 18:02 Promises 18:24 Wait for Me (Reprise) 19:28 Doubt Comes In 20:14 Road To Hell (Reprise) 21:07 We Raise Our Cups 21:40 Final thoughts
"Wait, how do I already love this?!" is the same reaction I had when I first listened to their earlier production's album. I'm so so so glad you love it already, too. Sending love!
I love how excited you were at the start. You should react to Something rotten, The phantom of the opera or Jesus christ superstar. Loved your reaction :)))
Fun fact about Why We Build The Wall, it was one of the earliest songs written in 2008 or so. It is not a reaction to modern politics but things just lined up.
One really neat thing that the musical does is that a bunch of the songs leading up to the ending emphasis how much music is around Orpheus all the time. A few of the songs have lyrics like "I hear the walls repeating, it sounds like drumming" (Wait For Me I), but when it comes to Doubt Comes In, the lyrics emphasis how all he can hear is the cold wind blowing. It's also a really neat inversion of his and Eurydice's positions at the start of the musical. At the start, Orpheus is the one surrounded by music and Eurydice is the one alone with the wind and the cold, but in Doubt Comes In, Eurydice is the one who can hear all the music and Orpheus is the one cold and alone.
I didn't see anyone mention it so I will! When Eurydice asks "How did you do that?" During the Wedding Song because Orpheus creates a red rose in his hands while he does the "la la la la la la la" bit of the Wedding Song. He wants to bring spring back. Eurydice is just surprised a song made a flower magically bloom in his hands. Its also why the flowers she remembers in Hadestown are so significant. She was remembering the flowers Orpheus's song would make.
Until I saw this musical, I knew the myth, but I was never invested in Orpheus & Eurydice as characters; this was the first time that I actually *cared* whether he turned around or not. For me, I think that's why I was unprepared - the emotional investment made it new and unexpected.
Honestly I’m so sad because I know Hadestown is a great musical, but it legit depressed me for the whole day after I listened to it for the first time... Ima try to give it a second shot to not make me spiral into a depressed existential crisis... fingers crossed.
Idk but Hadestown is honestly so amazing for how it makes you hope (around Epic 3) even though you know how it’s going to end, and when it does it shatters your heart into a million pieces. But I think the reason why it was so bad the first time is that I already wasn’t in the best headspace, and listening to Hadestown really didn’t help. It was much better the second time around.
i loved your reaction!! this is literally my all time favorite musical, everything about it is just so perfect: the cast, music, staging and the story itself. i could probably talk about hadestown for hours non stop lmao. i'm really glad you seemed to like it too! :)
If you ever have the chance to see the show live (and this is two years later, maybe you have, I don't know) it's an incredible experience. My roommate and I went earlier this year and at the start of intermission we turned to each other and they said: "Holy shit." Because it was just that incredible. The soundtrack is amazing, but there's nothing like hearing it along with seeing the visuals of the staging. Especially at the end, when Orpheus turns around--in the Walter Kerr theatre on Broadway, the stage has an elevator that plays an important part throughout the show but *especially* in that scene.
It stages magnificently. The harmonies are utterly amazing. The Fates are kind of a dodgy Andrews Sisters. The key signature and accidentals in “Doubt Comes In” will take you to your knees. Great critique. “Goodnight, brothers, goodnight.”
1:06 TOTALLY AGREE 😂 not what I was expecting but what I wanted hahaha I went into the show knowing nothing about it too so it was a very pleasant surprise 🥰 ALSO WHY DID I IMMEDIATELY START TEARING UP WHEN YOU SAID “please don’t let it be the tale I think it is” I was like “yup that’s it 🥺” 😂
Barbara 2.0 yes let’s cry together!! I could NOT stop thinking about it either when I saw it it just left me speechless!! 🥺 The music is EVERYTHINGGGGG!! And LMAO I stopped crying real quick cuz my mom came home 😂😂
Update I’m getting to finish this and CRYING AGAIN HAHAHAH 🥺🥺 this time while eating ice cream LOL and YES reprise songs are amazing with the full circle thing I REALLY agree with that!! Also what did you think of If It’s True and How Long? Papers, those two songs, and Chant II are some of my favs so I was a bit sad to not see your reaction 😂
I gotta stop commenting lmao but my favorites are Persephone and The Fates for sure (also Eurydice ofc hehe even though for a while I was pronouncing her name “you’re a dice”) 💀 And I did get to see it live!! It was my first broadway show and I got to see it with my show choir a month before broadway shut down. I’m so extremely glad we got to see it ❤️ It’s so beautiful in every single way!! And I’ve cried MANY times hahaha
I was in NYC in the fall of 2019. I wasn't able to catch Hadestown but told myself that I'd return in 2020 and see it then. Well...😒 So instead I listened to the cast album over and over during the Spring lockdown. I experienced the show through the cast album as you have. I was so drawn in by the story, the performances, even the style of music with its New Orleans flair. I also looked up whatever I could find about the show because why not, I had time. I read that between the West End run and the Broadway run some changes were still being made to the show and during this transfer Orpheus was changed from a cocky musician to a poet who wears his heart on his sleeve. He was more as you imagined him, in earlier productions. As to the ending...it's heartbreaking but powerful and I love it. But the show wraps its arms around the audience in a way by singing that they will continue to tell the tale hoping it might turn out this time...and Persephone leads the cast in We Raise Our Cups as another salve for the audience before they leave the theater. Hopefully one day I'll be able to see the show live. Thank you for posting your reaction. It was great! "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." "He can make you see how the world could be, in spite of the way that it is."
I'm sorry you didn't get to see it, but I'm hopeful Broadway will come back soon and then we'll have our chance. This is probably the one show I'm most excited about seeing live at the moment, it definitely carved a special place in my heart too
"What do I know about Hadestown-" my brain couldn't Help but finish that sentence with "you have to take the long way down, underground under cover of night, staying out of sight." The second I heard you start geeking out over the Greek Myth angle was the first time I'd ever considered Road to Hell worth listening to rather than just an artifact from it being the literal introduction to a live show where everyone comes out to do their bows, so, without even finishing, this is a pretty damn solid start. ...and naturally, you ended with the exact reaction everyone is supposed to have - "I really hope they change the ending" - even though Hermes tells us outright at the start that this is a tragedy, we can't help but hope. Which is what the whole thing is about. We tell this story over and over again, desperately hoping in our hearts that one day the script will somehow change, and that hope, that little spark we cling to, is why the story is worth telling. Just a shame that you didn't seem to actually pick up on that aspect of it.
I was fortunate enough to see the touring company if this show this past November. I was sobbing during "Wait For Me." I was also sobbing during "Doubt Comes In." Such a powerful show!!!
In the production on B-way and on tour, during Orpheus' vocal section in "Wait for Me", the stage suddenly splits open, revealing industrial pipe work running through. Combined with the rotating stage and swinging lamplights, it feels as if we the audience is joining Orpheus as he descends into the Underworld.
I think a favourite part is the last two songs is more subtle by the actors than the characters basically saying how we will keep doing the play cause hopefully one telling will end up with end ending orpheus hoped for and the audience hopes for even though it never will come. And the last song being done post curtain call as a honouring of those who like orpheus dream if better times in the darkest times from the cast
It's such a joy to see someone experience this for the first time, even just through the audio, this is how I first fell in love with this show, I don't think I have ever had a soundtrack steal my heart like this one did. Last month I was lucky enough to finally see the show live, absolutely worth the wait, I mean the soundtrack breaks your heart, but seeing it all live just heightens every emotion you feel about 100x, I adore this show, so much that the day after I saw it for the first time I went and got another ticket for the following day's matinee, and I'm already looking forward to hopefully seeing it again! Because I have seen so many musicals on stage (last count was about 73) I don't tend to have a single favourite, Hadestown put paid to that straight away, I have never seen a show that I loved as much in my life, Hamilton I think is a close second though!
I love this! Hadestown is such a brilliant show-- and the staging is incredible, too! The cast is so physical in their performances, the choreography is stellar and actually contributes to the storytelling-- it's not just decoration. So many of the cast members are also musicians, playing along with the band, and at times the band comes onto the stage to play and dance with the actors. The chorus is amazing-- a small ensemble of maybe 5 or 6 people dancing, singing, playing instruments and many different "roles", and creating the wall of Hadestown. And the lighting effects during the "Wait For Me" reprise... ugggghhhh this musical is so brilliant. It breaks my heart. Are you familiar with Caroline, or Change? Another one of my favorites, and not very well known at all.
@@Barbara2.0 Wonderful! I'm so sad that the 2020 broadway revival didn't ever get to premier... it was supposed to begin within weeks of all the theaters shutting down :(
Listen, once you watch the musical, even though you've listened to the soundtrack already, I swear to God, it will make you cry, like what happened to me, didn't cry when i listened to the soundtrack but cried watching the musical
