Yesterday, star fell from heaven into my pocket; Chris offered me his ticket for Hadestown. I have a ticket for April 23 and it’s now in previews, but no way I wasn’t going to jump at the chance. I have been waiting for Hadestown to reach Broadway the way others wait for the messiah. I heard Hadestown when it was just a few songs, and an idea in Anaïs Mitchell’s head. I got the folk-opera album when it came out in 2010 and said it was not just my favorite album of the year but of the millennium. I saw the off-Broadway production and even as familiar as I was with the material found it a revelation. Anaïs and the producers had transformed it; it was no longer folk or at least all folk. The production has dance so rhythm took the fore. Anaïs’s synopsis of the show is “The Orpheus myth set in post-apocalyptic Depression Era America.”
So last night I found myself heading to the Walter Kerr theater to see what Broadway had done with Hadestown. When I took my seat the young woman next to me seemed familiar. I asked if she were a musician, she was, but her name wasn’t familiar and she’s not from Brooklyn and isn’t friends with Anaïs, so I figured my brain had misfired. Then when talking to someone else she mentioned Erin McKeown, and I chimed in, “that’s someone I know.” She’s friends with Erin, she’s opened for Erin, and then it hit me. I asked if she opened for her at the Common Ground Coffeehouse in Hastings. She had! I did the merch at the show. I sold the young woman’s merch. Her name is Jen Zimberg. Turns out I had met Fred, the gentleman she was with. He came to Common Ground to see Anaïs and I of course sold her merch too. He was he first one to by the LP of Young Man in America. I love when it’s a small world. It got even shorter during intermission when I saw I had a message from Carter, he is head honcho of the Common Ground.
You could see differences from the off-Broadway production before the show started; the set. The off-Broadway set was spare, just a tree and a railroad track. This was a full set, it was a tavern though theoretically the waiting room of a train station. The band was onstage playing musicians. On piano was Liam Robinson, of Robinson & Rohe. It was a kick seeing a friend off-Broadway, this was a bigger kick.
The opening of the show has been rethought. There’s prologue on the story of Hades and Persephone and it’s relationship to the seasons. It added a cosmic element. The one change I’m still adjusting to is Hermes. He has from the beginning been a hobo, which fits with the Depression. Now he’s dressed in a sparkly suit and moves like Cab Calloway. I’m not saying it’s bad, just that it’s a different conception of the character.
The last time I talked to Anaïs she said she was going to disappear for a few months to write the changes for the new production. The time was well spent, the new songs are wonderful. It is closer than ever to opera. The theme of gods and demi-gods might suggest Wagner but the feel is closer to Mozart. You get the feeling that the fate of the universe hangs in the hearts of the characters. They are Greek gods, fully human but on a grander scale. They are no mere symbols but infinitely complex.
My mind was racing the entire show. On level it’s the story of two couples, Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone. On another level it’s deeply philosophical. The Fates are characters and the relationship between fate and humanity is a central question. How much happens because of our choices and how much despite our choices? There is no answer, the question is really how much choice do we have in our choices? Are we puppets or puppeteers? You might see it otherwise. There is so much going on at once. There is more than one central question.
The shows ending has changed and it fit in exactly with my thoughts as it approached. That’s great writing. Is the story a tragedy or a triumph of the human spirit? The answer is yes. It is a tragedy and a triumph of the human spirit. Like quantum reality, it depends on what you are looking for.
Someday people will be writing their doctoral dissertations on Hadestown. Someday Hadestown will find its way to the Metropolitan Opera. The difference between the off-Broadway and this production are like two productions of the same opera. The director adds her vision to the composer’s and librettist’s. If there’s another production I’ll see it. If somebody at the Met is reading this remember to comp me for giving you the idea.
I can’t wait to see it again. I know I’ll be swept away again. This is a blog, more about my reactions to the show, than the show itself. Perhaps next time I’ll discuss the performances and production, not the thoughts and feelings it engendered. Probably not, the thoughts and feelings overwhelm me.
Wise Madness 