Hadestown: Orpheus and Eurydice in Nashville
Reworking ancient archetypes with new angles is perineally interesting; the Percy Jackson series has sold 180 million books, Madeline Miller’s Circe is a great popular read, and The Return is about to be followed by Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey. I went into this show with anticipation and was not disappointed. 
Anaïs Mitchell, a singer-songwriter, originally developed Hadestown as a musical, then adapted into the 2010 grammy nominated concept album. Finally, she adapted it into a Broadway musical, writing the music, lyrics, and book. In 2019 it premiered on Broadway and won 8 Tony awards.
In the original story, Orpheus is the son of the muse of epic poetry and can charm everyone with his beautiful music. He marries the dryad Euridice but on their wedding day she’s bitten by a poisonous snake and dies. Devastated, he makes his way down into the underworld and, with his musical skill, convinces Hades to let him bring Euridice back into the world. Hades gives one caveat: Orpheus must lead her back up to the land of the living without looking back at her, for if he does, she’ll return to Hades. Orpheus leads her back up to the land of the living but, at the last moment, consumed with doubt that Hades tricked him, he looks back at his wife, who is brought back down to Hades. Filled with grief, Orpheus returns to the land of the living and plays music that causes even stones to weep.
Hadestown alters this, introducing some environmental and political themes. Hades has been jealously shortening the time that his wife, Persephone, can spend above ground. Since her return is what causes spring and summer, this is ruining harvests and people are struggling in their unnecessarily hostile environment. While Orpheus spends his time writing a song that will cause everything to come back into balance, Eurydice is poverty-stricken, hungry and lonely. Hades convinces her to come down to Hadestown, his underground industrial headquarters. There are intertwined themes of economic and sexual seduction. She joins his industrially benumbed workers (they sing “you gotta keep your head low/if you wanna keep your head”). It reminded me slightly of Fritz Lang’s depiction of factory workers in his film Metropolis. Hades has a song about building a wall in the most politically transparent moment in the musical. The musical ends the same way the original story does, but what I found most surprising about this musical is the hopeful ending to the tragedy; they talk about how it’s sad, but it’s a song that they’ll keep singing, giving it a message of beauty and striving and stolen moments of joy despite darkness or even doom.
The style of the musical is depression-era America; think O Brother, Where Art Thou? (loosely based on The Odyssey) except with original music. The set is simple, a rustic train station whose backdrop alters to change to the wall girding the Underworld. The lighting design is great, interacting with the choreography of mimed-mining of the downtrodden spirits when they dance with lights. The smoke and darkness is used to great effect when Orpheus is making his way with Euridyce following behind him.
It’s a gutsy choice to write music about and purportedly by the Western archetype of the inspired musician, especially in a sung-through musical. Happily for everyone, Mitchell delivers, providing beautiful melodies and rich vocal harmonies (especially with the Fates, who form a trio). The instrumentation is excellent, including strings, piano, accordion, and a trombone. The trombonist Haik Demirchian does a fantastic job, reminding me once again that live brass is incredibly satisfying. The songs I enjoyed most are weighted toward Eurydice’s character because of Megan Colton’s absolutely stunning performance. Her captivating voice had perfect control and clarity at every moment and felt as finished as a studio recording. I expect that this tour will soon be followed by even larger roles. Nickolaus Colón’s excellent bass performance made a marvelous Hades and I enjoyed his portrayal of the god of the Underworld. The night I attended (March 7) an understudy played Orpheus, so I can’t comment on the regular performer of the role, but Orpheus’s songs are very good.
Another understudy performed that night, Darius J. Manuel, who played Hermes, who acts somewhat as a narrator. He was completely at home in the role, playing Hermes with such charm that the audience was immediately pulled into the show. Namisa Mdlalose Bizana as Persephone is the source of comedy in the show and is fantastic at it, singing, dancing, and with great comic physicality.
It’s not just the fact that I’m sleep-deprived and this was my first outing without a baby since giving birth a few weeks ago; this show and this cast are truly excellent. You should see Hadestown. While their brief run at TPAC is already over, they have multiple future stops on their tour that aren’t that far from Nashville. See HADESTOWN for more information.
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G E Tipton was born in Nashville and raised there and in Spring Hill. She graduated from MTSU in 2017 with a degree in German and a minor in piano performance. She spent three years in Boston before returning to Nashville in 2020. She is married and has a baby boy.
