Nate At The Movies

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

What a month to be Greek at the movie theater! Morgan and I have seen ProShots of popular musicals in theaters a few times—Hamilton and Merrily We Roll Along, at least—and it has become one of my favorite things to do. I love seeing new (or new to me) musicals, and it’s reassuring that the ones getting theatrically released ProShots are going to be awesome. That was obviously the case with Hamilton, and Merrily We Roll Along was very good, too. I figured I’d enjoy Hadestown, since it won Best Musical in 2019, but I was shocked by how good it was.

I didn’t learn until the day before seeing Hadestown that it was about Orpheus and Eurydice, and I was interested to see how such a well-known and famously short tale would be adapted to a full-length musical. Telling Orpheus and Eurydice’s story in parallel with Hades and Persephone’s was a master stroke; their relationships were already so similar, and they could learn lessons from each other. This structure also made Hades less peripheral than he is in the original story, and more layered, too. I was wondering how this story would hit emotionally given that the most famous part is the heartbreaking ending, but even though I knew where this story would end, the lessons it taught on the way were valuable, and I still believed everything could turn out alright for Orpheus and Eurydice.

As is to be expected with a musical that won eight Tonys, every performance was excellent, though the standouts had to be Amber Gray as Persephone (my personal fave) and Eva Noblezada as Eurydice. I enjoyed Patrick Page and Renee Carvey, too, but their vocal performances took some getting used to. Page’s was deliciously low, but I did wish he had spoken some of his lines instead of singing, and Carvey’s voice was exceptionally high, which was a surprise initially, but I ended up really enjoying his voice. Those two voices in particular needed to be the ways they were; Hades (the realist) and Orpheus (the romantic) are diametrically opposed, and their voices should reflect that. The Fates were delightful with their tight harmonies, and I was a huge fan of the instrumentalists being on the stage for the entirety of the show!

I had never heard a single second of any of the songs in this musical before tonight’s viewing, so you can imagine my surprise when my ears were blessed with this music. Between Sinners and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, I have been inundated with Depression-era folk, jazz, and blues recently, and I think all music for the rest of time should be written in this style. I’m still getting my head wrapped around this soundtrack, so I’m not sure I could tell you all of my faves, but “Road to Hell”, “Way Down Hadestown”, anytime Orpheus sings that amazing theme, and every love song stood out. I was impressed by Carvey’s singing and guitar playing (I can’t imagine doing that eight times a week), but if any one instrumentalist deserves unbridled praise, it was the trombonist! This soundtrack doesn’t hit like this without an absolute gangster on the trombone. Good thing they had one.

Despite my high praise, there were a few things that keep Hadestown from earning all five stars on first watch. I’m usually a big fan of sung-through musicals, but I could’ve used a bit of regular dialogue, especially by Hades, like I mentioned. You can still underscore it with music! I also felt like Eurydice’s descent into hardship and desperation was very fast. For a musical that was already kind of short, I would have liked a little more development there. These are small complaints, though, in an otherwise outstanding musical. Hadestown really surprised me, and I can’t wait to make my love of it an annoying part of my personality. I also can’t wait to start learning these songs on the piano, starting with that iconic melody.