The epic tale of Hadestown

Via Vogue.

Hadestown is the latest musical to take Broadway by storm, having received 14 TONY nominations upon its opening. Featuring a godly cast, folk music played on-stage and poetic lyrics, it tells the ancient Greek love stories of mortals Orpheus and Eurydice, and gods Hades and Persephone. In more ways than just its story, Hadestown is a true incarnation of Greek mythology. If you haven't been able to witness it on stage, here's a little insight to quench your thirst.

THE MYTH. 

Orpheus and Eurydice 

Via totallyimmersed.com

Orpheus was a man with such a talent for music that humans, gods, animals and even trees and rocks were unable to resist his melodies. He fell in love with a beautiful woman named Eurydice and married her. Their happiness didn't last for long: on their wedding night, Eurydice was bitten by a snake and died. Consumed by grief, Orpheus decided to follow her to the Underworld and attempt to bring her back to the world of the living. No mortal had ever been allowed to enter, but with his music, Orpheus managed to charm the guardian Charon and the three-headed dog Cerberus into letting him through. Once in front of Hades, King of the Underworld, and his wife Persephone, Orpheus sang of his sorrow and pain, convincing them to let Eurydice go. However, Hades set one condition: Orpheus would have to go first and Eurydice would follow, but he was not allowed to look back. He began his ascent back to the world of the living, but he could not hear Eurydice's steps. Consumed by doubt and thinking he was fooled by the gods, Orpheus looked back just as the end was in sight. All he saw was Eurydice, who had been following him all along, being swallowed back to the Underworld. 

The kidnap of Persephone

The rape of Proserpina via columbia.edu

Persephone was the charming and innocent daughter of Demeter, goddess of harvest. She loved to tend to her mother's garden and flowers, and spent most of her time doing so. Hades, god of the dead and King of the Underworld, would rarely ascend from his realm. But on one such occasion, he glanced at Persephone dancing in a garden and fell in love with her. Since Demeter would never allow her daughter to marry him, Hades kidnapped her, married her and made her Queen of the Underworld. Persephone grew to care for him, but missed the sun, gardens and her mother terribly. Up above, Demeter was enraged and vowed that no crop would grow until her daughter returned. Upon hearing this, Persephone agreed to return to the world of the living, but not before eating a pomegranate from Hades' garden. Eating fruit from the Underworld would bind her to it forever, but Demeter would have none of it, so Zeus had to interfere. He determined that Persephone would spend half the year up above tending to gardens and crops with her mother, and half the year down below, ruling the Underworld with her husband.

THE MUSICAL. 

In essence, Hadestown is a modern retelling that intertwines both myths in a Depression-era apocalyptic setting. In it, idealistic Orpheus falls in love with rationalist Eurydice and brings back the spring with a melody. Persephone comes back with it and everyone celebrates all the way through summer until Hades comes to take his wife back to Hadestown, a realm of hardship and factory work. Orpheus vows to finish his song and bring the spring back again, but Eurydice, cold and hungry in the winter, chooses the promised safety of Hadestown. Instead of riches, Eurydice discovers she has signed her soul away in exchange for eternal work. Hermes, messenger to the gods, narrates the story, and the Fates, goddesses of destiny, voice the character's thoughts and doubts as Orpheus tries to rescue Eurydice and Persephone questions her marriage to Hades.

Conceived 13 years ago as a song cycle (a group of individual songs meant to be performed as a sequence) by singer and songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, Hadestown began as a DIY community theater project in Vermont and took shape as a concept album in 2010. After watching the musical Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 off-Broadway in 2012, Mitchell brought director Rachel Chavkin on board to stage Hadestown at the New York Theatre Workshop in 2016. The production then moved to Edmonton's Citadel Theater in Canada and to London's National Theatre before it finally landed on Broadway in 2019. 

Concept album via GIPHY.

It is not uncommon for a project like this one to change from its workshop state to the Broadway production, but Hadestown's evolution has been so radical, that New York Times's critic Jesse Green claimed that the musical is almost unrecognizable from its workshop days. From cast and roles to stage design and song lyrics, almost every aspect of this project has changed in one way or another. This evolution is evident in its music: from Mitchell's 2010 concept album, to a live recording of a New York Theatre Workshop performance from 2017, to the upcoming Original Broadway Cast recording, which will be released throughout June and July of this year. 

The beauty of Hadestown lies in that, despite the many changes it goes through, the story remains the same, much like the Greek story it is based on. Greek mythology as a religion did not come from a single source like Christian teachings come from the Bible. It was instead part of the Greek's oral traditions. There are some texts that offer tangible evidence of this religion, such as Homer's epics, but most Greek stories were told, becoming subject to alterations from the narrator. This is the reason why  almost every single myth has several versions, none less accurate than the other. Each story offers the same lesson, but the context adapts through time. Hadestown, through its very own evolution, honors the transitional nature of Greek mythology. 

Via GIPHY.

The purpose of telling Greek stories was to explain the workings of the world and the human nature. For example, the myth of Persephone's kidnap explained the change of seasons and the tale of the weaver Arachne gave an origin to spiders. Hadestown serves a similar purpose, although perhaps a bit less consciously. The apocalyptic setting and the effects of Hades's factory on the seasons can be interpreted as a metaphor for climate change, and Eurydice's storyline shadows real-world stories of late capitalism. Even more striking is a direct reference to a wall that Hades has his workers build to protect themselves from their enemy: poverty. The song "Why we build the wall" is part of Mitchell's original work written 13 years ago, but feels now more relevant than ever. As an allegory or by itself, this musical is truly an incarnation of what the Greek story is in its core. Hadestown is not only a retelling of Greek stories, but a testament of what Greek mythology continues to be: transcendental stories that reflect the nature and state of humanity. 

Hadestown is a sad tale, it's a tragedy.  

It's an old song, and we're gonna sing it again and again. 

Hadestown's Original Broadway Cast album will be released within the next two months through several "character drops". I can't wait to dissect every lyric of this version as I pray to the gods that one day, I might get to see it on stage.