Review: HADESTOWN at The Overture
The Road to Hell is open until January 29th
By: Scott Rawson Jan. 25, 2023
Much like the rest of this year's season at The Overture Center, I was really looking forward to Hadestown, and there were many aspects I enjoyed. The New Orleans type jazzy feel of the entire show was immersive and incredible! The set was marvelous, as were the lighting arrangements. Bravo to Rachel Hauck on Scenic Design and to Bradley King for Lighting Design. Having the band on stage helped set the mood and added to the entire experience. Notably, it was a joy to watch Michiko Egger playing guitar with genuine joy and listening to Claire Armenante play violin filled me with a longing for Louisiana like nothing I have felt before.
We are told in the opening song, "Road to Hell", that this is "an old song" a "sad song" and it is. For those of you not in the know, as was I, this is the story of Orpheus and Eurydice and their trials in the underworld. A VERY OLD story indeed.
Anais Mitchell is a fantastic composer, but not a great lyricist, the songs become repetitive and uninteresting after the first few. The action helps to make up for this flaw, but only barely.
Hermes (Nathan Lee Graham) begins the show by actually introducing the characters, setting the stage for how the rest of the show will go. Hermes will not only narrate the things behind the scenes, but also narrates the action on stage, along with what motivates that action.
Eurydice (Hannah Whitley) is a poor hungry girl, alone in the world. She expresses this through song with a most incredible voice. She is amazing, and a joy to watch. And after her opening song, "Any Way the Wind Blows", the story begins to fall apart. We are introduced to Orpheus (Chibueze Ihuoma) as he entices his love to "Come Home with Me". It is at this point I wanted romance, I longed for some conflict and resolution, I looked for the passion between the two. It wasn't there, instead they were simply married.
Fast forward to the Underworld where Hades (Mathew Patrick Quinn) is gathering his bride Persephone (Brit West) from a reprieve topside bringing about an early darkness and winter. This is yet another relationship we never see develop, they are at odds, but we are unsure why, and when they eventually reconcile, it is a passionless affair leaving us confused as to what they ever saw in each other.
Hades may have been told to play it "cool" but it read as bored to the audience. I expected the king of the underworld to at minimum have some stage presence, alas, another expectation dashed. He moved around the stage without purpose and gave no reason to fear or respect him.
Persephone may have been told to play her character "wild" but it came off as crazy or drunk most of the time. I wanted to like her and feel for her plight, but I never knew what that plight was.
Orpheus, the bard, had an amazing falsetto, but was often not understandable as he sang, leaving me wondering if I had missed some important piece of the story.
Lastly Hermes was unable to command the stage as he should have, leaving his Fosse-esque moves flat and unimpressive. Jazz hands don't work if you're not selling it.
I felt the book (Script) was weak and having the narrator tell us everything that was happening was simply lazy. I was left not really caring about any of the characters, or what happened to them. Neither their relationships with each other, nor the characters themselves, were well developed.
The dancing was well choreographed, although, many numbers were very similar, presumably noting the tedium of the underworld. The use of the rotating stage was well executed, and the overall energy was high. In the end, although disappointed by the book and lack of passion between the two main couples, I was glad to have seen it.
HADESTOWN IS COMING TO MADISON JANUARY 24-29
MUSIC, LYRICS & BOOK BY ANAÏS MITCHELL, DEVELOPED WITH & DIRECTED BY Rachel Chavkin
"Astounding! Hadestown will make you fall in love with musical theater again."
Lily Janiak, San Francisco Chronicle
Madison, Wis. (Jan. 10, 2023) - Hadestown, the winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards® including Best New Musical and the 2020 Grammy® Award for Best Musical Theater Album, is coming to Overture Center from Tuesday, Jan. 24 through Sunday, Jan. 29 in Overture Hall. Tickets are available at overture.org.
Hadestown was the most honored show of the 2018/19 Broadway season. In addition to the show's eight Tony Awards®, it has been honored with four Drama Desk Awards, six Outer Critics Circle Awards, including Outstanding New Broadway Musical, and the Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical.
The North American touring production of Hadestown stars Nathan Lee Graham as Hermes, Chibueze Ihuoma as Orpheus, Maria-Christina Oliveras as Persephone, Matthew Patrick Quinn as Hades and Hannah Whitley as Eurydice.
The Fates are played by Dominique Kempf, Belén Moyano, Nyla Watson. The Workers Chorus features Jordan Bollwerk, Lindsey Hailes, Jamal Lee Harris, Courtney Lauster, and Eddie Noel Rodríguez. Swings for the tour include Tyla Collier, Ian Coulter-Buford, Alex Lugo, J. Antonio Rodriguez, and Cecilia Trippiedi.
"Scorching! Stunning! Both unmistakably timely and irresistibly entertaining."
Catey Sullivan, Chicago Sun-Times
Producers Mara Isaacs, Dale Franzen, Hunter Arnold and Tom Kirdahy said jointly, "Throughout its development, Hadestown has been deeply influenced by audiences around the world. We are thrilled and humbled to now share this beautiful story of hope, faith and rebirth - written and directed by two amazingly talented women and brought to life by a diverse company of performers - with audiences across North America."
The acclaimed new musical is by celebrated singer-songwriter and Tony Award® winner Anaïs Mitchell and developed with innovative director and Tony Award® winner Rachel Chavkin. Hadestown marks the first time in over a decade that a woman has been the solo author of a musical: writing the music, lyrics and book, and is the fourth time in Broadway history a woman has accomplished this creative feat.
"Mesmerizing! Hadestown arrives in smoldering fashion. Unfurling like a dream, the show achieves a fluidity of musical theater storytelling that makes an old tale seem startlingly new."
Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times
The show opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway (219 West 48th Street, New York) on April 17, 2019, where it played sold out houses nightly before performances were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hadestown resumed performances September 2, 2021, as one of the first musicals to reopen on Broadway where it continues to play today. The North American Tour opened at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC on October 15, 2021.
The show originated as Mitchell's indie theater project that toured Vermont which she then turned into an acclaimed album. With Chavkin, her artistic collaborator, Hadestown has been transformed into a genre-defying new musical that blends modern American folk music with New Orleans-inspired jazz to reimagine a sweeping ancient tale.
Following two intertwining love stories - that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone - Hadestown invites audiences on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Mitchell's beguiling melodies and Chavkin's poetic imagination pit industry against nature, doubt against faith and fear against love. Performed by a vibrant ensemble of actors, dancers and singers, Hadestown delivers a deeply resonant and defiantly hopeful theatrical experience.
"Welcome to the intriguing and beautiful world of 'your next musical theater obsession.'"
Vogue
The creative team features Tony Award® winner Rachel Hauck (set design); four-time Tony Award® nominee Michael Krass (costume design); two-time Tony Award® winner Bradley King (lighting design); Tony Award® winners Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz (sound design); Chita Rivera Award® winner and three-time Bessie Award® winner David Neumann (choreography); Liam Robinson (music supervision and vocal arrangements); Tony Award® winners Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose (arrangements and orchestrations); Ken Cerniglia (dramaturgy); and Stewart/Whitley (casting).
Hadestown electrified audiences with its 2016 world premiere at New York Theatre Workshop, which is the longest-running show in that celebrated theater's 40-year history. The production then received its Canadian premiere at Edmonton's Citadel Theatre in 2017 and then a 2018 sold-out engagement at the London's National Theatre. Hadestown was developed with funding from the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center and was further developed by The Ground Floor at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Hadestown was co-conceived by Ben t. Matchstick.
The Grammy® winning Hadestown Original Broadway Cast Recording is now available at Hadestown.com/music. The album is produced by David Lai, Sickafoose and Mitchell on Sing It Again Records.
www.facebook.com/hadestownofficial
OVERTURE CENTER FOR THE ARTS in Madison, Wis., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization that features seven state-of-the-art performance spaces and four galleries where national and international touring artists, nine resident companies and hundreds of local artists engage people in nearly 700,000 educational and artistic experiences each year. With the vision to provide "Extraordinary Experiences for All," Overture's mission is to support and elevate our community's creative culture, economy and quality of life through the arts. overture.org
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