Review: The Road to Hell Feels a Lot Like Heaven With HADESTOWN

The underworld has never felt hotter. The first national tour of Hadestown, the eight-time Tony Award-winning musical by Anaïs Mitchell and director Rachel Chavkin, opened last night, Wednesday, February 9th at the Academy of Music on the Kimmel Cultural Campus and is set to run through Sunday, February 20th. The musical pulls from several stories in Greek mythology, with the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice at its heart. While we may know the ultimate fate of these lovers, Hadestown's gorgeous storytelling, swinging music, and sweeping narrative has you hoping against hope that this time, somehow, it will end differently.

The musical opens on a set resembling a steamy, New Orleans Jazz club, made even more authentically immersive by the outstanding musicians that remain on stage throughout the show. We follow our charming and foretelling narrator Hermes (Levi Kreis) as he brings us into the world of Hadestown. We are introduced to Orpheus (Nicholas Barasch), son of a muse with a song in his heart, and Eurydice (Morgan Siobhan Green) a cold and hungry traveler whom Orpheus falls in love with instantly. We learn of the spirited Persephone (Kimberly Marable), who spends half the year above ground in the world of the living, and half below alongside her husband, Hades (Kevyn Morrow), ruler of the underworld. While Orpheus and Eurydice's world grows harsher and colder, Eurydice is soon temped by the supposed warmth and security offered by Hades and ventures into the world below. Orpheus follows her on the road to hell.

The audience isn't so much swept up in these characters' journey to the underworld as they are slowly and ominously descended there, thanks to the brilliance of Rachel Hauk's scenic design. The characters are plunged from the moody, amber-lit liveliness of the world above ground, to the heat and darkness down below, guided there by the innovative lighting design of Bradley King. The costume design by Michael Krass informs the story just as equally, expressing the bleak chill of the characters above ground and the coal-covered sweat down below. The music of Hadestown (arranged and orchestrated by Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose, and music directed by Cody Owen Stine) is one goosebump-inducing moment of beauty after another, a hypnotizing mix of Jazz, Folk and more.

The score is sung through and done so with expert musicianship by each of the cast members. Levi Kreis's incredible magnetism and vocal control as Hermes demands audience attention from the moment he steps on stage, Nicholas Barasch as Orpheus is a beautiful storyteller and sings like an angel, and Morgan Siobhan Green brings raw emotion and power to Eurydice. Kevyn Morrow has the necessary gravitas for the role of Hades, and Kimberly Marable is a standout as Persephone, putting reason, joy, heartbreak, and expression into not only each song, but every movement she makes. Belen Moyano, Bex Odorisio, and Shea Renne as the Fates blend as seamlessly as three strings played on the same violin. The ensemble is just as fantastic, moving the story forward through wonderful interpretation of David Neumann's choreography.

Hadestown is a work of art, creative, visually and aurally stunning, thrilling and heartbreaking. This musical may lead you down the road to hell and back, but the journey there sure feels a lot like heaven.

For tickets to Hadestown at the Kimmel Cultural Campus's Academy of Music, click HERE!