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to-know-how-it-ends · 2 years

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Hadestown Thoughts

- .Hello fellow humans (and intelligent cats) of tumblr! I saw Hadestown on Broadway exactly 12 days ago and I have some thoughts. It was my first Broadway musical in my entire life and it was absolutely the most amazing thing I’ve ever witnessed/heard since... December last year when I saw Wicked on tour. Let’s go song by song to show just how much of a masterpiece this is.

Road to Hell:

- All of the actors just burst from the entrance door thingies and the wings! wowww. It felt so casual but so awesome

- T. Oliver Reid was Hermes and he had such a remarkable stage presence, like gosh, that’s good.

- I was a bit confused about the setup because it kind of looked to me like Hermes was a teacher and the chorus and Eurydice (Eva!!!!) were high school students. Maybe it’s just me. But then it all made sense.

- Hermes stops at every member of the chorus, doing handshakes, fistbumps, etc., and then he stops at Eurydice and puts his hand on her shoulder, and lingers for a moment, as if he’s regretful for the story having to happen yet again

- then he faces the audience, does that little lapel thing, unbuttons his suit (really shiny and i want it), puts his hands on his hips, and goes “alright!” to the chorus and then to the audience who repeats it back. Instantly drew us in, the fourth wall has officially been obliterated. I know Andre de Shields did an “aight” as opposed to “alright”, but it still had the same effect

- T. Oliver Reid’s mustache.

- the trombone player is a gift to this world

- It’s a sad song -- in the jumpiest tune ever

- this is really random but I really liked the yellow dress that the violin player was wearing

- when Hermes calls Orpheus and he misses his cue because he’s so focused on that red shmata and then he gives that cute little wave

- when Reeve and Eva pause in front of one another and Orpheus just has plain heart eyes

Any Way the Wind Blows

- the fates! the harmonies! my god. They were fantastic! Soara-Joye Ross was Atropos, and she had such a beautiful low voice. Jessie Shelton played Laechesis (hope i’m not totally butchering the spelling) and she had such an interesting mixture of joy and haunting. She had this huge taunting smile, and she seemed to love it whenever she could manipulate people. Literally amazing. Kay Trinidad (nothing like the OBC) was Clotho, and I feel like she brought the group together. She was mystical and creepy. And also seemingly very cold.

- Eva Noblezada is a blessing unto this earth. I mean it. And her voice! Ahhhh! From the literal heavens.

- I don’t know why this part always sticks out to me and some people might not notice it, but there are 3 notes in the word “blows”, and when Eva sings it they all flow together seamlessly, like pouring water into a glass. She could be a disney princess and outshine all of them. She can do amazing belts and also go very low and high. She can do anything. In case you couldn’t tell, I’m just a little bit in love with her.

- also if you look really close, on the candle that Eurydice lights there are flower designs -- my inner English teacher says good symbolism and also foreshadowing

- also, (wow i say that a lot) the acting in this (and the rest of the show) is incredible. I’ve seen a bunch of musicals in person before this (never on Broadway though), and while, granted, the acting is good, they act the relationships well, it’s very clearly acting. I don’t know what makes this so different but here it feels real, not fake. Maybe because Reeve and Eva are actually dating lol.

- ooooooh.

Come Home With Me

- Orpheus is a sweetheart. I’m also a little bit in love with him too. You know that a musical is good when you’re in love with both of the leads.

- I didn’t think I’d like him originally, but (like Eurydice) I fell in love in spite of myself

- Orpheus is adorable

- You can sense Hermes’ admiration of him, even if Orpheus is always like this

- when the chorus starts singing behind Orpheus. Someone said this in another review, and it’s very true: (i’m paraphrasing) It’s cool to see the balance of how awkward Orpheus is alongside how he commands attention with every note he sings

- also another thing -- in ancient greek epics, it was common for a chorus to sing behind the hero so I liked that symbolism

- That little scooch across the table Eva does when she’s like “oh, he’s craaazy”

Wedding Song

- I love the balance between Eurydice’s teasing and Orpheus’ earnestness and naivete

- Have I mentioned how adorable Orpheus is?

- when Eurydice is like “you wanna take me home?” and pulls down her coat to show her shoulder. tee hee. and orpheus totally misses the innuendo and is like Yes!

- He’s such a sweetie

- Reeve’s falsetto! I swear everyone in the cast has a voice straight from the heavens.

- La la la la la la la...

- When the chorus moves the tables for Orpheus to walk on in his ethereal state as Eurydice just looks on in awe

- I’ve watched a bunch of slime tutorials by now (only 12 days wow), and I know that the flower comes out of his hand, but I have to admit that when I was watching it I must have not been paying good enough attention because at first there was nothing in his hand, and then I blinked and there was

- that flower is beautiful by the way. I was recently visiting my grandparents and my Zaidy (grandfather) has a beautiful garden. I asked him if next year he could plant carnations but he wrinkled his nose and said that carnations were tacky flowers that don’t have a smell and that if you gave them to somebody it would be like an insult. But my mother likes them so I’ll get them for her. They will always be beautiful to me.

- And then at the end Eurydice’s face when she looks at him like, “Maybe he is everything he’s all cracked up to be. And even if he’s not, it’s kinda cute.”

Epic I

- I don’t have a lot of notes on this one except Reeve’s gift-from-god voice

- and also the sweet Orpheus/Hermes father/son relationship

- another difference i noticed from the soundtrack and seeing it live is that a lot of the words blend together when he’s singing in falsetto. Like when he says “And he fell in love with a beautiful lady” It sounds kind of like “beautifalady” but I actually prefer that because to me it sounds more raw, like it’s coming entirely out of him and not a songbook

Livin’ It Up On Top

- Jewelle Blackman as Persephone is a force to be reckoned with. I’m not going to compare versions as to which one is better but I will say that the way Amber Gray and Jewelle play Persephone differ greatly

- Jewelle used to play Atropos, so you know she has a MUCH deeper voice than Amber’s, but she does the same gritty things with her voice during certain lines like Amber.

- Eurydice’s reluctance to dance and then her getting right in the middle of it

- Persephone instantly clinging to Eurydice and giving her some alcohol from her flask, and then Eurydice’s surprised gasp lol

- The way Persephone lovingly touches Orpheus every time he passes her

- The way Eurydice looked at Orpheus when he gave her and Persephone cups, like “Oh, he’s so thoughtful...”

All I’ve Ever Known

- The mother of all love songs except perhaps As Long As You’re Mine. Actually no. This one is better

- The way they hold one another! Ahhhh my heart

- Like they simply can’t stay apart from one another, they live for the other

- that violin solo and the love ballet

Way Down Hadestown

- I knew this song was in the musical before I saw it because it’s in all the ads but I had no idea of the context

- How Orpheus and Eurydice are lying on the ground and holding one another for half the song and then the other half just hugging and making out because they’re totally oblivious to the change

- Basically singing that everything’s going wrong to the tune of sesame street

- the umbrella

- Jewelle’s forced smile when she says “you’re early”

- When Hades says “I missed ya” in his crazily low voice. It’s even lower now, probably because Patrick Page has aged. hehehe that rhymed

- When Eurydice says “Kinda makes you wonder how it feels” and then Hades lowers his shades and turns to her, and then Orpheus literally jumps in front of her

skipping a gathering storm because it’s like three seconds long and it’s usually always the same except Eurydice sounds more understanding and trusting in this than she does in the soundtrack and slime tutorials

Epic II

- when I tell you how much this song broke my heart

- And Orpheus’ empathy my gosh. How he’s able to empathize with Hades who is so different from him. It sounds like he’s the only one who truly understands how Hades is feeling

- La la la la la la la

- la la la la la la la

- that’s it

Chant

- by far the best song in the musical

- highlights every single perspective:

Persephone -- in shock of how much has changed in the underworld and how unnatural all this manufactured light and heat is so she’s trying to numb herself from it with wine, she cannot believe that this is what has become of the man she once fell in love with “I don’t know you anymore”

Hades -- the fact that he’s doing this all out of love for Persephone, to mimic the sunlight on earth so that she’ll want to stay, but he’s so blinded that he’s allowing himself to go down a very dark and dare I say evil (but somewhat i don’t want to say understandable but like you see why) path and he’s sort of jealous of her devotion to the people on earth

Orpheus -- trying desperately to finish the song, all he wants is to protect Eurydice with it, all he wants is for her to be safe and have everything he promised her because he feels she deserves it so much that he himself has also blinded into oblivion and can’t get the focus off the song. What he doesn’t realize is that they need food and shelter and fire now, but he’s just so swept up. Was that wrong? Yes, but he’s not to blame though he will blame himself. If I hear any hate for Orpheus I have an orange belt in Tai Shin Do -- that’s all I’m saying

Eurydice -- Orpheus showed her the way the world could be and she’s trying in spite of her gut to see that, to trust that Orpheus is going to “shelter us”, but she knows how the world is. She’s more cynical, but also more reasonable, and Orpheus isn’t helping to provide because he’s so stuck on his song which leaves her as the main provider until his song is done. She’s losing everything, and as the wind grows, her hope lessens and she becomes more desperate, and as everyone knows, desperate times call for desperate measures...

Hermes -- trying to get Orpheus out of his head, perhaps I can change the direction of the story, maybe it can go right this time, but I feel like by the time Orpheus has the a-ha moment and says “The gods have forgotten the song of their love”, and Hermes turns away, he knows that Orpheus has lost himself completely and there’s nothing he can do

The Fates -- acting as the doubt in Eurydice’s head and the wind, taking away everything she and Orpheus has, and you feel awful as they pull off Eurydice’s coat

The Workers -- Their chant is so ominous “Keep your head low” and that fact that the reason they are working is because of how much Hades has been changed because of his blindness and jealousy because of his love for Persephone

- I just love that all the parts blend together. Visually, it’s a masterpiece, with all the turntables being used and the thingy that brings people up and down in the middle

- eva’s pure desperation

- the way it seems like orpheus is really trying to get the sound right, he’s repeating himself and scrunching up his face desperately

Hey, Little Songbird

- Oh man, Patrick Page’s voice is like a massage on your brain

- But it is so, so creepy

- as is the song which is kinda the point

- It makes it look like he’s trying to seduce Eurydice

- You really get a sense of Eva’s range in this song. In four lines, she basically uses all of it, and I feel like that’s sort of the symbolism for Eurydice giving everything she has if you think about it but that could just be me.

- Like the low part in “Wasn’t it gonna be the two of us?” and then the high “weren’t” in “Weren’t we birds of a feather”

- I love all the bird analogies in it, like of course with the songbird thing, but then “I wanna fly down and feed at his hand, I want a nice soft place to land”

- The pure grief and desperation (i use this word a lot) in her voice

- “songbird vs. rattlesnake” kinda interesting when you think about it that the reason Eurydice went down to the Underworld in the original myth was because she was bitten by a snake on her wedding day and now she’s being lured down by a metaphorical “snake”, Hades

- “see how the vipers and vultures surround you” - this song is very reminiscent to me of Eicha (איכה) where it basically uses metaphors like this to describe the exile of the Jewish people

- Hades is also doing this as a kind of petty way to get back at Persephone

- God, Hades is so creepy

When The Chips Are Down

- there is so much I love about this song

- the vocals! Ahhhh! they were perfect! PERFECT and so spicy!

- the taunting, ooh. You never know whether or not to love or hate the Fates in this, but it still stands that they have the best harmonies in the show

- When they say “You got a knife in the back”, and then Eurydice acts like she’s literally been stabbed in the back. You can actually see the pain and tears on her face and feel it in your chest. Or, at least I could.

- “you can have your principles when you’ve got a belly full” -- there was an interview with the cast where reeve was saying something like “The point of the show is not that people say, oh that’s what she would do, that’s what they would do in hadestown, but can you honestly say that you would?” Someone said this somewhere, can’t remember, but if the choice is between x and survival, it’s not really a choice. What they’re really saying in this song and actually throughout the entire show is they’re using the characters as a vessel to challenge you, would you really have been able to do it any differently, honestly? Can you say that you’d be better?

Gone, I’m Gone

- not many notes, just the single tear that fell onto the stage. Like gosh. That’s not acting, that’s real

- Hermes wears glasses

Wait For Me

- I knew this song from the ads but, like Way Down Hadestown, I didn’t know the context.

- Visually a work of art

- the swinging lanterns! Oh my gosh.

- Hermes gets very stern in this. It’s almost like he’s mocking Orpheus a little bit, idrk what to think. Because like after he does that, he’s immediately helping him.

- i wonder what it tastes like to have your mouth stuffed with cotton

- orpheus’ desperate “noooo” when hermes is like, “But I guess you weren’t listening”

- The flower and how lovingly and desperately (there I go again with desperate but it seems like the main word of the musical) orpheus holds it out, like that’s his piece of Eurydice and he needs to be back together with her, he can’t bear to be without her

- The fates starting to also be a part of Orpheus’ story, acting as his doubt “who are you? where do you think you’re going? who are you to think that you can walk a road that no one’s ever walked before” and he’s like screw you, anything for my love

- the lights start swelling as Orpheus sings la la la la la la la

- when the stage opens up... the whole audience collectively gasped

- the last verse and everything about it -- “I’m coming!”

- I was a bit confused why this wasn’t the end of act 1 because it was a showstopper, and I still am a little bit confused, but I think the next song is worth it for the last song of act 1 and i will tell you why.

Why We Build The Wall

- what I think is so funny is that this song was written in 2006

- and it’s a kind of political musical. How did anais kind of prophesize Trump?

- that low voice, holy cow

- the fact that Hades refers to his workers as his children

- and the fact that the thing they are building to keep out poverty is the same thing they think that poverty wants

- But. I want to repeat something that Reeve Carney once said in an interview (he says the most meaningful things): “Oftentimes, physical walls are merely manifestations of emotional walls within oneself”

Carney: “Walls that we build against intimacy, togetherness, unity, all those things. I mean, there's so many walls you can build that prevent you from feeling something. That's where I think it starts. And our show deals those themes. I mean ... love, fear, hope, trust, doubt." and then Patrick Page: "And the world now is so complex and moving so fast and so scary, that it's not surprising to me that people would want to think, 'Oh, well there's a solution. We will simply build this barrier and will keep all of the good people inside and we'll put all of the bad people on the outside and we'll be safe.' That's what Hades is appealing to.”

I don’t think I can add any more, what they said is so perfectly true.

Wait one more Patrick quote:

"Any time you have someone who's trying to hold onto power, which is what my character is doing, he's trying at that moment to build up his own sense of himself, his own sense of power, because his relationship is threatened. Political things come from personal things, so he's feeling threatened in his personal life. He goes out and holds a rally in which he gets everyone to chant about building a wall."

- oh and this is why it’s a good ending - we set the scene for act 2 and Persephone gets to say “Anybody want a drink?” before intermission

end act 1

Our Lady of the Underground

- Jewelle and the vocals! wowww!!!!

- there’s a CRACK IN THE WAaaALLLllLlL!

- I wonder if Hades knew anything about this. Like there’s no way he’d allow his wife to run a speakeasy for his workers

Way Down Hadestown (Reprise)

- we see Eurydice in her worker’s uniform, but she doesn’t have the head-cover-goggly-thing that the other workers do.

- Eurydice doesn’t understand why they’re working -- she introduces herself to the workers and is like what are you doing, we’re free?

- then the Fates reveal what Hadestown really is -- freedom to spend eternity as basically a slave

- “your eyes will look like that someday” -- and Eurydice is like i have to go back and then the Fates mock her for already losing her memories of the past

- the fact that they sang this already but they sing it slower and then Eurydice understands -- no hate to Eurydice of course, but it’s kind of like when you say something slower so a younger person can understand. it’s sort of meant to be played as taunting and condescending

Flowers

- gut-wrenching

- my god

- so so so sad

- and the one thing she remembers is flowers and the fact that she has a lover. the symbolism!!!!!

Come Home With Me (Reprise)

- Literally two seconds after Eurydice sings her grief ballad and says come and find me, Orpheus runs through the audience and goes up to the stage and comes and finds her. I was in the mezzanine, so I didn’t see him run through but that must have been a treat for the people in orchestra seats

- I love the repetition, and of course the “It’s you,” “It’s me,” “Orpheus,” “Eurydice!” and then they rush into an embrace, they have longed to hold each other for so long and now they can’t let go.

- “You heard me?”

“...no.”

- Orpheus thinks he can get her out and is so confused why they can’t just leave

Papers

- The look of complete betrayal and fear and grief when he says it isn’t true and then Eurydice confirms that she belongs to Hades

- Orpheus still presses on, and immediately asks to take her home

- Hades’ laugh. An evil laugh if I ever heard one. But I started laughing too. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I don’t know why.

- Persephone’s trying to defend him but to no avail

- Everybody beats up poor Orpheus! noooo. Also, during the beatup scene, were they like smearing red makeup on his face that we couldn’t see? Because I am pretty certain he has more cuts and bruises after the fight and he doesn’t leave the stage once during that whole encounter

Nothing Changes

- the fates and their vocals can never be topped

- they are always taunting everyone. They’re like the murphy’s law voice in your head -- anything that can go wrong will go wrong, why try to fight it

If It’s True

- I’m pretty sure this is what you call the 11 ‘o clock number. Like No Good Deed in Wicked. Even if it’s not, it has the same effect.

- so incredibly inspiring.

- sweet little orpheus has seen how the world is but still he clings to the hope that things can change and unintentionally starts a strike

- a song of hope, resistance, and resilience

- reeve’s voice, ahhh like powerful magic

How Long

- This is the song I repeat the most because it’s pretty much the only female song I feel comfortable singing with the voice that I have

- with jewelle how long is very very very low and it sounds amazing

- It’s so beautiful

- The metaphors!

All of his sorrow won’t fit in his chest - figurative

It just burns like a fire in the pit of his chest - simile

And his heart is a bird on a spit in his chest - metaphor

How long, how long, how long

- I also love the repetition of chest chest chest, bed bed bed, and sky sky sky

- and how they duet at the end

- “The sun must go on rising” and the riff on rising is another brain massage

- shows how they both feel about their relationship and also as a parallel to orpheus and eurydice’s

Chant (Reprise)

- is almost as good as the first chant and is still amazing

- I wish they still kept Persephone’s part in it though so she could add to Eurydice’s parallel

- the worker’s singing

- you can’t really detect that much of a tune from Hades’ voice live, probably because Patrick Page aged, but still it sounds awesome

- “I CONDUCT THE ELECTRIC CITY!!!!”

- Hades is very scary

Epic III

- the best of the epics in my opinion

- you get the whole finished la la la song with all the parts come together, and with reeve’s voice and the entire company singing backup it is vocal gold.

- talk about killing them with kindness.

- like how a poor, young, beaten up boy in love manages to break down the shell of a mighty king simply by empathizing with him. he really did have a gift to give.

- and the parallel “It was like you were holding the world when you held her” to “suddenly I’m holding the world in my arms” and just the two love stories coming together

- when Hermes says, “and brother, you know what they did” the way t. oliver reid says it, it sounds like an innuendo. the audience cracked up.

- the cello and violin during Hades and Persephone’s dance and Orpheus accompanying them

- when the flower appears for Hades

Promises

- orpheus - “now what do i do?”

- re-affirming their love for one another

- Orpheus immediately doubting that Eurydice would want to stay with him after he wasn’t able to keep the promises he made in the Wedding Song and All I’ve Ever Known, asking are you sure you want to come back, I wasn’t able to provide for you -- “take me home”

- Eurydice immediately reassuring him

- the fact that it’s to the same tune as “say that you’ll hold me forever” in all I’ve ever known

- Hades and Persephone hugging and dancing the entire time

Word To the Wise

- Hades faces a dilemma here -- if I don’t let them go, i’ll be seen as a heartless man and my workers will view him as a martyr for their cause and will continue to fight, and if i do let them go, I’ll never get my workers in line again and will be considered spineless

- also, orpheus’ song touched him so much that it rebuilt his relationship with Persephone, so of course he feels pity for him and wants to let them go, but how can he do so without letting a revolution happen?

- fates vocals are of course top notch

- It’s kind of funny that word to the wise only has that line in it once and that doesn’t really have anything to do with the song

His Kiss, the Riot

- Hades makes his decision -- he will let them go but make it a journey that he doesn’t believe a even a god could ever face -- it’s a very difficult challenge, but it can still be beat with the right amount of trust

- interesting tidbit - the tune to “Who lays all the best laid plans” is the same tune that acts as sort of a theme whenever Hades comes in instrumentally.

Wait For Me (Reprise)

- I really love the line that Hermes says “the dog you really gotta dread, is the one that howls inside your head, it’s him who’s howling drives men mad, and a mind to its undoing”. He is, of course, referring to doubt, and how one can get stuck inside their head. This is fOrEsHaDoWiNggg....

- Orpheus and Eurydice holding each other for as long as they can until they have to let go.

- All the workers following Orpheus

- Persephone and Hades -- “Wait for me?” “I will.” We see their story end on a hopeful note, which I really like.

- and then everyone sings WAIT FOR ME and my god the emotion

- eva’s belt!

Doubt Comes In

- originally, when the fates start making him question himself, that’s just how it is but now when orpheus sings them out loud it shows he’s giving voice to these thoughts

- like what if this is a trick. I can’t see or hear or feel the presence of eurydice and the workers? What if Hades took them all back without me knowing, why would he, the king of the underworld, willingly let them go for a poor boys song. we know from greek mythology that the gods are not above tricking mere mortals, they’ve done it plenty of times for this to be a valid doubt. It could also be, why would eurydice even want to follow me? I wasn’t able to provide for her, why would she want me anymore, he blames himself for her going down to hadestown in the first place

- eurydice’s calls to him sound so beautiful, clear, and reassuring, and really highlight eva’s voice in all the best ways, but can orpheus actually hear her? i don’t know if that’s actually ever specified.

- when orpheus says “is this a trap that’s being played on me,” the vocals are so so good, another brain massage

- and when he says “I used to see the way the world could be, but now the way it is is all i see” he’s lost all hope, his experience has broken him, he can’t be naive or hopeful anymore, he feels so compelled that he must...

- he looks back and the audible gasp from the audience as the ground beneath eurydice starts sinking once more, and their final words to each other “it’s you” “it’s me. orpheus!” “eurydice...”

- gut punch. I’m dead, I’m crying, they’re crying, Eurydice is gone and Orpheus is knelt to the ground where she sank.

Road to Hell (Reprise)

- It’s a sad song.

- It’s a sad tale.

- It’s a tragedy.

- But we sing it anyway. (gaaaahhh the tears)

- Cause here’s the thing.

To know how it ends

And still begin to sing it again

As if it might turn out this time

I learned that from a friend of mine

- I liked how they started it again - Eurydice comes back in and asks for a match. It feels very full circle - which is the point.

- He could make you see how the world could be

In spite of the way that it is

Can you see it? (the trombone here, beginning, swelling, signifying hope and new beginnings)

Can you hear it? (more trombone -- everybody bless the trombone guy)

Can you feel it! (the way T. Oliver Reid says this -- kind of like Andre, but also with a lot more vigor)

Like a train... Is it coming?

Is it coming this way?

- and then we see that orpheus has indeed brought spring back -- just as he promised, and the chorus are back on stage in their normal clothes -- not as workers, as people starting once more

- and persephone comes back.

- It’s a love song

- orpheus and eurydice have the repeat of their bump into one another at the beginning

- and everything begins once more

- and we’re gonna sing it

We’re gonna sing it again.

And that’s just the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I can’t get it out of my system and I don’t want to. If you’ve stuck long enough to read this entire thing, bravo. I worked two days on this, so I appreciate it.

#hadestown #orpheus hadestown #eurydice hadestown #orphydice #hermes hadestown #hades hadestown #persephone hadestown #fates hadestown #reeve carney #eva noblezada #jewelle blackman #t. oliver reid #patrick page #soara-joye ross #jessie shelton #kay trinidad

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