Anaïs Mitchell’s brilliant folk opera, Hadestown, has seen its fair share of permutations since its initial staging in Barre, VT in 2006. Mitchell set out to write the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, as it appears in Greek mythology, against a decisively American post-apocalyptic backdrop. Collaborating with orchestrator Michael Chorney and director Ben Matchstick, she created the skeleton of the Hadestown story, which through multiple revisions and stagings finally morphed into the final version that appears on the Grammy-nominated March 2010 audio recording released on Righteous Babe Records of the show.
Hadestown is unlike any other musical you might have seen in the past ten years. It’s not based on the songbook of some famous artist. It’s not an adaptation of yet another well-known Disney movie. Hadestown is in a class of its own, and as such it’s often difficult to describe. Sure, it’s about Orpheus’ descent into the underground to rescue Eurydice from Hades’ grasp, but what makes the show so successful is its employment of ambiguity throughout the whole ordeal. At times throughout the show, each character reveals both good and evil, forcing the audience to focus on all aspects of Hadestown to try and mine the deeper secrets and magic. It’s not a major Broadway production that knocks you over the head with the eventual tale of morality and sharing of life lessons; rather, Mitchell’s created a song-world where we are all victims of our jealousies, hopes, failings, love, joys and frustrations. We are at one point Hades, at another Persephone and Orpheus. And at the end of the twenty-song opus, you feel like you’ve truly gone on a journey, and your life will never be the same again.
The show at the Great American Music Hall was part of a three-date tour dubbed “California Sings Hadestown!” Michael Chorney’s sextet (known as the Hadestown Orchestra) provided the musical backdrop, and Mitchell asked local singer-songwriters to play the parts of Orpheus, Persephone, Hades and the Fates. Sean Hayes, Thao Nguyen, John Elliott, Sara Stranovksy, Holland Greco and Sophie Holt filled those roles, respectively. Ben Matchstick filled in as Hermes, and Todd Sickafoose, the superb producer of the album, was present on keyboards (his band opened the show), making the evening a real mix of old and new to the Hadestown experience.
The show began without much announcement or pretention. The band walked onstage, the singers followed, shuffled papers with lyrics and got in place. Anaïs and Sean Hayes opened with “Wedding Song,” and it was clear that while Mitchell knew the song backward and forward, Hayes was uncertain and lacked the passion one expected in playing Orpheus. The duet works well when Orpheus allays Eurydice’s fears and doubts about their betrothing with confidence. Eurydice asks: “Lover, tell me when we wed, who is going to make the wedding bed? Times being what they are—hard and getting harder all the time.” Orpheus responds: “Lover, when I sing my song, all the birds gonna sing along, and they’ll come flying round to me / to lay their feathers at my feet / and we’ll lie in eiderdown, a pillow ‘neath our heads.” It’s classically-driven poetry, reinforcing Orpheus’ quick wit, turn of phrase and captivating optimism. Hayes’ delivery lacked the warmly masculine reassurance Eurydice (and by extension the audience) requires of Orpheus, and as such it was difficult to engage his character fully. Mitchell appeared unfazed, however, and gave an excellent performance alongside.
Anaïs broke character at this point to introduce the show and give background on the decision to tour the folk opera around California. It was a short tour—stops in Santa Monica and Santa Barbara preceded the San Francisco show—so it was clear there wasn’t a tremendous amount of time to rehearse the show. Thankfully, the lyrics to the Hadestown songs are fairly expositional, so one can follow the story’s progression fairly well. But Anaïs provided warm, informative and often humorous anecdotes and plot points every four or five songs, ensuring that the audience was up to speed with the happenings. It was nice to hear her discuss these things, because these moments were fantastic reminders that the opera wouldn’t exist without the fearless drive and inspiration of its creator. Her insights made the experience so much more full and cohesive, without dropping the energy too low. It was also apparent how excited everyone was to be there and a part of the singing of Hadestown. The enthusiasm radiating from everyone onstage was palpable and entrancing.
When the ensemble launched into the joyous, foot-stomping and raucous third song, “Way Down Hadestown,” the Great American Music Hall seemed to fill with unbounded electricity. Audience members danced and sang along while those onstage to the constant refrain: “Way down Hadestown, way down under the ground!” Again, Mitchell shows her skill as songwriter in this number, because while the music is rollicking, Orpheus and Hermes continue to warn against the luster of Hadestown’s ostensible riches, while Eurydice is being drawn under the spell. It’s excellent lyrical interplay between the characters, and Mitchell doesn’t cease to explore important emotional elements in favor of presenting a mindless sing-a-long.
John Elliott enters at this point as Hades in “Hey, Little Songbird.” Attempting to lure Eurydice to the underworld, he plays on her vulnerability by pressing about her poverty (a result of continuing to stay with poet Orpheus). Elliott played Hades with considerable subtlety and potency, but sadly missed a lot of the menace and mischievousness in the character. Perhaps this came from his high baritone range as compared to Greg Brown’s gravely, deep bass that appears on the record, but Elliott didn’t seem to truly capture the maniacal nature of Hades. Even so, he was on pitch and on target with the rest of his role, but maybe would have been a better choice as Orpheus. Again, Mitchell excelled at playing up the susceptibility of Eurydice, while still making very real her love for Orpheus throughout the whole ordeal.
Hadestown’s next suite of songs is arguably the most compelling and intoxicating, going between the Fates’ shuffle of “When the Chips are Down,” Orpheus’ absolutely heart-breaking plea to Eurydice in “Wait for Me,” the Woody Guthrie-like chorus-driven “Why We Build the Wall,” to Persephone’s hip-swinging, sultry entrance in “Our Lady of the Underground” and finally Eurydice’s solo in “Flowers (Eurydice’s Song).” This run of five songs came off as vibrant, invigorated and transfixed the audience with the wide variety of musical styles and interplay of solo/chorus vocal structure. Thao Nguyen brought a great fire to the part of Persephone in “Our Lady,” toting a drink and getting the rest of the company excited to shout “Our lady of the Underground!” It was one of those rare moments where the lighting amplified the action onstage, the sound filled the room with clarity and warmth, the venue seemed to pulse with energy from all around and the audience elevated it all with their singing and dancing.
The last half of the show faded in comparison to the beginning. Whereas Thao had commanded the stage with her seductive play on Persephone, when it came to singing the duet “How Long?” with Hades, it was apparent that her voice and stage presence was ill-fitted for the ballad. On record, Ani DiFranco’s interplay with Greg Brown (Hades) suggests a world-weariness to Persephone’s gentle plea. She seems genuinely conflicted, finding immense empathy for Orpheus’ predicament, while still acknowledging the bond between her and her husband. This nuance of Persephone’s struggle was not part of Thao’s delivery, and it’s unfortunate to have missed this subtlety, because it yet again elucidates the complex intricacies of Hadestown. No character is ever one exact thing; rather, they inhabit multifarious persona in order to expound upon the fragility of self when pressed into difficult situations, while also revealing the yin and yang of our own experience as actors in our own life.
After the show ended, Anaïs returned to perform a beautiful unreleased new song, “Tailor.” It’s got a very vibrant and percussive finger-picked guitar part, reminiscent of “Old Fashioned Hat” from The Brightness. The narrator laments the loss of a lover, thus thrusting her into a state of introspection and understated heartache. She sings, “Now that he’s gone away, there isn’t anyone to say if I’m a diamond or a dime-a-dozen,” underscoring the creeping in of self doubt when one is left alone in the wake. It was but a small taste into how magical and transfixing Anaïs is solo, and it kept the audience wanting more from her and her guitar, even after having witnessed the entirety of Hadestown.
Mitchell’s unrelenting modesty sometimes obscures the fact that she has put together one of the finest pieces of musical theatre of her generation. It sounds like hyperbole, and in some ways it certainly is; however, in an age when theatrical creation is debased to the point of regurgitating previously-heard stories and songs in new contexts, for Anaïs Mitchell to put forth a cohesive, complex, thought-provoking and downright first-rate folk opera is cause for much celebration. Marred only by the cast of singers who, albeit earnest, did not fit the parts very well, California Sings Hadestown! was a joyous occasion, a brilliant affair and an excellent way to spend an evening. Hopefully there is plenty of life left in the production, as it would be thrilling to see it fully staged again, or to simply watch Anaïs perform it solo. The material is strong and the writer full of life—you can’t ask much more than that.
Anaïs will continue to do Hadestown performances in 2011 in both the United States and the United Kingdom. She’s currently working on two projects at the moment, including a collaboration with Jefferson Hamer recording British and Scottish folk ballads from the Francis Child collection, as well as another solo record, done in collaboration with Todd Sickafoose. For more information, check out www.anaismitchell.com.
Setlist:
Hadestown (The Folk Opera)
Wedding Song
Epic (Pt. I)
Way Down Hadestown
Songbird Intro
Hey, Little Songbird
Gone, I’m Gone
When the Chips are Down
Wait for Me
Why We Build the Wall
Our Lady of the Underground
Flowers (Eurydice’s Song)
Nothing Changes
If It’s True
Papers (Hades Finds Out)
How Long?
Epic (Pt. II)
Lover’s Desire
His Kiss, The Riot
Doubt Comes In
I Raise My Cup to Him
Encore:
Tailor (Anaïs Mitchell solo—unreleased song)
