Everything Theatre Reviews, interviews and news for theatre lovers, London and beyond
Prepare to be blown away again by Hadestown, an epic, awe-inspiring and beautiful retelling of a 2000-year-old love story.Summary
Rating
Unmissable!
Hadestown is back in London Town. Just over five years ago it left our shores for the bright lights of Broadway, but it has now returned. Crossing the river from its old home at the National Theatre, the show is spending at least the next few months in Shaftesbury Avenue’s Lyric Theatre. They must have forked out for extra luggage allowance on the flight back, because Hadestown now comes with the extra weight of eight Tonys, a Grammy and a load of other accolades. And I now know how well-deserved these are; it was only seconds into tonight’s show that I thought, “f**k, this is incredible”.
Hadestown is a sung-through musical and is a modern re-telling of the ancient Greek myth Orpheus and Eurydice. I think it’s a familiar story to most: but in case it’s not… (skip the rest of this paragraph if you’ve heard it before!) Orpheus, son of a Greek God and a muse, sings his way into the underworld to rescue his beautiful wife, Eurydice, from the clutches of its ruler, the God Hades. Hades, moved by Orpheus’ beautiful music agrees to let Eurydice return to the world of the living with him, but she must follow behind her husband on the long journey out of the underworld, and Orpheus must not look back at her or she will be made to return to the land of the dead. With the ancient Greeks’ taste for tragedy you can take a guess at what Orpheus does before they make it out. Silly boy.
With music, lyric and book by Anaïs Mitchell, Hadestown has refreshed this ancient tale without losing any of the soul that has kept it alive for so long. It is an incredibly well-crafted piece of storytelling, which takes the bones of Orpheus and Eurydice and gives it a new body. It feels epic and intimate at the same time, making a tale of two people feel like it echoes through all of us.
The lyrics are witty and well-shaped, sounding like equal importance is given to sounding both natural and poetic. Some of the intimate feeling of Hadestown I think comes from the clever and beautiful feeling the detailed lyrics have. And, of course, they are an integral part of the foot-tapping, heart-wrenching and awe-inspiring soundtrack, supported by the phenomenal band led by Tarek Merchant‘s musical direction. Actions speak louder than words, so just know that I had downloaded the Broadway soundtrack and was reaching for my headphones before I’d even left the theatre.
If, like me, you weren’t lucky enough to see Hadestown the last time it was in the UK, now is your chance. Go. You’ll see a dedicated, energetic, and extremely impressive cast deliver what might be the show of the decade, and we’re not even halfway through yet. Led by the powerful Grace Hodgett Young as Eurydice and the ethereal Dónal Finn as Orpheus, there’s no standout performance because each individual is excellent, although I do give props to the omni-present and awesome Melanie La Barrie as narrator-esque Hermes.
Mitchell has ascended to goddess-level in musical theatre, and I only want to know when we can expect something new. A key message of Hadestown is that this story will be told again and again, as it has for over 2000 years. Luckily, we can now spoil ourselves with this version again and again over the course of the coming year, but I’m already thirsty for whatever is next.
Music, Lyrics & Book by: Anaïs Mitchell
Produced by: Mara Isaacs, Dale Franzen, Junter Arnold, Tom Kirdahy and The National Theatre in association with Jas Theatricals
Directed by: Rachel Chavkin
Choreography by: David Neumann
Scene design by: Rachel Hauck
Costume design by: Michael Krass
Lighting design by: Bradley King
Music Direction by: Tarek Merchant
Hadestown plays at Lyric Theatre until Decemeber 2024. Further information and bookings can be found here.
