It's the Rebirth of Hadestown, from Chill to Blazing Hot!
One marvels at the sheer excellence of the production: the constellation of impeccable talents assembled and flawless performances, shaped under Keenan Tyler Oliphant’s exquisite direction. One also marvels at the unique scenic design, the more than perfect costumes, and, perhaps most of all, a magnificent and luminous score. It is simply a wild sensation onstage and collaborative theater at its very best...I’m talking about HADESTOWN!
Following its wildly successful first North American tour, a new second tour of Broadway’s Tony® and Grammy® award-winning Best Musical, HADESTOWN, returns to Segerstrom Hall for eight performances only, unfolding gorgeously, from October 29th through November 3rd.
Anaïs Mitchell, the talented Vermont singer/songwriter who is responsible for the whole shebang, music, lyrics and book, has remanufactured the myth of Orpheus, son of the god Apollo and Eurydice, a wood nymph, and co-mingled it with that of Hades, god of the underworld and Persephone, daughter of the god Zeus and goddess of the harvest Demeter.
When the original sung-through version of the musical was performed in 2006, we saw Hades falling in lust with Persephone and abducting her to the underworld where they eventually marry. Demeter becomes so distraught she declares that there will be no more harvest until Persephone returns. Zeus brokers a deal whereby Persephone spends 6 months out of the year above ground and 6 months below, thus creating the seasons (kind of a play on climate change). So, Persephone rides a train back and forth between the underworld known as Hadestown where she's the only living soul there. But Hades keeps shortening her time up above because he misses her. And the earth gets colder.
After the musical was turned into a concept album, Ms. Mitchell met with Rachel Chavkin in 2012, and the two reworked the stage version, with additional songs and dialogue. They relocated the tale to the Depression-era South; the precise location is not specified but due to an abundance of Dixieland jazz in the song set and a setting that looks like it belongs on St. Charles Avenue with a second-story porch and wrought iron railings, it’s impossible not to think of New Orleans.
This newly readapted narrative of the musical, which was at the time also directed by Ms. Chavkin, premiered off-Broadway in 2016, and on Broadway in 2019, receiving much critical acclaim. At the 73rd Tony Awards, HADESTOWN received 14 nominations (the most that year) and won eight, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.
Underneath the hood, a number of small adjustments had been made, especially to the lyrics, which shed some of their pop haze in favor of a flavor of Dixieland Hot Jazz. Also The Fates, the ever-present all girl Greek chorus (Katelyn Crall, Miriam Navarrete and Alli Sutton), now feel more integral to the action, not just witty commenters on it. And David L. Arsenault's single set (Rachel Hauck was the original Broadway designer) depicts a recognizable idea of place: a basement jazz joint that miraculously turns into the furnace room of Hades’ demonic factory.
Adding further dimension is a new chorus of five hunky proletarian workers in greasy overalls, performing impressionistic dance combined with some very snappy sound effects, as well as adding to the theme of security (attained at the expense of freedom, of course).
Also in this telling, a young, struggling Eurydice (Megan Colton) winds up in hell because of the frost and famine that follow when Persephone (Namisa Mdlalose Bizana) pays Hades her annual conjugal visit. And later, because Hades (Nickolaus Colon) now has a thing for Eurydice, it’s the jealous Persephone who convinces him to let Orpheus (Bryan Munar) take her back.
But, as Hermes, our narrator, grimly announces: “You know how it ends” – not well. Yes, Hermes, who doesn’t really belong in either story, has been recruited to narrate, contextualize and kibitz. And why not, if it gives the great Jaylon C. Crump (Nat’l/Int’l Tours: “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Kinky Boots”) a chance to slide around in silver sharkskin. It’s he who tells us in the opening Dixie/Blues number, “Road to Hell,” that what we’re about to hear is indeed “a sad song,” a “tragedy,” no matter how jaunty it sounds. Also, that he’s “gonna sing it anyway.”
Orpheus and Eurydice here are teenagers with wandering souls and big hearts: he’s a club waiter and a singer-songwriter, often slipping into a strange falsetto in his songs. She’s mysterious, just as poor but more pragmatic, and arrives to escape poverty and the fierce cold. Falling madly in love with her, Orpheus goes after her with tragic consequences when Hades whisks her down to the underworld.
Nickolaus Colon (who’s definitely a basso profundo), rocking a Matthew Patrick Quinn-like vibe and rumble, makes an electrifyingly maleficent Hades. A Trumpian ruler of the underworld, Hades runs an industrial factory and is hellbent on building a massive wall and calling it freedom. One of Mr. Colon’s jaw-dropping songs, which finishes out the first act, is called “Why We Build the Wall.” Another one that really turns the heat up and petrifies the audience is “Hey Little Songbird”…and still another, one of the most intimidating of all is simply titled, “Papers.” Hades, as you may have guessed, is not your average boss.
But don't let all this Greek mythology scare you off because Ms. Mitchell, has taken the story further with Orpheus and Eurydice tugging on the tension between art and domesticity: What good is beauty if you’re hungry? And the struggle between Hades and Persephone naturally becomes a parable of climate change, in which the despoiling of the earth is akin to infidelity.
What makes the whole thing gell is Ms. Mitchell’s incredible score, combining folk, pop and Dixieland with rhythmic work shanties and, for the lovers, ethereal arias. All of it sounds great in swinging arrangements for a terrific seven-piece onstage band (not including two or three actors donning instruments such as a violin, accordion, and whatever those tinkly cymbals were), who will constantly remind us that this is simply an artifice and performance (at one point, Persephone even introduces the musicians like at a concert).
Speaking of whom, Namisa Mdlalose Bizana makes something quite brilliant out of Persephone: a free spirit, a loose cannon, a first lady co-opted by wealth yet emotionally subversive, drinking away the sorrow of her captivity. When, as part of the curtain call, she sings one of the score’s loveliest number — “We Raise Our Cups” — you wish the ending would slow down so you could live in the glowy moment forever.
SPRING WILL COME AGAIN LLC AND SEGERSTROM CENTER FOR THE ARTS PRESENTS, HADESTOWN, BROADWAY’S TONY AND GRAMMY-WINNING BEST MUSICAL, With Music, Lyrics & Book by ANAIS MITCHELL, Originally Directed by RACHEL CHAVKIN; In a New Original Tour Concept by RACHEL CHAVKIN; Directed by KEENAN TYLER OLIPHANT; Based on the Broadway Production Developed with and Directed by RACHEL CHAVKIN; Based on Original Broadway Scenic Design by RACHEL HAUCK; Based on Original Broadway Lighting Design by BRADLEY KING; Choreography by T. OLIVER REID; Based on the Broadway Choreography by DAVID NEUMANN; Scenic Design by DAVID L. ARSENAULT; Costume Design by MICHAEL KRASS; Lighting Design by AJA JACKSON; Co-Sound Design by NEVIN STEINBERG & JESSICA PAZ; Hair & Wig Design by JENNIFER MULLINS; Arrangements & Orchestrations by MICHAEL CHORNEY & TODD SICKAFOOSE; Music Director COLE P. ABOD; Music Supervisor CODY OWEN STINE; Music Consultant & Vocal Arrangements LIAM ROBINSON; Production Management SIGHTLINE PRODUCTIONS; General Management RCI THEATRICALS/KEVIN GREENE; Company Manager ABI STEINBERG; Creative Producer MARK LUNSFORD; Production Stage Manager MOLLY GOODWIN.
THE CAST of HADESTOWN features Nickolaus Colon as Hades; Megan Colton as Eurydice; Jaylon C. Crump as Hermes; Namisa Mdlalose Bizana as Persephone; Bryan Munar as Orpheus; Katelyn Crall, Miriam Navarrete & Alli Sutton as Fates; Randy Cain, Miracle Myles, Kaitlyn O’Leary, Mikaela Rada & Joe Rumi as Workers Chorus.
SWINGS: Jamir Brown, Ricky Cardenas, Michelle E. Carter, Julia Schick.
UNDERSTUDIES: Ricky Cardenas, Miracle Myles for Orpheus; Kaitlyn O’Leary, Julia Schick, Alli Sutton for Eurydice; Michelle E. Carter, Miriam Navarette for Persephone; Jamir Brown, Randy Cain for Hades; Jamir Brown, Joe Rumi for Hermes; Michelle E. Carter, Kaitlyn O’Leary, Mikaela Rada, Julia Schick for Fates.
DANCE CAPTAIN: Michelle E. Carter
ASST. DANCE CAPTAIN: Jamir Brown
FIGHT CAPTAIN: Randy Cain
ORCHESTRA: Cole P. Abod – Music Director/Piano; Jesse Bittner – Asst Music Director/Violin; Haik Demirchian – Trombone/Glockenspiel; Nya Holmes – Double Bass; Michael Manasseh – Drums/Percussion; Frederic Renaud – Cello; Sam Wade – Guitar. Music Contractor Keith Levenson.
HADESTOWN opened October 29th and will run through November 3rd at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Performances are Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 pm; Saturdays at 2 pm & 7:30 pm; and Sundays at 1 pm & 6:30 pm in Segerstrom Hall, 600 Town Center Drive Costa Mesa, CA 92626 T (714) 556-2121 SCFTA.org
Chris Daniels
Arts & Entertainment Reviewer
The Show Report
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