Since 2019, I’ve been obsessed with Hadestown. It all started after seeing the performance during that year’s Tony Awards broadcast. I was immediately entranced by the poise and power of Andre De Shields and the minimalist stagecraft and atmospheric lighting effects. When I finally saw the show live, I was moved by the life-affirming songs and celebration of the artists’ struggle to create something that moves the world. Seeing the show a second time, I was floored by…the rotating floor and the way the show plays with the idea of cyclical storytelling and how every single element in the show is playing into the theme of life, death, and rebirth. Hadestown resparked my interest in mythology (definitely pushed me to make Unicorn Boy a stronger book) and showed me “how the world could be, in spite of the way that it is.” I cry every single time I play the original cast recording, but as Hemes says in the show, I listen anyway.

I’ve seen Hadestown on Broadway with several different performers playing the characters (sometimes with swapped genders and races), which brings new context to the material with each iteration. But I’m an archivist at heart; I’m so glad that the original cast was able to reunite one last time and record a movie all these years later! If nothing else, future generations can come to appreciate the magic that is Ande de Shields! As well as everyone else, of course! I’ve also become an Eva Noblezada fanboy. Does seeing a movie compare to hearing the music live? No. Nothing can compare to the shared experience of live theater–or a concert, which is closer to the vibe of Hadestown since you see all the musicians interacting with the actors and creating a meta experience with the audience. But I do think the Hadestown movie is one of the best “pro shots” I’ve seen and does its best to capture as much of the magic as it can for the adaptation to film. No one single performance is ever the perfect one, but in the spirit of “the show must go on,” having one of the lead actors, Patrick Page, dancing (during a key scene) with a ruptured Achilles tendon while wearing a steampunk medical boot could not be more appropriate for a show about Greek mythology and the power of creativity. 5 stars.