'Hadestown' brings heat, heartache and hope to Nashville
Nothing puts us in touch with our shared humanity quite like a sad story or song.
“Hadestown,” the unique and hugely successful Broadway musical, playing Nov. 1-6 at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Jackson Hall in Nashville, is a testament to this, and intentionally so.
Written by Anaïs Mitchell and directed by Rachel Chavkin, the show intertwines the famous Greek myths of Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone, two particularly fraught love stories well-chosen for a reimagining. With Mitchell’s lyrics and New Orleans-style folk-jazz score and Chavkin’s innovative direction, “Hadestown” pulls new dimensions from the ancient tales, turning them into a tragic modern myth that contemporary audiences can deeply connect with.
“Every aspect of this story resonates in the present moment,” said Maria-Christina Oliveras, who plays Persephone, goddess of spring and reluctant queen of the underworld. “Of course, any great art reflects the current moment while also tapping into the universal. Anaïs, who is such a beautiful artist, does this brilliantly. She tied these two epic myths with our own mythic challenges and humanized it.”
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“Hadestown” unfolds in a crumbling French Quarter speakeasy and an industrial-style underworld that resembles a dismal factory room floor. A post-apocalyptic depression grips the world, bringing with it widespread famine and poverty. Times are tough, dangerous and all too familiar. The show’s perennial themes – love versus fear, faith versus doubt, and industry versus nature, among others – take on new metaphoric angles related to today’s climate crisis, social and political unrest, late-stage capitalism, immigration issues and more. The song “Why We Build the Wall,” for example, is impossible not to hear within the context of the current border crisis. There’s also the fact that food is becoming more and more scarce because, as Eurydice sings during the number “Any Way the Wind Blows,” “it’s either blazing hot or freezing cold.”
“Hadestown” won eight Tony Awards in 2019, including Best New Musical, Best Director of a Musical and Best Scenic Design of a Musical, and the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. It was announced this summer that its North American Tour, which began in October 2021, will extend into spring 2024. The show’s success has a lot to do with its eye-popping staging, unforgettable music and standout performances. Oliveras’ fellow touring cast members include Nathan Lee Graham as Hermes, Chibueza Ihuoma as Orpheus, Matthew Patrick Quinn as Hades, Hannah Whitley as Eurydice, and Dominique Kempf, Belén Moyano and Nyla Watson as the three Fates.
What the show says about the value of tragedy no doubt contributes to its broad appeal, as well.
“To me, the show is really about how love can recalibrate the universe,” said Oliveras. “We will all encounter tragedy, sadness, despair. That’s universal. But tragedy can also be hopeful, because it affirms that we’re all in it together, and that love, community, telling stories and singing songs is a way through it. Through life, really.”
It is perhaps for this reason that some songs, especially sad, old songs, to paraphrase Hermes, herald of the gods and narrator of the show, must be sung again and again. To remind us of what matters most.
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Oliveras said the pandemic and other troubling events over the past couple of years has made getting “Hadestown” out there more urgent than ever.
“We’ve all been awakened to a new sense of tragedy and reflection,” she said. “But the show helps us understand that we’re not alone and that maybe next time, things will turn out differently. And you will walk away with music in your soul.”
“Hadestown” marks the first time in over a decade that a woman, Mitchell, has been the solo author of a musical, writing the music, lyrics and book, and only the fourth time in Broadway history that a woman, Chavkin, has won the Tony for Best Direction. Oliveras said these historic honors add even more significance to her role.
“I truly believe in our ability to touch each other through the stories we tell, to shift each other's cells in the moment by making contact through art. It’s why the specificity of our stories is so powerful and important to share,” she said.
“I didn’t grow up seeing a lot of role models on stage who were people of color in lead roles. To be at the helm of a female-driven, pioneering musical as a Latin Asian woman is honestly one of the biggest honors and joys of my career.”
If you go
What: "Hadestown"
When: Nov. 1-6
Where: Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Jackson Hall, 505 Deaderick St., Nashville
Tickets: $35 and up at tpac.org; 615-782-4040
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: 'Hadestown' is coming to Nashville, bringing heat, heartache and hope
