'Hadestown' reminds us the road to hell is paved with love and good intentions: Review

Who knew the road to hell would be so enjoyable?

Prior to the pandemic, Broadway was buzzing about "Hadestown," a fresh musical take on the underworld that tells intertwined stories about young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice and King Hades and his wife Persephone. Now the Tony and Grammy-winning production is back on stage and opened Tuesday as part of the 2022-23 PNC Broadway in Louisville season.

"It's a magical show. The sets and the music are incredible but it's really hard to describe this show. You really just have to see it," Leslie Broecker, president of Broadway Across America Midwest, previously told the Courier Journal. "It's a super current and dark love story."

From the intricate, moving set and the top-notch band on stage (looking at you, Emily Fredrickson on the trombone) to the lighting design, which frankly is a character in this show, too, "Hadestown" is more than just a fresh imagining of a timeless Greek tragedy. It's a must-see show, a visual treat to be consumed.

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And that was clear from the first note sung on stage. Enter Hermes, played by the truly charming Nathan Lee Graham, who set the tone for the entire production. Graham's Hermes, the messenger of the gods and the conductor of souls to the Underworld, behaves how I'd envision a native New Orleans bar owner at the turn of the century might. Although as he reminds us, time and space have no meaning in "Hadestown." "Don't ask where, brother, don't ask when. It was the road to hell, it was hard times," he sings in "Road to Hell," the opening number of this stunning production.

Graham acts as the narrator of this "sad song" tale, alongside the three Fates played effortlessly by the uber-talented Dominique Kempf, Belén Moyano and Nyla Watson. These three women wailed and just nailed their performance as that nagging, doubting, shame monster in your head. They added depth and perception to the entire show, moving it along and reminding the viewer "Life ain't easy, life ain't fair," in lyrically acrobatic songs like "When the Chips are Down," "Nothing Changes" and the saucy "Word to the Wise."

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As Hermes, Graham shines every time he opens his mouth, smiles at the audience, or moves, really. He's a top-to-bottom delight and it's hard to take your eyes off him in songs like "Road to Hell," "Livin' It Up on Top," and "Way Down Hadestown."

It's stunning that the supreme talent of Graham and the aforementioned Fates serve as the lyrical backdrop for the main characters in "Hadestown." (They're that good). But, it's true. The cast, led by Hannah Whitley as Eurydice, J. Antonio Rodriguez as Orpheus, Maria-Christina Oliveras as Persephone and Matthew Patrick Quinn as Hades himself, was endlessly talented.

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Whitley, who is appearing in her national tour debut, brings a youthful, hardened spin to Eurydice, who is the perfect ying to Rodriquez Orpheus yang. The two have incredible chemistry on stage, thanks in part to wonderful staging and choreography by David Neumann. Together they're on fire with longing, but they shine even more so when apart. Rodriguez pours his heart out on stage in the moving "Wait For Me," the penultimate song in Act I, "If It's True," in Act II, and, of course, "Epic III," which ends up being worth the wait.

Plus, it's impossible not to root for a man who would literally travel to hell (and back!) for the woman he loves.

In "Flowers," Whitley, who has a raw, almost dissonant tone to her voice in many of the songs, proves she's a "little songbird," too. There was one lilting note in that number that gave me chills as it echoed through the Kentucky Center.

Oliveras' Persephone, the goddess of the seasons, is perhaps the number one person I'd like to invite to a house party. She brings levity to the show, first in her lime green dress and maybe a little bit drunk behavior in Act I then to her borderline raunchy yet funny performance of "Our Lady of the Underground" in Act II. She's clearly a pros-pro, evident in her heartfelt plea to Hades in songs like "How Long?" and brings big talent to a stage already filled with it.

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Speaking of big talent, can we just, for a moment, discuss how Quinn enters the room at Hades? The hair. The suit. The beard.

And that baritone voice.

"I missed ya," are the first words he utters in this production and you could feel the ripple (some might call it a chuckle) in the audience. I know, I know, it's trite to say we like him because he's a "bad boy," (he's literally the king of the Underworld), but also ... it's true. Quinn's portrayal of Hades feels downright naughty, manipulative, and brutal, and it should. Songs like "Hey, Little Songbird," "Papers" and "His Kiss, The Riot," remind us that he's maybe not to be trusted (but, do we really care?). At its core, "Hadestown" is a love story centered in hell. And you can't have a story set there without the devil incarnate.

Rounding out the cast was the talented workers chorus, made up at Tuesday's performance by Colin LeMoine, Ian Coulter-Buford, Sean Watkinson, Courtney Lauster and Raquel Williams, who sang and danced their hearts out throughout the production. Watching them enter the Underworld in their "workers" clothes felt otherwordly and the choreography mimicked the steel and iron machines of Hades' creation to a T.

Though I had listened to the soundtrack before, this was my first viewing of "Hadestown," but it won't be my last. And it won't be for this fantastic cast, either.

"It's a sad song. But we sing it anyway."

Reach Features Editor Kathryn Gregory at kgregory@courier-journal.com.

'Hadestown'

WHAT: The winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards including Best Musical and the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, "Hadestown" invites you on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. This new show from celebrated singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and innovative director Rachel Chavkin is at its core a love story. A haunting and hopeful theatrical experience that intertwines two mythic tales — young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice and King Hades and his wife Persephone.

WHEN: now through May 21

MORE INFORMATION: louisville.broadway.com

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: 'Hadestown' PNC Broadway in Louisville review: enjoyable Road to Hell