When folk singer Anaïs Mitchell released her fourth record, the concept album Hadestown, in 2010, she could scarcely have imagined that fourteen years later, it would be considered a modern-day classic, nor that it would subsequently get transformed into a hugely successful theatrical production, winning Grammy awards for Best Musical Theatre Album, topping the Billboard Broadway Cast Recording Chart, as well as reaching the Top 10 in the album chart.
Essentially, an updating and re-telling of two parallel mythic love stories – that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of the gods, King Hades and his wife Persephone – the Cast Recording builds on the concept album Anais Mitchell first released in 2010, fleshing out the original basis for this folk opera to a full two hours and thirty minutes running time.
What made the issue of the Hadestown concept album in 2010 so unique was its facility for updating traditional songwriting techniques that had their antecedence in an era that pre-dates the recording industry and goes back centuries to a time when songs were part of an oral tradition, with techniques such as rhyme, repetition, and consistent meter used to make them accessible, catchy, and memorable – all the while recognising the need for proper narrative development to move the story along. Mitchell not only demonstrated an ability to update these traditional song structures for a modern-day sensibility but was able to incorporate the whole panoply of American roots music to convey these stories – from country to jazz and ragtime, through to blues and jazz – all against a backdrop of the industrial gloom of The Great Depression era.
This Original Cast Recording represents the Broadway show in its entirety across three discs, a sung-through performance that is as close to the theatrical performance, shorn of its visuals. It features terrific vocal performances from Reeve Carney, Eva Noblezada, Patrick Page, Amber Gray, and Andre De Shields.
Right from the beginning of its opening number, Road To Hell, the listener is pitched into the world of the musical, with one of the gods, Hermes (Andre De Shields), welcoming us to the world of the show and introducing its central characters. The Road to Hell is actually a railway line connecting the Upper World to the Underworld – home to the soulless factories run by the god, Hades – while the musical introduction comes across as something akin to a New Orleans Second Line, with a resounding trombone acting as instrumental fanfare. Like subsequent numbers, Any Way The Wind Blows and Come Home With Me (where Orpheus is first introduced to Eurydice), these songs don’t feature on the original Hadestown concept album but provide the necessary setting and introduction for the numbers that follow in the theatrical production. Come Home With Me has a particularly impressive chord progression that segues seamlessly into Wedding Song, the love duet between Orpheus and Eurydice, one of the real highlights of Hadestown. This conversational back-and-forth song between the two protagonists also cleverly contains many of the elements and motifs that recur throughout the rest of the musical.
From here, we get introduced to Eurydice, who decides to join Hades in the Underworld, not because of the snakebite that caused her death in the original myth, but because she’s starving and at least she’s able to find a job in Hadestown. Meanwhile, Orpheus is too busy writing his poetry, but Eurydice’s absence finally provides him with the necessary impetus to make his daring rescue attempt. Orpheus’s plea to her in the form of the song, Wait For Me, is one of the pinnacles of the production and beautifully illustrates his sense of loss at Eurydice’s parting. Mitchell said that the chorus of the song seemed to drop into her lap almost fully formed and immediately reminded her of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. It was this that first led her to think about how she might be able to develop a long-form version of the story, with The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht also providing something of an inspiration.
The first act closer, Why We Build The Wall, written for the tyrant, Hades, feels eerily prophetic, seeing as it was written in 2010 and actually predates the election of Donald Trump. The song is wonderfully conveyed by Patrick Page’s basso profundo voice, which seems to issue from the very bowels of the lowest basement.
Of the second act songs which most resonate, the remarkably catchy When The Chips Are Down will have you wanting to dance in the aisles, while the sultry Our Lady of the Underground is especially memorable for its instrumentation. And for real poignancy, the ballad, Flowers (Eurydice’s Song), is expert at exploring the sense of loss Eurydice experiences once she realises the mistake she’s made in descending to the Underworld.
A fully immersive show, this recording is the next best thing to seeing the production in its entirety. Listening to it with headphones is essential to benefit from its sonics fully. Anaïs Mitchell deserves enormous credit for creating an extraordinary hybrid of theatrical production and the best elements of the whole Americana musical canon while updating two classical myths for a modern audience. If the listener hasn’t had the opportunity to hear the original concept album, then my advice would be to hear that first, as it’s an almost faultless album. Then, look to beg, steal or borrow a ticket for one of the performances of the latest theatrical production at the Lyric, which runs through December 2024. And if all else fails, then this Original Cast Recording is the next best thing.
Hadestown (Original Broadway Cast Recording) – Vinyl LPx3 Royal Blue Ltd Edition/CD x 2
Further details about the show and how to get tickets for the Lyric Theatre are available here – https://uk.hadestown.com/