It's also an allusion to the mythical Eurydice's death from a snake bite.
This version of the show premiered Off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop, followed by a reading at New 42nd Street Studios in 2017, then a production at the Citadel Theatre in Alberta Canada in 2017, which then went to the UK's National Theatre which ran from November 2018 to January 2019.
“That was always my fear with going further with dramaturgical development, like suddenly there’ll be no mystery left. Nearly. There was also a production in Vergennes in the same year and a tour between Vermont and Massachusetts in … The show had never clarified the reasons that he turns around, abandoning Eurydice to the Underworld, but they are clearer now.
A folk opera adapted from the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
This is an index of libretto pages in the Internet known to me. Hades does give Orpheus a sporting chance to get his wife back and nullify the contract, since Orpheus's song did reconcile him and Persephone.
Hades in Greek mythology was relatively the most faithful god in his marriage. “It isn’t a classical musical,” the National’s artistic director Rufus Norris says, “but that’s not what we want.
That was the version they brought to New York Theatre Workshop, in an immersive staging that drew performers and audience together under the same bare and spreading tree.
To illustrate the point, one of its songs is called How Long?
Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, Ben Knox Miller (of The Low Anthem) as Hermes, Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzales-Nacer, and Kay Trinidad as the Fates, "Wedding Song" featuring Justin Vernon (3:18), "Epic (Part I)" featuring Justin Vernon (2:22). Those lo-fi performances became an album featuring Ani DiFranco and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and was a small sensation. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. For Eurydice, Hadestown; she's built it up in her mind as a paradise of wealth and stability, thanks to the Fates' lies: Hermes is quick to tell her what Hadestown is.
Persephone has sequins on her bodice, Hermes has silver shoes and a shiny brocade waistcoat, the Fates have sections of shiny fabric in their scarves, and Hadess suit has mylar pinstripes. After all, in the myth they were half-siblings. Orpheus to Hades in "Epic III", realizing that despite all his wealth and power, the thing Hades most wants and tries so hard for is what he's already lost: his relationship with Persephone.
There was a moment when Mitchell quailed. Orpheus moves toward her, but is intercepted by the Fates, who tell him struggling is pointless. "When The Chips Are Down" is a fatalistic but very jaunty and catchy song. Hades is actually moved enough by it to let him try, though not without.
After its three-month run at the National, the production, starring Reeve Carney and Patrick Page of Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark and Eva Noblezada of the recent Miss Saigon revival, will head to Broadway. The original version of the musical premiered in the town of Barre, Vermont in 2006.
Chavkin, who is big on eyeliner and tough love, told her: “You’ve got to find a way to deal with your fatigue with this piece.” Mitchell did.
She says that Orpheus's song reminded her how Hadestown used to be.
The Musical is a 2016 stage musical adaptation of the 2010 folk opera concept album by the same name by Anaïs Mitchell. Available for everyone, funded by readers. The album is produced by Todd Sickafoose and released by Difranco’s record label, Righteous Babe Records.