When I saw Hadestown: The Musical live on Broadway back in May 2023, it left the impression of the type of show that no one could ever forget. Of course, that’s the entire point of the story – it is one that we’re bound to retell forever – from generation to generation, unfortunately always ending the same. After seeing it, I found myself falling in love with the music and wanting to learn more about the tragedy it’s based upon. When I found out that there would be a pro-shot recording with the original cast at the Lyric Theatre in London, I immediately knew that I couldn’t miss my chance to see it again. I didn’t expect, however, to not have a single moment where I was dry-eyed. It really affected me more than I expected when I saw it again after all this time.
If you haven’t heard of it, Hadestown is a musical written by Anaïs Mitchell. It’s based on the old Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Orpheus was a famous musician and poet in the original legend. He was especially known for his skill at playing the lyre. He was so good that his music could even calm and entertain wild animals, and also inanimate objects like trees and rocks. Eurydice, on the other hand, was his wife and a wood nymph. She unfortunately died from a snake bite just after they got married.
In the musical, he is a poor, working-class songwriter who is working on finishing a song that is supposed to “fix what’s wrong” with the world. He’s characterized more earnestly and is easily lost in his own head. Eurydice, on the other hand, is poor, hungry, and hardened by life. The audience gets to see her walls come down around Orpheus and how much hope she placed in him. But eventually, that hope ran out as she couldn’t handle the hardships anymore and actively chose to go to the Underworld with Hades in exchange for security, rather than dying by accident. This leads to the entirety of the second act, where Orpheus fights to bring her back to Earth under the one condition that she walks directly behind him and he can’t turn around to look at her.
The musical is not just about them, though. It also puts focus on the story of Hades and Persephone. In their story, Persephone, the Greek goddess of spring, lives down in the Underworld – ruling beside Hades – for half of the year. The other half of the year, she spends on Earth, leading to the creation of seasons. In this story, Hades comes to bring her home early due to his own selfishness in missing her. This added a level of resentment between these characters, making them forget what it was like to truly love each other.
The show is narrated by Hermes, who – much like his role as a messenger in Greek mythology – guides the audience through both stories at once, showing how both couples end up mirroring each other. Orpheus and Eurydice are two people who are still full of innocence and have a sense of optimism about each other. On the other hand, what happens to Hades and Persephone is where Orpheus and Eurydice are headed, as their kind of love and belief in each other are worn down by the challenges and uncertainties of the world.
Now that you know the basics of the story, it’s time to get into the pro-shot recording. The camera work was the biggest strength of the movie. Being able to see the actors’ faces up close and catching every detail, like heartbreak or fury or longing, gives the performance a new level of depth that could be easy to miss when watching the live performance. The direction also shows angles that the audience can’t physically see on stage.
For example, there was an incredible shot of Hades and Persephone descending to the Underworld. The camera is placed inside the trap door on the stage, so the shot shows the rest of the cast looking down at them. Had it not been for the pro-shot, the angle would’ve never been seen by anyone other than the cast. A small director’s choice like this ended up reframing a moment that would typically be seen as a simple scene transition and ending to a song. It’s shots like these that show how directors can add something to the story when filming these pro-shots.
One of my favorite parts of seeing Hadestown again was getting to see Reeve Carney and Eva Noblezada revisit their versions of Orpheus and Eurydice. Within three years, the two have grown so much and have somehow gotten even better. I also have to shout out the actor of Hades, Patrick Page. He tore his Achilles during rehearsals for the recording and performed the whole thing in a boot. For me, it changed how I saw the character as a whole. In a typical production, Hades would have a predatory energy but here it’s been replaced by something slower and heavier. It makes the character seem more burdened by the power he holds.
If I’m being honest, the moment that got me most wasn’t even the ending. It was Hades and Persephone during “Epic III,” when Orpheus was singing his finished song, and simultaneously reminding Hades of the love he and Persephone used to have. Being able to watch him crack up close, and find his way back into a dance with her, was one of the most beautiful moments in the entire show. You can see the exact moment his mind changes and it’s something that a lot of people could have missed live.
I wouldn’t be doing a good job on this review if I didn’t mention André De Shields and Amber Gray, our Hermes and Persephone. De Shields carries the entire tone of the show. He’s the one who tells the audience right away how the story ends and still convinces them to keep watching. His warmth and sorrow in the delivery of the final lines is genuinely moving. Meanwhile, Gray’s Persephone is barely-contained chaos and a little unhinged, only dimming when around Hades. It brings an emphasis on the contrast in their relationship.
Honestly, the entire cast deserves credit here. Every single performer, down to the ensemble, understood their characters and the story they were telling so well. There wasn’t a single moment where anyone’s portrayal felt phoned in for the camera. Even though they knew a lot more people would see it and this could be their chance to stand out, they stuck to the choices they would’ve already made.
A good pro-shot is not a given, and this has to be the best one I’ve seen. Most of the time they are just filmed as the entire stage, keeping it as static wide shots. This one makes it feel as though it is more a movie and less of a stage production. It focuses on certain characters when necessary but also pulls out during big numbers when it is needed to see the full stage. Making the show a pro-shot has made Hadestown more accessible to those who can’t see it for various reasons such as distance, money, etc.
I went into the theater expecting it to be like every other pro-shot before it, simply a recording of the performance, but it was so much more than that. I found myself so much more emotional, crying a lot more than I did when I first saw it, even though I knew the story this time. The opening song states that it’s an old song and that it’s going to be continuously sung, so the fact that it can now be replayed whenever for forever makes it so much more magical.
So raise a cup to old tales being retold and a new future for Broadway pro-shots.