When I first reviewed “Hadestown,” the dystopian 2019 Broadway musical rooted in the 2010 concept album by the singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell and retelling the classic myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, I called this mix of steampunk, “Westworld” and self-aware Bourbon Street sensuality “thrillingly alarmist.”
Thrillingly alarmist! Good lord. What a 2019 thing to say. In 2022, it is impossible to imagine those two words working together.
Back then, “Hadestown,” superbly directed by Rachel Chavkin and thrillingly choreographed by David Neumann, felt like an extended musical commentary on insecurity and xenophobia. One song, “Why We Build the Wall,” stood out, even though Mitchell had written this dissection of fear long before President Donald Trump had erected his controversial border barrier.
You know what stands out now, as the show arrives on a much-delayed tour in Chicago? The show’s profound exploration of the gulf between the world we desire and the one in which we actually live.
And I’d say that “Hadestown,” for all of its emphasis on delivering a New Orleans-style good time to its audience, is not so much thrilling now as chilling. The depiction of the underworld in the show (Hadestown looks like a brutal factory town) feels mild to what can be viewed nightly on the news. But it has a familiar kind of henchman in Hades. All too familiar.
Or to put that more bluntly, we’re now living the reality of “Hadestown.”
“Road to Hell” is the first number in the show; real Ukrainians are walking there right now.
In the safety of the theater, the state of the world makes it all the easier to invest in the love shown here by the ordinary couple known as Orpheus and Eurydice, and to feel the pain they feel when they find out they don’t set the rules by which the planet spins.
The touring cast is generally very potent — Levi Kreis has to follow André de Shields in the narrating role of Hermes and he has the personality to make the part his own, as do Kimberly Marable as Persephone and Kevyn Morrow as Hades. As the two young lovers, Nicholas Barasch and Morgan Siobhan Green are engaging performers and beautiful singers; that said, they haven’t yet figured out their chemistry and you don’t really see their characters fall in love. That’s a crucial missing aspect of the escape from “Hadestown” and it needs attention.
That said, the aesthetic of this show is so powerful, the songs so fascinating, the conception so rich, you’ll be fully engaged. The cast is dedicated to being there for you. In the present.
Fascinatingly, “Hadestown” is very much the obverse of “Come From Away,” the warmhearted Broadway musical about Gander, Canada, that also happens to be in Chicago this week. Both of these shows seem to be talking to the moment, and they’d make a fascinating twofer, although “Hadestown” has a fatalistic sense that has been sticking in my throat since I left the theater.
In the end, it argues that there is solace and balm in telling even agonizing stories, given the cruelty of the world.
For sure. In the end. When nothing is left to be done. When Hades has won.
But right now, and with all due respect, I prefer the cheery Canadians in “Come From Away,” taking care of their fellow humans.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
Review: “Hadestown”
When: Through March 13
Where: CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St.
Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Tickets: $52.50-$144 at 312-775-2000 or www.broadwayinchicago.com
