If the title of Broadway鈥檚 Hadestown is a destination, it only makes sense its opening number kick off a journey.
鈥淭he Road to Hell鈥� seems the obvious way to begin Broadway鈥檚 Hadestown鈥攇iven the title. The song now sits in the number one slot, introducing the audience to the characters of Ana茂s Mitchell鈥檚 Greek mythology-inspired folk musical and establishing the concert-like realm of the show. But it wasn鈥檛 always that way.
In fact, the book writer (and composer-lyricist) originally set a song called 鈥淎ny Way the Wind Blows鈥� as the opening number when the show bowed at New York Theatre Workshop in 2016. But that was one of the first changes she made to her script after that Off-Broadway run. 鈥淚t started out just as a narration,鈥� says Mitchell of 鈥淩oad to Hell,鈥� 鈥渁nd then it just kept gaining momentum and then finally I wrote the chorus for it and then it felt like 鈥楾his is really the opening number.鈥欌€�
In setting the structure for the show, Mitchell meticulously wove the book so seamlessly with its score it鈥檚 nearly indistinguishable. Nearly. But look closer at Mitchell鈥檚 script below (and her hand-written annotations transcribed especially for 半岛体育) and you鈥檒l notice the difference. Every word is determined to be sung or spoken. 鈥淲e used this phrase a lot when working on this show: hanging a lantern,鈥� she explains. 鈥淟ike if you want to 鈥榟ang a lantern鈥� on something鈥攔eally get the audience to pay attention to moments鈥攊t鈥檚 good to have it spoken.鈥� That鈥檚 not to say her lyrics should be ignored鈥攐r could be if you tried. But it changes the audience reaction.
鈥淚f Hermes would sing the name of the characters he was introducing, people wouldn鈥檛 applaud for them,鈥� says Mitchell of the earlier days when her script called for singing those lines. 鈥淏ut if he would say 鈥楶ersephone!鈥� people would applaud because it feels like more of a button鈥� in the midst of all that music.
Even minute details like punctuation change the entire meaning of one word.
鈥淲hen I first wrote 鈥楢lright,鈥� it was just a statement from Hermes like, 鈥楢lright, I鈥檓 going to take care of you and I鈥檓 going to tell this story,鈥� says Mitchell. But with the change to a question mark, it sets in motion an entirely different relationship between the players and the audience from the outset of Hadestown鈥攐ne different than any show on Broadway. Andr茅 De Shields, who plays Hermes, described it as a contract. 鈥淗e said, 鈥楬ere鈥檚 the contract: Will you come on this journey? You might be challenged, you might be changed, but you won鈥檛 be harmed.鈥欌€�
Having worked on the musical for 12 years, you might think 鈥淭he Road to Hell鈥� feels like an old song to Mitchell, but she says it 鈥渇eels alchemically different now than it did before鈥濃€攁s does the full production. Mitchell describes the Broadway iteration as the 鈥渇ullest version.鈥�
鈥淭his one has a lot more specificity in it, but it doesn鈥檛 feel like it鈥檚 broken the magic of what it was as an abstract piece,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat was always my fear with going further with dramaturgical development, like suddenly there鈥檒l be no mystery left. But I still feel the mystery in this show.鈥�
Take a look behind the mystery as Mitchell points out unknown details and clues in the epic opening number (the first six pages) of her Hadestown:
Watch below as the cast of Hadestown shares their favorite lines of poetry in Mitchell鈥檚 story:
