Orpheus and Eurydice. Hades and Persephone. These fabled couples may be the stars of the upcoming Hadestown, but there鈥檚 another duo at the center of the story: creator-songwriter Ana茂s Mitchell and creator-director Rachel Chavkin. Their chemistry is just as vibrant, their brainwaves as intertwined, their powers as complementary. A double helix, they are the DNA of the new musical about to redefine the genre yet again.
Pioneering artists, both women live and work with sharp purpose and profound emotion鈥攁nd Hadestown radiates with intent and pathos.
鈥淭his show remains the most delicate and the hardest theatre I鈥檝e ever worked on,鈥� says Chavkin, who earned a Tony nomination for her radical vision of Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.
Hadestown recounts the myth, as told by the messenger god Hermes, of the poet Orpheus and the nymph Eurydice. Deeply in love with each other, their happiness is cut short when Hades, weary of his wife Persephone, steals Eurydice to his underworld. Refusing to live on earth without his soulmate, Orpheus travels down to Hadestown to plead for Eurydice鈥檚 life.
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Like Orpheus, Hadestown has trod a long road. After Mitchell鈥檚 initial 2010 concept album, the show came to New York Theatre Workshop in 2016, journeyed to Canada鈥檚 Citadel in 2017, bowed in London鈥檚 West End this past fall, and will now transfer to Broadway鈥檚 Walter Kerr Theatre, beginning performances March 22.
鈥淭here鈥檚 major revisions happening between London and Broadway,鈥� says Chavkin. 鈥淏ut, for the first time in this show鈥檚 life, the core of the production is absolutely staying the same.鈥�
Hadestown is a product of the best parts of each artist, coalescing Mitchell鈥檚 expressiveness and ethereal music with Chavkin鈥檚 imagination and commanding energy. Though it originated with Mitchell鈥檚 album, the pair built Hadestown together.
鈥淎na茂s is one of the great poets鈥擨 mean that on a cosmological time level, not just this year on Broadway,鈥� says Chavkin. 鈥淗er melodies, the heart of the lyrics, the sonic rhymes, the unusual turnabouts of face, there鈥檚 wit there, and then there鈥檚 unbelievable earnestness there that I find breathtaking.鈥�
鈥淩achel鈥檚 been kicking my ass for six years,鈥� says Mitchell, who gravitates to Chavkin鈥檚 passion, her sense of culture, her daring鈥攁ll laced with a fierce discipline.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e as relentless as I am,鈥� Chavkin responds. 鈥淚t takes you months to work on a rhyme and for an image to blossom.鈥�
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Indeed, Hadestown sings with the heart and imagery of a poem, set to a score that successfully blends Pointer Sisters jazz, contemporary blues, and indie theatre, with a punk-meets-folk soul; and Chavkin activates the narrative in the lyricism.
鈥淚 will spend all my time trying to find some rhyme that feels mystical to me and it hits my heart at this weird angle that I want,鈥� says Mitchell, 鈥渁nd then Rachel is like, 鈥榊eah, but the story, the story,鈥� helping me to put those tools to use in service of the storytelling moment to moment.鈥�
Shifting into focus, the story has found its sense of humor and, according to Chavkin, 鈥渉as gotten a lot deeper and more character-driven.鈥�
鈥淭he characters that have been the trickiest to write are the young lovers Orpheus and Eurydice,鈥� says Mitchell. But Mitchell has been able to sculpt her characters by watching Amber Gray and Patrick Page returning to their roles, and newcomers to the project Reeve Carney and Tony nominee Eva Noblezada.
鈥淓va brought so much toughness and humor to the Eurydice character, who is the tragic figure so it鈥檚 really delightful to experience her as the least victim-y tragic figure that I could imagine,鈥� she says. 鈥淩eeve has this 鈥榯ouch quality鈥� a sort of angelic, other-worldly presence.鈥�
It鈥檚 caused Mitchell to stray from the cocky, confident leading man she鈥檇 previously envisioned. 鈥淥rpheus is just a strange dreamer鈥ptimist鈥dealist,鈥� says Mitchell. (鈥淵ou,鈥� Chavkin points out.)
As Orpheus has become clearer, so too has the world he inhabits. 鈥淭he focus has always been and remains these overlapping couples and how their individual love stories intersect,鈥� says Chavkin. But what has 鈥渞adically expanded鈥� is the significance of Orpheus changing the rules of the realm, which takes the shape of a factory town.
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Through the addition of a worker鈥檚 chorus, those who labor on the railroad to this industrial underworld, they illuminate the impact of Orpheus鈥� negotiation on everyone in Hadestown. That nuance, says Chavkin, 鈥渉as made solidarity鈥攁nd how you stand with your fellow human鈥攁s present and potent as this story of whether you can trust your love to be there when you turn around.鈥�
As the characters and message gain specificity and the final iteration reveals itself, the pair lean 鈥渇urther into the culture and the warmth we created at New York Theatre Workshop.鈥�
鈥淩achel loves music so much鈥攁nd poetry鈥攁nd gets why things work at a musical level and isn鈥檛 trying to make this show fit into a mold that it would never fit,鈥� says Mitchell.
Fingerprints of the NYTW concert landscape linger, mainly in the production鈥檚 aura. Microphones disappeared, but the 鈥淰ermont barn mixed with Greek amphitheater鈥� design cemented.
A sort of cousin to her Great Comet (which fully immersed her audience in the Russian vodka den of the 1800s), Hadestown lives on a proscenium stage (鈥減uncturing the proscenium in a really small but important way鈥�); but still eliminates the spiritual gap between the stage and the audience.
As the director messengers Hadestown to the Main Stem, Mitchell can鈥檛 help but think of Chavkin as her own Hermes, taking 鈥渆qual parts seriousness and delight鈥� in the telling of stories. As the two create in lockstep, proceeding with love and trust, one thing鈥檚 certain: their final Hadestown will be inspired by the gods.
