Sparkles

I post what I want, mostly I just repost though

[typingwithmyhandstied]

In my latest stretch of Hadestown obsession (this has been a recurring interest of mine for years), I finally read Working On A Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell, and now, I can't stop thinking about how she talks about Orpheus and the way that he changed as the musical changed. In early versions of the musical, the story fell flat because the audience didn't care about him and instead found him too self-aggrandizing and cocky. To make the story work, the creative team had to make sure that it was obvious to the viewer that he didn't know the implications of the things that he was saying in moments like "Come Home With Me." Orpheus had to learn about the world and hardship along with the audience. You can't think that he gets distracted and doesn't pay attention to Eurydice because he's apathetic. You have to believe that he cares, that he gets lost in this world around him and his mission. It's so interesting to me because in my opinion, Hadestown is a story that simply doesn't work if Orpheus is unlikable. That's the back bone of the story. He has to make you hope. You have to look at him and see someone that you would follow. It all made me think about one of the other main stories that comes to my mind as functioning in this same way: The Raven Cycle. For those books to work, you have to understand why all of these characters would follow Gansey to the end of the world and his own inevitable demise, just like we follow Orpheus into and out of Hadestown. Gansey's character doesn't work if you think that he knows what he is saying in moments like his first interaction with Blue where she accuses him of implying she is a prostitute, similar to how Orpheus and Eurydice's first interaction doesn't work if you don't wholeheartedly believe Orpheus's earnestness. It has to be obvious how naive he really is, that he doesn't understand the dynamics of the world that he lives in or refuses to. When Gansey gets caught up and forgets all else, it is like Orpheus with his song. They are so similar. The story does not work if you do not love them in spite of their mistakes. You know how this ends for them. You know it isn't good. They make you care anyway. They make you want a different ending. You understand why when they talk, people stop and listen.

[a-couple-of-notes]

went to see hadestown film version last week. will immediately be buying it when it releases, and i have so many thoughts (not least because a friend and i managed to see it live on broadway before seeing the film so we could compare, as true adaptation nerds). anyway before coming up with my evidence-based thoughts (i need to watch the film again), i want to talk about my initial feelings on reeve carney's orpheus.

i've seen a lot of comparison with jack wolfe's orpheus, and obviously bootlegs vs. professional film (and even bootleg vs. bootleg) is inherently a flawed comparison, but from what i've seen, the gist is this: i think jack wolfe has technically more impressive vocals, and he plays orpheus like he loves eurydice with every ounce of his soul. he is a puppy, or he is a godlike ethereal being. he plays both of those ends extremely well and there is kinda no in-between, which--to be fair--must rule when you're seeing it from the back of the house.

reeve has a quality to his voice that makes him capable of both transcendent la-la-la-ing and this kind of gritty, folk-hero, very talented but human desperation (i don't think it's a coincidence that after reeve, we sort of got two types of orpheuses, the gritty rock star jordan fisher type and the beautiful woodland creature jack wolfe type). i think both aspects come across in different moments of his performance (hot take within a hot take but i adore his epic iii because reeve can sound very believably desperate and human but then can also pull out the banger high notes, and it's a really beautiful and thematically poignant mix) but overall this can also read as less consistent/across-the-board ethereal. this is something i like about his performance, this mix of very human and occasionally god-touched--i enjoy it on an acting level more than jack wolfe's rendition--but i understand why people prefer jack's sheer vocal power and consistency.

and speaking of acting, i think reeve--especially in the film, where this can really shine up close--is playing an orpheus who is not only deeply in love with eurydice, but who also really fucking cares about the world and people around him. i really believe his orpheus has dreamed of singing a song to fix the world even before eurydice came into his life. i think jack wolfe plays a version of orpheus that cares about eurydice above all else: all his love is for her, all his grief is for her, and he feels so much of both so beautifully. like even his occupation during "chant" is almost his song and attention getting pulled out of him, away from eurydice, against his will. and that's a great interpretation--there have been tons of orpheuses who play up the all-encompassing, doomed love with eurydice because that's a huge part of the story, and it makes the doubt at the end hit all the harder. but i really appreciate that reeve's film orpheus gets to be so nuanced; he doesn't love eva's eurydice any less, but he's allowed to love other things, too. and this moves out and adds dimension to his other feelings in the show; i feel like i can see reeve!orpheus' anger toward hades better as being not only for eurydice's death but also for the injustices he's perpetrated against the workers, against nature. reeve's livin' it up on top feels like not only the honeymoon phase with eurydice but also a sincere gratitude and valuing of his community aside from eurydice. i really believe the doubt in doubt comes in is for eurydice and his vision of a better world. and so on.

again, i think jack wolfe does his orpheus extremely well. but i really, really love reeve's fluidity and the way he's able to bring all these different dimensions to the acting and vocal quality of orpheus. i mean, there's a reason he stuck it out through all the different iterations of orpheus through the workshops. and fuck the jordan fisher opt-up he does during the film version of if it's true? chef's kiss.

anyway stop hating, reeve's orpheus is great.

[starspork]

We Raise Our Cups really fucks with me. It’s brutally hopeful. It’s a farewell to Orpheus. Sure. everyone knows that. but. its also a call to action.

Hadestown is not subtle in how it shows the power of revolutionaries, of love and hope and human compassion over that of the capitalist cycle of abuse. WRoC is talking about Orpheus. But it is also talking about every person with that revolutionary spirit.

Orpheus is all of us, and every person who stands against exploitation, is Orpheus. The theme is there, but it’s especially strong in Is It True, where he stands against the Fates themselves to challenge the world, only bolstered by the normal people that stood up and heard his words and showed him the power of words.

When Persephone asks where Orpheus is now, it is not entirely that she wonders where the man himself is, but also that she is pouring a drop to every person who holds his legacy and fights for the cause.

Then they praise the birds who sing in the night and the flowers that bloom in snow. A metaphor for those people who fight to make beauty in inhospitable places, who strive for good in darkness.

“To Orpheus, and all of us”

To Orpheus, to those who hold his spirit, to those who lead revolutions, and to those who follow him. The cycle of Orpheus and Eurydice is a love song. It is a tragedy. And yet we all know that one day. one time. they will make it out together. It is on that day, when an Orpheus finally manages to bring their Eurydice back, that the revolution succeeds, and the Shades get to follow their path out of Hades. And the mortals get to live free from the poverty and despair of their oppression.

We sing the song even though it is sad, because we know that spring will come and the world will go back in tune once they make it out together. And Hades can take the seasons, the food from our mouths, the fire from our stoves, every ounce of gold from the rivers, but what he cannot take, nor any other like him, is our songs and the cries of an impassioned heart. And may those songs inspire a thousand Orpheus’ to journey to defeat Hades. Because eventually one will win. It only takes one.

So let the song reach the next Orpheus, wherever they are wandering. Alone on this Earth. And let the song comfort them as they start the cycle again.

[callmekatydid]

Autism be damned my boy can laaaaa lala laalaa la laaaaa

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

haven't seen hadestown but my understanding of the plot is: Local woman visits parents, returns to find unsupervised husband has invented global warming

[foggytastemakerpirate]

Local woman visits parents, returns to find unsupervised husband has invented capitalism and industrialization.

Local boy loses wife due to hyperfocus, goes to capitalism land to get her back and accidentally unionises workers.

Unsupervised husband sends boy away, boy loses wife again. Workers are not free, wife is not free. Sad.

[mangoesandstuff]

They better release that proshot on dvd or something after the theatrical run because that masterpiece has to be watched over and over again

[moonr1ses]

I think other people getting back into Hadestown because of the incredible pro-shot may find this old clip from Patrick Page’s podcast interesting. Reeve Carney talks about how the character of Orpheus changed a lot before the Broadway version.

It basically confirms that his portrayal of Orpheus (and the writer/director’s vision for Orpheus as a character post-workshop) is autistic or neurodivergent in some way.

[callmekatydid]

Autism be damned my boy can laaaaa lala laalaa la laaaaa

[eggcats]

also this hadestown proshot is what made me realize that hades literally built all that stuff in hadestown FOR PERSEPHONE SO SHE'D WANT TO STAY like SHE'S the reason he made it artificially hot and bright!! he's trying to mimic summer so she doesn't leave!! how did I not realize this before????

ALSO i knew the reason orpheus could finish the song was because he finally understood the fear and doubt hades has every time persephone leaves BUT I DIDNT REALIZE THAT THE TRIAL HADES GIVES WAS ALSO BECAUSE HE UNDERSTOOD ORPHEUS AS WELL!! like hades knew he'd fail because HE'D fail!!

also also I know there's a Thing between hades and eurydice but I didn't realize that there was also one between persephone and orpheus until now, and I think it's intended to show that they're foils of one another, that pre-seasons hades was more like orpheus and pre-seasons persephone was more like eurydice and that their focus on orpheus and eurydice is because they remind them of what they had (and think they lost) - the love o+e have for each other reminds them of themselves, and so hades wants to take eurydice away/lock her away and persephone wants to protect orpheus/let him escape because they're trying to prevent them repeating their own mistakes in their own ways

like the slime tutorial did not give me these revelations, all musicals need professional recordings for this reason!!

[thistlefig]

I see a lot of people online saying that Orpheus (Hadestown specifically) looks back because he loves Eurydice so much, that there isn't a world in which he doesn't look back, because the kind of man who wouldn't look back is not the kind of man who would go after her in the first place, etc. It's inevitable because of the strength of his love. But I don't see that as being the whole picture. Textually, it is explicitly his doubt in himself, and in the narrative of his life, that makes him look back: "Doubt Comes In", and he wonders, who is he that Hades would let him win? Who is he that Eurydice would follow him through the dark? Orpheus used to have a very simple, naive view of the world and his place in it. He was single-minded. At the beginning he tells Eurydice he's the man who is going to marry her because...well, that's how the story should go, and he is a poet first and foremost. Then, when he meets Hades, he is confronted by what Eurydice did and what the world is really like. He is shattered by the realisation that Eurydice wasn't just a simple, "pure" victim, but that she signed her life away. He is beaten down and loses faith, he goes into "Is this how it is?" after he's literally already done the impossible by reaching Hadestown on foot. He should have proven his abilities to himself by this point, but things aren't going the way they are supposed to and he doesn't know who he is anymore. He isn't just a boy in love with a girl who sings a song to bring back spring: he's a boy who didn't look back when he should have the first time when she called his name; she's a girl who chose her immediate needs over his grand ideals. His faith in a world where they make it back together is broken. He looks back because he doesn't trust himself or the narrative that he's found himself in. It's even more heartbreaking to me, because the Orpheus he was at the beginning of the musical might not have looked back, but that version of Orpheus doesn't make it out of the Underworld.

And to top it all off, the version of Eurydice from the beginning of the musical, before love softened her hard edges and made her trust him, probably wouldn't have followed Orpheus out of Hadestown. Eurydice really does trust him to get her out, because she's looking for the Orpheus she used to know and she's seen the power of his song and worldview.

Am I rambling into the void or does this make sense to anyone else?

[adelineflowerz]

im so obsessed w the way hadestown portrays masculinity. bc like hades is this very hypermasculine figure. he is a businessman who uses the excuse of providing for his wife to control Persephone and abuse his workers. when persephone refuses his advances, he moves his control over to Eurydice and takes advantage of her vulnerability. basically the poster child for toxic masculinity. he even sings not just the lowest notes in the show, but some of the lowest notes being sung on broadway right now. almost like he is overcompensating in his gender performance.

this is contrasted in a huge way when compared to orpheus who is as far away from traditionally masculine as he can get. he is sensitive, soft, an artist. he even creates life when he makes the flower for Eurydice. And when he is at his most powerful, he is singing some of the highest notes in the show. he is very comfortable acting outside of his gender norm

thats partly why orpheus was always doomed to fail hades's challenge because hades was forcing orpheus into his own toxic idea of masculinity: he leads, she follows. and that's never who orpheus was, nor how he should be.

[comradesummers]

i agree that reeve carney isn't the strongest orpheus, but i think the hate for him is way overblown. like yeah his vocals could be stronger sometimes, but other times they're really good. and one thing the proshot reminded me is that i really enjoy him as an actor. i think he really sells orpheus' innocennce but also the loss of that innocence as the show goes on. and for obvious reasons he and eva have this really nice warm chemistry that i enjoy a lot.

i find it especially annoying that a lot of the reeve hate seems to be coming from people who are really obsessed with that jack wolfe guy. if i have to see one more insufferable jack wolfe/megan colton stan explain that in their expert opinion, the best orpheus and eurydice just happen to both be white people, ignoring the many incredibly talented men of color who have played orpheus, as well as the objective fact that eva noblezada is not only easily the best eurydice but possibly the best musical theater performer of our generation, i am going to blow something up.

[roukabi]

Obsessed with how eva and reeve portrayed eurydice and orpheus in the proshot. Eurydice's very obviously fragile wall of snark falling apart when she encounters the living embodiment of faith in oneself and the world... and she has nooooo idea how to handle that, and it's so scary and it doesn't make sense but she still wants soooooooo badly for someone to allow her to be gentle it eats her up inside!! And when it's all taken away from her it's even worse cause you understand right? She doesn't! wanna go back! to the lonely life!! The earth-shattering delivery of "Orpheus! I'm hungry..." ohh head in hands. it's also quite beautiful how orpheus doesn't doubt himself at all (in act 1) while never coming off as arrogant. Idk i think a lot of orpheus portrayals fall into making orpheus too saccharine and dopey and puppy-dog like which can be cute but the conviction, the (almost) unshakeable determination, that orpheus had in the proshot is just so gooooooood. You can see it in his eyes and the way he looks upon his makeshift flowers. He doesn't just think things can get better, he knows they can. He has a gift to give and god damn it, he is gonna give. And then you smash that big heart of his to pieces in act 2 🥰 And the way orpheus is so so achingly gentle with eurydice... when their hands come together ouuu.... he just barely lays one finger in her palm, and then eurydice mimicks that movement with herself when in distress (during little songbird? Somewhere in Act 2? I forgor). They hold each other so tightly... sobs forever. My pookies......

[crazy-lizard-lover]

Reeve Carney is massively overhated and I'm dying on that hill

[vivilanlu]

Most of the mischaracterization Riza suffers from wouldn’t be nearly as popular if people actually understood why she follows Roy and it isn’t just love and loyalty.

One of the main reasons she stays by his side is because she sees herself as the guardian of flame alchemy. She’s trying to make sure of two things: 1. no one ever gets their hands on it again. and 2. the only person who can use it never misuses it again. That’s why she follows him. She has to. She’s watching the weapon she helped create.

And she has to keep him alive not only because he’s the one with the political power (meaning he’s her only real way to make sure the trials happen), but because he has to live long enough to atone for what he did with flame alchemy. The power SHE gave him.

From Riza’s point of view, every crime Mustang commits is hers too. Every time flame alchemy is used to kill that blood is on her hands too. Every person he killed is someone she killed by proxy.

She’s not just guarding him. She’s sharing his guilt. It’s like she’s trying to atone for her own sins, but he has to atone too so she can atone through him.

I think this Hannibal quote fits them really well: “You and I have begun to blur. Every crime of yours feels like one I’m guilty of.” Like yeah she obviously loves him. But reducing their relationship to just that completely flattens what’s actually going on.

[sioltach]

this website lets you listen to the sounds of all different forests around the world 

[riven-wanders]

Reblogging again cause I tried this site last night and if you need background noise to focus this is perfect for that, I was locked the fuck in on a task. And it’s also just gorgeous to listen to

[platimingo-art]

Why is she like this?