ok I have to make a big hadestown post, if just for my own documentation
everything that made me laugh/cry/go crazy in the hadestown proshot:
THE SHOTS OF THE CAST BACKSTAGE AT THE BEGINNING??? BEFORE THE SHOW??? NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT THIS???
andre/hermes greeting the ensemble and eury before they start
the fates blowing out the candle and eurydice having to relight it. also are the hadestown matches just ridiculously high quality or is eva just magic at lighting matches
the fates also full out cackle multiple times and they are so much more terrifying that way
one of the ensemble members giving eury the red cloth, only for it to be snatched away from her again a few seconds later
during epic i there's a really good shot of hades and persephone up on their balcony and persephone GIGGLES at something hades said.
right before she comes down the stairs, persephone kisses hades cheek and tries to have a nice moment with him before she leaves, but he's so caught up in his own grief and self pity he can't even look at her so she leaves with a frustrated wave and huff
livin it up is so fun, I was grinning the whole time. when persephone says "some may say the weather ain't the way it used to be" eurydices face literally goes 😬. hilarious. persephones first "anybody wanna drink?" is also directed towards the audience and idk if the section she looked at just had rancid vibes or if she was just messing around but amber made the funniest face at them. she really said 🤨😒🙄
orpheus looks so nervous when he starts giving his little speech because eurydice is watching him. wittol baby
the choreography for all I've ever known is still so. so. beautiful.
the train whistle blows, you can see persephones face fall. but she keeps watching orpheus and eurydice for a moment longer, like she can't let go of their hope quite yet
the persephone vs fates beef is incredible gimme 14 of em
eurydice sounds so defeated when orpheus ignores her. kind of like she expected it but let herself hope and regrets it
CHANT. OH MY GOD CHANT. the second hades and persephone come up, persephones face is DEVASTATING. she looks like she also had hope that maybe it wasn't any worse, maybe it was a little better, and all her hope was destroyed the second she set foot in hadestown
the struggle between eury and the fates was so much more intense than I remember. they are really taking everything from her and they are utterly ruthless
amber. mothafuckin. gray. the things this woman can do with her face. so confused and angry at what hadestown has become. tender and longing when she finally let hades touch her. she looked physically ill when hades said he'd find someone else.
and patrick page. he didn't just treat his injury like something to work around and pretend isn't there. he incorporated it into the character. the way he moves in hey little songbird especially is so sinister and predatory. he looks like a panther on its haunches, ready to pounce
the way eva was able to convey so much with no words while the fates sang when the chips are down was absolutely phenomenal
hermes really seemed so disappointed in orpheus for ignoring eurydice
when hermes talks about the guard dog of the underworld, the fates show up behind orpheus in a way that actually reminded me of Cerberus. I've never thought about the fates that way before but it's an interesting concept
I will say something controversial. wait for me has never been particularly impactful musically or lyrically TO ME PERSONALLY but the way it's lit and staged and choreographed is actually fucking brilliant and has made me say hooooly shit every time I've seen it
when hades and persephone cross paths before why we build the wall, she physically recoils away from him, like she can't stand to even be a few inches away from him
they ended why we build the wall with a much quieter, lower note than the obc recording and it gives it a new kinda eerie tone
persephone wipes a tear from her face after hades invites eurydice to his office. she looks at eury and you can't even see her face for most of it, but you can tell just from her body language she's pleading. and I think it's more begging eurydice not to do it for eurydice's sake. persephone knows what will become of eury if she goes behind those doors and she's much more concerned about that than any potential infidelity
ok. ok now I can talk about Our Lady. genuinely. I have never seen the likes of it before. I actually thought our lady would be the most like what I've seen before, I thought I knew what to expect. oh no. no no. this persephone is a new level of manic. she is drunk and high out of her goddamn mind. she is moving in ways I didn't think possible of the human body. she's doubling over and dry heaving. I don't know what on earth- or any realm- amber channeled for those performances, but it was spectacular.
eva noblezada, the woman that you are. she kept doing this thing where she'd cut her voice off halfway through a note, like she just couldn't keep going. she's curled up, sobbing, by the end of flowers. you can see the moment the memory hits her, the one thing she has left tying her to her mortal existence.
as always the "no, I walked. a long way." moment was so funny and adorable. reeve carney they could NEVER make me hate you.
when hades is talking to orpheus, two things happen that just confirm a theory I've had for a while. first, hades says "everything and everyone in hadestown, I own." and persephone snaps her head around to look at him so fast I swear I could hear it. then when he says "I only buy what others choose to sell. oh, you didn't know? she signed the deal herself." he glances to persephone. it's quick, but she's the only person standing in the direction he's looking, he's 100% looking at her. he's saying well, you married me willingly, so why are you complaining now?
the attack was terrifying and visceral.
it's always interesting to see how different groups of fates perform Nothing Changes. this trio took a lot of liberty with tempo, giving it a really dynamic feel
persephone looks so stricken for the entirety of if it's true. at the end, she and orpheus look at each other for a long time. he's begging her to use her power to do something.
and she does try. How Long? is so beautifully lit and shot. persephone almost kneels, she is trying so hard to appeal to hades. she's constantly physically reaching out, throughout the whole show, wanting to give what she can, and it's never more obvious than in this moment.
hades face when persephone shoots back "as long as I am your wife" is amazing. patrick page's acting doesn't get talked about enough. he's shocked and angry but also a little impressed? like yeah that's his badass wife who isn't afraid to tell him where to shove it when she needs to. he loves her.
he also says "it's the boy" in such a singsong way that's so different from the recording and I love it. he hasn't started to even take orpheus seriously yet.
and hades is a forced to be reckoned with in chant reprise. by the end, you can tell he is very sincere about putting orpheus out of his misery
it seems like amber and reeve adjusted their paces on the turntables to match patricks so they would all stay spaced correctly. beautiful little detail.
the little moment of preparation before epic iii is so precious to me
the visual parallels between the couples is sooooo good
there was also an incredible shot of hades looking over at persephone as she walks closer to orpheus. basically after his smartass "Oh its about me" line, he's visibly distressed the whole time.
the way persephone says "let him finish, hades" is painfully intimate. that is a wife speaking to her husband. and they have been married longer than you can even fathom. she almost murmurs it. she doesn't even look at him. she doesn't need to.
in contrast, when everyone starts singing the song, hades screams "NO!!" in a way that made my skin crawl a little.
when everyone starts singing, the workers peel off one by one, and for a split second, the camera focuses on two workers, embracing and smiling at each other, like they're old friends.
and at the end, when orpheus is singing his last verse, hades is doing everything he possibly can to keep from crying, and he can't. it starts getting really bad at "he keeps his head low". hades is just so exhausted and frightened and vulnerable in that moment, my chest ached.
hades looks back to make sure persephone is still there.
the little shocked, disbelieving laugh persephone let's out when hades pulls out the flower is honestly worse than if she just cried. at this point, shooting me would be nicer.
the dance. oh, the dance. only one bit of choreography was really changed that significantly. at the end, hades throws his cane and walks to persephone, who is basically weeping through a grin at this point. they press their faces together and when she wraps her arms around him, her fingers dig into his vest.
in promises eurydice goes up to each worker and shakes their hand. she is one of them, she knows them and their struggles.
there's also a shot from behind persephones shoulder at the "What about him?" line. hades eyes are closed and his cheek is resting on the top of persephones head. her face is hidden in his shoulder. cried.
and then persephone looks so betrayed when hades says "I don't know". when he says it, she's clinging to his arm, looking up at him with stars in her eyes. it's so painful to watch that light go out again.
I've said it before but, the hand holding meta is crazy. orpheus and eurydice hold hands for a split second in wait for me reprise, but hades and persephone hold on until the last moment. the camera focuses on their hands, the way they reach for each other as soon as they slip from each other's grasp, but they're already too far apart.
it's more obvious with the camera angles in his kiss, the riot, that hades is also talking about persephone when he says "beautiful, poisonous, lovely, deadly". which I've always thought is such an incredible way to show why hades loves her so much. she's not only the innocent Kore, picking flowers in her mother's garden, she is also Dread Persephone, Bringer of Death.
"hades, you let them go" is sooooo uuuggghhhhh. she's ripping my heart out and eating it.
doubt comes in is so unsettling. there's a slight effect on the fates voices, making them seem far away. it's already hard to see eurydice through most of the sequence when seeing it live just because of the lighting, but the camera makes it even worse. she completely disappears when she's not singing.
I've always loved that the platform starts lowering the second orpheus sees eurydice. it doesn't wait for them to say goodbye, to have closure, it just starts taking her back down.
the camera focuses on hermes shoes as he walks in to start road to hell reprise. that was a cool visual to me. of course, that was only a vague peripheral thought compared to. ya know.
tiny detail that idk if anybody else noticed. persephones flowers when she comes back up are different than the ones she had the rest of the show. the first ones are red and orange and kinda spiky. the last ones are pastels, yellows and blues and pinks and have round little petals. a detail they absolutely didn't have to include but it's so cool that they did.
it took patrick a little longer to get to his place for bows. the other three all waited for him and looked so lovingly at him when he stepped out.
and during we raise our cups, patrick is looking at amber truly the entire time. it made me think about when amber said the two of them had really learned to love each other. he just looked so proud and fond.
amber makes very cute faces at the front row and does a very cute dance when she leaves the stage.
