It is unsurprising, therefore, that “Hadestown” won eight Tony Awards in 2019 (including best musical, original score, direction, lighting, and scenic design) and the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album in 2020. The music has the audience clapping and swaying in their seats the whole time, and the stage sets convey the tragic circumstances of the two entwining stories extremely well. “Hadestown” brings these two centuries-old stories to the modern stage in a very fun and accessible way. This explained the turn of the seasons each year to the ancient Greeks: her descent into Underworld can be seen as a representation of the coming of winter, when the land is not fertile and does not yield many crops, while her return to Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, symbolizes the coming of spring. Eventually, Hades consented to a deal: Persephone would spend half the year with him and half the year with her mother on Earth. Persephone was not the only one who lamented her capture-her mother, Demeter, caused the earth to fall into drought in order to convince the gods to release her daughter from Underworld. He decided to capture her one day, using his godly powers to trap her in his underground kingdom where he made her his wife. Devastated by his failure, he lived the rest of his life in misery, eventually succumbing to death at the hands of Bacchus’ maddened maenads.Īccording to mythology, Hades, the god of Underworld, fell instantly in love with divinely beautiful Persephone when he saw her picking flowers. Orpheus tried to cross back over the River Styx, but was not allowed to. Crying out to him, she lamented his poor choice and was taken back to the depths of Underworld. A madness then overtook Orpheus, and, distrustful of the promise the gods had made, he looked back at Eurydice. Their journey home went well, until they were nearly at their destination. Using his formidable musical skills, Orpheus was able to convince him to allow Eurydice back to the human world, but under one condition, demanded by Persephone: he was not to look back at her, or else all his efforts to get her back would be fruitless. Unable to bear his pain, however, he decided to journey to Underworld to strike a deal with the god of the dead. Orpheus, consumed by grief, turned to the lyre and his gift of music, bestowed to him by his father, Apollo, and mourned every day for his beloved. While running along a river bank, a serpent attacked and bit the young woman, its poison causing her death shortly thereafter. They were a happily married couple however, Eurydice was fated by the gods to live a short life. Orpheus and Eurydice are figures who arguably endure an even more tragic fate than the mainstream Shakespearean ill-fated lovers, Romeo and Juliet. It seems fitting to give a brief description of each of these famous myths to set the scene. The play is an interpretation of not one, but two Greek myths: Orpheus and Eurydice, and Hades and Persephone. One musical I became increasingly interested in and just had to see was “Hadestown.” As a classics major and a second-generation Greek-American, “Hadestown” seemed to be the perfect blend of classic Greek mythology and modern funky music, and was also a great musical to discuss as Valentine’s Day approached. However, excursions to Broadway were put on hold for a while due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and I had to satisfy my musical-loving heart by listening to Broadway soundtracks on Spotify. I was lucky to have seen a number of Broadway shows with my family during my childhood and teenage years, including “The Little Mermaid,” “The Lion King,” “Mary Poppins,” “Wicked,” “Hamilton,” “Mean Girls,” and more. The red flower symbolizes Orpheus’ connection with nature and music.
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