Hadestown

We watched the pro shot that was just released for Hadestown with the original Broadway cast performing it last year in London.  This musical shows the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice but in a setting of the deep south with Louisiana jazz.  I've heard the music from this show many times before and so a lot of it was connecting songs I heard to scenes and while it was immersive with the performances, I do feel there is some magic lost when seeing a musical for the first time but already being fairly familiar with half of it.  It is one that I would definitely like to see again and especially see performed live as the story is well done.  

But I would say the performance that sunk into my heart the most was Reeve Carney as Orpheus, especially when singing the song "Epic."  His performance especially in the higher register of the melody couldn't help but make me think, if they made a biopic of Jeff Buckley, Carney would be a perfect actor to portray him.  His makeup and hairstyle as Orpheus was perfect, it almost makes me wonder if what they were going for in Hadestown was to make Orpheus look like Jeff Buckley.  It's also worth mentioning Patrick Page's performance of Hades, especially in this recording as it looks like he was on a broken foot but was still dancing and even though his movement at times was slower, it felt very fitting for the character, giving Hades a more stoic and bitter vibe.

I would recommend this musical and its pro shot to anyone who likes musicals or even just Greek mythology as it does a great job in transforming it for a more modern telling of the tragedy.