Review: Hadestown
Lyric Theatre, London ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, that’s what they say. It’s also well known that the devil is in the detail. Both are adages that could be applied to the latest production of Hadestown, newly opened on London’s West End.
Drawing on the Greek myth telling the ill-fated story of Orpheus and Eurydice, Hadestown transports the classic to a post-depression industrial underworld, a place where the poverty stricken are forced to become another’s property to survive, signing away their life, if not their soul. It’s a sinister, sexy, sassy tragedy of love and despair, power and corruption, and rebellion and trust; a multi-layered retelling that makes it worth reading the programme notes before viewing.
Set on Rachel Hauck’s cluttered but unfussy set; a French Quarter-style balcony, all decorative wrought iron and green-stained wooden doors overlooking stepped, crescent staging at the centre of which a jumble of tables and chairs wait to be untangled, it’s claustrophobic and gives little away.
With music, lyric and book by Anaïs Mitchell, Hadestown is actually two love stories rolled into one, that of Orpheus and Eurydice and of Hades and Persephone, or possibly three, as the production itself is obviously a passion project.
The piece tells of a young troubadour, Orpheus, who falls for a starving young girl, Eurydice. To escape a life of poverty, she signs on to the books of the ruthless industrial kingpin, Hades, and is quickly transported to Hadestown, his underground foundry, where hard labour awaits.
Obsessed with his music, by the time Orpheus realises his love is missing it’s too late. Contracts signed, she is now the property of Hades. Orpheus determines to rescue her and before long both find themselves trapped in a world of fear and violence, a trial of trust their only means of winning their freedom.
If there’s the feeling of a ‘last-chance saloon’ about the speak-easy-style setting of this production, it’s perhaps fitting. Hadestown has been around in various iterations since 2006, winning awards but never quite achieving commercial popularity. This latest reworking only reinforces that, simultaneously managing to enchant, confuse and ultimately, infuriate.
Sung-through and more a staged-concert than a piece of musical theatre, lyrics are often lost due to poor diction or the volume of the excellent seven-piece band scattered around the stage throughout - the score comes especially alive whenever Daniel Higham’s trombone is given free rein.
Hadestown is at its best when The Chorus and The Fates deliver Liam Robinson’s exquisite harmonies and vocal arrangements - Come Home With Me is a beautiful song that touches the heart, but too often the score is underwhelming.
Individually, the voices telling the story are a mixed bag too. Silver shod, silver haired and similarly suited, Melanie La Barrie’s Hermes narrates with vigour, flitting around the stage like a shiny, mischievous sprite.
Grace Hodgett Young too is an exciting talent who lights up the stage, her Eurydice is a confident and street-wise young woman. Her voice, warm and lilting, although even she can’t quite make all her material soar.
Elsewhere, Dónal Finn proves an inconsequential Orpheus while the bewitching Gloria Onitiri takes time to grow into a commanding Persephone. Zachary James is imposing if two-dimensional as Hades. It’s an uneven cast making the best they can of a production with creative choices that frequently bewilder amid moments of genius.
Wait For Me, the penultimate number of the first act is a stunning coup de theatre, the highlight of Bradley King’s glorious lighting design in which a myriad of burnished golds and flaming ochres dapple the set with richness and colour. It’s a dramatic ensemble set-piece brilliantly choreographed by David Nuemann that brings the story to a dramatic and natural break…
Or it would if its impact wasn’t thrown away as the act then continues with Why We Build The Wall, a song that kills the drama and sends the audience into the interval on a cheap gag rather than the awe-inspiring grandeur of what went moments before.
Needless to say, if you’re looking for a traditional West End musical, this probably isn’t for you, however, if a deconstructed evening of jazzy blues and folky pop that reflects many of the problems of the world today works for you, a visit to Hadestown may just be ideal… just don’t sign anything before you go in, or it may never end.
Currently running until December 2024. Tickets here
