Hadestown - NT / Lyric Theatre

I finally caught up with this today and on the whole wished I hadn't bothered. It started promisingly, and I found the music attractive, but I thought it got terribly samey; nearly every number was in a minor key (or blues/modal version of the minor) with predictable ostinatos and descending bass lines. She could have lifted the music by the odd key change, but it never seemed to happen, so the effect, by the end, was quite monotonous.

I actually liked the performers and the production; the handling of the Orpheus story was quite clever also - it was just the dreary music.

Will this run ever end?

I was stunned and loved the show with all my heart. Oh, and I “cried numerous times”, in case anyone wants to “smile” again and think of how funny emotional people are.

For me the magic worked. In the interval for the matinee show I went online to check tickets for the evening one. It was soldout, otherwise I’d seen it twice.

Hm, I can do some extent understand this feeling, but this is not one of those bland commercial Broadway enterprises like Tootsie or Mean Girls, that milks some existing movie. This is a very creative, offbeat strange thing that has divided opinions on here strongly and I don't think any producer would be taking the risk to bring Hadestown into the West End AFTER the Broadway premiere as a second commercial production with an entirely British cast (just like Chavkin's other completely off-the-wall production Comet doesn't seem to be happening).

I'd rather see it done at the National like this than not getting it at all (or in five years' time in a very scaled-down production at Southwark).  Who knows, seeing how well it's been selling at the National now and has had some time to build up steam, they MIGHT be willing to risk a West End transfer now with a new British cast. 

I would go back and see this again if it had two different leads.

He sings perfectly in tune. Good Leonard Cohen style delivery and very impressive miking too, making every word clear.

Got to see this last night & as a whole, I really enjoyed it. I knew the story before so I knew how it would end, but that didn’t stop me from desperately hoping they changed the ending.

I don’t agree with complaints about Reeve, I thought he was actually quite a strong performer. If anything, I thought Eva was worse casting. She’s sensational and her voice is beautiful but it also completely lacks character or grit, which would’ve been perfect for Eurydice imo. But beyond that she was great.

The true star of the show for me personally was the staging. I really love what they did here; it made all the moments in Hadestown so atmospheric, especially during the final moments.

My only real issue was, unfortunately, the songs. So many of them just blended into one for me. I saw the show less than 24 hours ago, yet only a few of the songs are still rattling around my head. I really loved ‘Wait For Me’, that’s been stuck in my head all day.

Saw this tonight. Creative, super staging, nice performances - I hated it! Haha....

I saw this a while back when it was in its early days of the run, Really enjoyed it and vastly different to most other things I have seen. Did take a while to get going but after that it was fine. I liked the character of Hades and the story, the songs, for the most part and the use of the revolve and set.  Audience seemed to lap it up as well. I was considering day seating this on Saturday for the matinee as part of my day in town as I wouldnt mind seeing it once more, but given that When We... also has a double show day as well, I think I will give the day seat queue a miss as it will surely be quite vast... Hadestown x 2 and Tortured x 2 (Wonder how many in line will be there for tickets to I'm Not Running though?!).

I saw the final matinee performance of HADESTOWN this afternoon - my first theatre visit of 2019. I have to say I enjoyed it quite a lot, knowing very little about it beforehand.

Firstly, the staging is stunning, with some excellent choreography and physical theatre, particularly from the chorus, performed with such attack and energy. The “Wait For Me” sequence near the end of the first act was particularly breathtaking. I also liked the recurring motif of the red flower.

The score also has much to enjoy. I have to say it is not usually my sort of thing, but in context it really works and is at times thrilling. It does what the score for a musical should do by telling a story, and the band and orchestrations are tremendous. I loved the opening number, and felt that it really set the tone for the rest of the piece. There are also some beautiful love ballads in there too. I will certainly be giving the recording repeated listenings.

Dramatically I found it a bit hit and miss. There were moments that were really moving and profound. For example, the toast in the first act where they toast for what the world can be, what the world is now, and there is a silence and stillness. I also loved the contemporary relevance of the piece, and I thought it served as something of a political allegory for our times now. Not only because of all the talk of building walls etc, but also by how leaders can be brought to change by people raising their voices.

With all that being said, there were moments for me that dragged. The middle of the first act where they were establishing the central relationship seemed to go on too long for me, and nothing seemed to happen. I also felt that the first act should have ended with the “Wait for Me” sequence, and then Act Two have opened with “How We Build A Wall”. Similarly Acy Two should have ended after the walk back from Hell, although the last song was moving.

I liked the entire cast (though have to admit that I found Patrick Paige’s low growl cloying after a while. Why he couldn’t have been written him something a little higher I don’t know, as the man can definitely sing).

Overall, it was nice to see something so refreshingly different, and I look forward to following the news from it's Broadway run.