HADESTOWN: THE MUSICAL Review

The eight-time Tony winning musical Hadestown is the newest musical to get the theatrically released proshot treatment. The five principal members of the original Broadway cast joined the ensemble from the currently running West End production in London to film the show for the big screen. The musical, written by Anaïs Mitchell, reimagines the myths of Orpheus and Eurydice as well as Hades and Persephone.

While the point of a proshot like this is to ultimately make a version of the show people can watch in the movie theater and at home, analyzing the actual production being performed on stage is essential to understanding how the film version works.

The best part of the production on stage is that the cast is top tier, with no weak link to be found. André De Shields as Hermes serves as our narrator, and it's no wonder why he won the Tony. On paper, the amount of narration in this show seems very overbearing, the type that makes it seem like the story isn't being trusted to have any breathing room to be told on it's own, but it's almost hard to care when De Shields is the one doing it. He has such a presence and a command that makes him shine every time, along with a voice that perfectly suits the narration style. Eva Noblezada as Eurydice is also a standout, with a voice I could never get enough of.

However, it really might be Bella Brown, Madeline Charlemagne, and Allie Daniel as the Fates who really steal the show. Anytime they got solo lines or took center stage, they were the highlight.

While the cast is so top tier, it's the actual material of the show that didn't quite live up to the hype.

Hadestown is the type of musical told purely through song, without speaking scenes between. Those types of musicals really shine when there's a natural flow through the songs and they're designed to be strong storytelling pieces. There are undoubtedly strong songs throughout the show, some that will definitely get stuck in my head. Yet, this is where the previous comment about overbearing narration comes in. It's constant narration, making sure the story is being told because the other aspects of the music and writing aren't trusted to. The flow seems far less baked in than other musicals of this style, and it left a lot to be desired. Outside of that, whether the songs themselves really pulled me into the story was pretty hit or miss, with arguably a bigger hit rate in Act 2 than Act 1.

Speaking of the story, there's almost an inconsistency in how it can feel fresh, as it's reimagining and combining these myths, and yet feel a bit too been there, done that at the same time. The show makes a point about knowing how it ends, so to some extent it's going for exactly that, yet that still made it lack a level of true excitement.

All of the things about the actual production aside, the important thing here is how this production was translated to a filmed format. The answer to that is, similarly, inconsistently.

The film starts off with a nice touch of showing us some behind the scenes shots, reminding us that this is a theatre production and live performance. The audience is seen reacting to the cast coming out on stage. The opening song shows shots of the audience at one point mid-song and applauding afterwards. Save for the mid-song shot, this was all a nice touch to extra emphasize that we're experiencing a show that had a live audience and placing us there with them. Yet, this is mostly forgotten about from there on out aside from the final song of Act 1 and the bows.

One thing that's inherently different about a proshot as opposed to actually getting to see the production live is that the director is in full control of what the audience sees. They choose which shots to use from which angles and when to show the full stage or close ups. This can both be the best and worst thing about proshots.

There are times it's used very effectively here, getting to get up close to the performers in a way you can't in the live performance, and sometimes including really cool shots like the overhead of the pit. There are a lot of songs with a clear vision of what to focus on, and it's clear which songs those are.

Yet, there are clearly songs with no vision of what to focus on, and those are overly chaotic. The shot goes from random angle to random angle with the only seeming purpose being not to spend too long staying in one shot. While this is a film, it's also theatre, and there are moments where it feels like just showing the full stage for more than three seconds would have been more effective and less distracting.

Otherwise, the overall magic of the production was still captured. The set was utilized really well, the blocking and choreography were strong, the costumes were great, and everyone got their chance to shine.

There's so much to like in this show, and if nothing else, the cast makes it worth it. More of these proshots need to be made. This show has and will continue to resonate with many people, being one of their favorite shows of all time. I just don't happen to be one of those people, despite having a fun time.

🍿SCORE = 66 / 100