Let’s get one thing out of the way: I absolutely adore Greek mythology. I was a Percy Jackson kid to the highest degree. In high school, I used to make PowerPoint presentations about translations of the Odyssey for my friends. I spent half my time in college writing essays about the staging of the Agamemnon Trilogy. I like my Greek myths, and I am picky about them. So, when I tell you that Hadestown, a Broadway show currently touring across the nation, ranks high among my favorite musicals, you better take that to heart.
Hadestown seems like it was made in a lab specifically to make me crazy. This musical combines all my love of the Greek Pantheon with my other loves: Broadway, indie folk, and jazz. It’s a sung-through show about the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice, told in a plethora of classic American musical genres. I was lucky to see it a while back with the original cast, and ever since, I have been listening to the Hadestown cast album on repeat.
But how does the album hold up to the show itself? Keep reading to find out!
Hadestown’s cast recording, and what makes a good musical album
Cast recordings are an art. You are essentially being given half of a musical if you check one out. All the sound design, none of the physicality. Sound engineers and actors are tasked with making a version of the show that is intriguing enough to make people come in to see it live, while also satisfying those who could never make it to a performance.
Leaving the people wanting more and building up a fan base on the merit of pure audio alone is no small task. An excellent show can have a mediocre album. Struggling middle school performers (me, circa 2013) might have to re-listen to the same terrible mix of a song over and over so that they can learn their vocal part for the upcoming spring musical. There are many ways it can go off the rails. Think of the children.
Hadestown, in particular, could be a struggle to adapt to a purely auditory format due to its physicality. From the classic moment of Orpheus turning around to see Eurydice to the wall of the underworld cracking open on stage to the iconic swinging lamps, the show is swimming in key visual elements.
So, does Hadestown overcome these challenges?
In my opinion, it does, in large part due to its array of musical styles. Playwright Anaïs Mitchell has swirled blues, swing, folk music, ragtime, and New Orleans Jazz into her tragic tale. This leaves us with a story that, though it’s about a Greek myth, feels distinctly American. It also means that all the songs are absolute bangers outside of the context of being a musical.
Don’t get me wrong, the score is unmistakably musical theater. You wouldn’t be able to listen to it and not understand you’re listening to a cast recording. However, while I have to be in a specific mood to listen to plenty of musical theater, I do not have to be in that same mood to listen to Hadestown. “Why We Build the Wall” scratches the itch that a Leonard Cohen folk song would. “Our Lady of the Underground” makes me feel like I’m sitting in a smoky bar listening to a drunk lady sing jazz with a live band. The music stands on its own merit. That’s half the struggle of a cast album already in the bag.
The score of Hadestown does a lot of the heavy lifting, as much of the show’s physicality is written into the music. When the souls of the underground work themselves into the grave, they grunt and hiss like a manual labor machine into the microphone. When Orpheus turns around to make his big mistake, the music goes from a warm chorus to a tense swell of strings as Eurydice gasps. You feel the staging, even if you don’t see it. It leaves you satisfied with the album, while still craving to see how these moments play out on a stage. That’s masterful cast album construction right there.
The wonderful original cast of this Broadway musical
Of course, this album’s success is heavily aided by the fact that this cast is stacked to the gods. While I have loved the vast array of interpretations each new cast of Hadestown brings, I do have a soft spot for the original Broadway cast immortalized on the cast recording. For good reason: they serve hard. Hadestown does not shy away from showcasing all sorts of unique voices. This means that specific vocal performances can be divisive, but personally, that just makes me love them more.
Choosing a standout is difficult because everyone does such an excellent job. André De Shields kills it as Hermes. From his very first mmhmm on track one, you know you’re dealing with a narrator that’s got charisma. He earned his Tony, let me tell you that.
Reeve Carney’s Orpheus has incredible range, with a clear yet shaky falsetto that makes Orpheus feel every bit of the untested young artist he’s written to be. Eva Noblezada is a fantastic Eurydice. This woman can belt, but also performs the hell out of those emotional beats.
I hopped on the Amber Gray train during The Great Comet of 1812, and I haven’t gotten off since. She is so delightfully weird. Her scratchy, rag-doll-eques Persephone is a complete joy. This woman treats her vocal strings like playdough. Her delivery of “I don’t know about you boys-” in this recording alone is enough for me to adore her in this role.
Then there’s Patrick Page as Hades. There are no words to describe how good Patrick Page is. If I tried, it would just be a series of emphatic hand gestures and a vague closed-mouth scream. Never before has a man’s on-stage gravitas translated so well to recording. His performance on this album, let alone his live performance, is single-handedly the best argument for putting a bass in every Broadway show ever.
Of course, the chorus holds down the fort. Hermes introduces them in the first song as “the hardest working chorus in the gods’ almighty world,” and he meant that. However, my standout performance on this album was that of the three fates. Jewelle Blackman, Kay Trinidad, and Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer create the atmosphere of this recording. Their vocals create everything from the wind that terrorizes Eurydice to Orpheus’ doubt echoing off the walls of the underworld. They do so much work to create the world of the stage through your headphones. Never has three-part harmony been this sinister or had this many killer low notes.
The stellar performances from the actors, combined with the instrumentals and sound mixing, make for a fantastic cast album. Even listening to it now, I am simultaneously wow-ed by the performances and I want to book another ticket to see the real deal. You should also do it if you haven’t if the Hadestown tour happens to be stopping by your town.
Where and when to see Hadestown
Hadestown has shows in NYC and will be on tour across America until May 18th, 2025. Are you excited to grab some tickets to see this show?Did you like the original cast recording? Let us know on social media @mycosmiccircus or @boxseatbabes!
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