By Adam Bloodworth
Hadestown review and star rating: ★★☆☆☆
It’s a longstanding truth of musical theatre that shows don’t need to be good to generate cult fan followings. We Will Rock You, Dear Evan Hansen and Wicked are adored by the public but some critics have given each of them a mauling.
For this critic, Hadestown fits that bill: I’m glad it’s here for the girls behind me who cried through multiple parts and spent the interval discussing which parts made their eyes leak the most, but new viewers might find their tear ducts running dry.
Hadestown is based on the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, and regales the story of a young girl called Eurydice who gets with musician Orpheus. Both are broke, and so Eurydice is convinced into taking a job in the industrial underworld as a means of alleviating herself from poverty. He follows her and attempts to free her, and she agrees to leave, but as with Greek myths in general, things don’t go to plan.
The trouble is it’s very difficult to care about our poor beleaguered couple when they barely get more than five seconds to spend together. The lyrics, by Anaïs Mitchell who also wrote the book, tell rather than show, meaning the cast spend most of the show literally explaining the story, not leaving any time for snogging or laughing or any of the other fun stuff young couples do.
Hades himself, the overlord of the underworld, feels like a caricature; Rachel Chavkin’s direction having him skulk around the stage dramatically like some children’s TV villain.
It also feels a little visually threadbare: a handful of dancers don’t manage to fill the stage in some of the movement scenes, especially in the underworld where you’d hope to feel more immersed in the swirling misery and chaos of it all. And like with Hades’ strut, the choreography often feels unnatural and awkward.
That’s no slight on the performances, which are impressive, particularly the Greek god Hermes, a sort of narrator character played by Melanie La Barrie, who has an astonishingly good belt.
This winner of two Tony Awards, one for Best Original Score and the other for Best Musical, Hadestown epitomises how tastes on either side of the pond can drastically differ. After 1,000-plus shows on Broadway, it’s great that die-hard fans of this rock opera turned traditional musical have Hadestown back on home turf after a five year hiatus. But light on emotion and production value, the rest of us should steer clear.
Hadestown plays at the Lyric Theatre until 22 December 2024 and tickets are available online
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