MTM5 Day 1: Hadestown (Broadway Cast Album)

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Hadestown!!!!!!! How I adore Hadestown. The trouble with listening to something so good on day one is that it’s all I’m going to want to listen to for the rest of the month.

I have a very distinct memory of listening to the concept album in year 3 (plot and development is described in that post). It blew me away and I’ve listened to it countless times since then. Part of me was worried I wouldn’t like the Broadway version as much, because they’re changing and expanding things, and you never know what they’ll keep and what they’ll get rid of.

I am happy to report that this soundtrack is incredible. I wrote that Orpheus was the weakest part of the concept album, and they’ve done a lot of good with his character. There’s more songs and more plot, and all my favorite parts are still there. The ensemble is amazing. Have I mentioned I love narrator characters, and seeing them engage in the story? Hermes engages because he was there, but he’s still the one telling the story, and I dig it. And the reprises! Oh, the reprises. Love a good reprise.

I know the story, I’ve heard it many times, but I still teared up during Road to Hell (Reprise). It sounds like it should be the finale. The love Hermes has for this boy…. And I got sort of emotional about the meta of “it’s a sad song… and we’re gonna sing it again and again” being sung on a stage, a story being performed for an audience from artists who are performing it 8 times a week. It’s a story that should be told, from the perspectives of both the characters and the performers.

I sort of fell out of the loop on this one. I knew it was being workshopped, and then I didn’t hear anything more until it was suddenly on Broadway and apparently receiving many awards! I would love to see Hadestown. I think it’s the Broadway show I’d most like to see right now. The fact that it’s getting acclaim makes me hopeful that it’ll be around for a good long time.

Maybe I’ll start saving up for a birthday day trip to NYC. The train from here is only 3 hours….