HADESTOWN

By Diana Simmonds

February 15 2025

HADESTOWN, Opera Australia & Suzanne Jones for Jones Theatrical Group at the Theatre Royal, 14 February-26 April 2025; Melbourne from May. Photography by Lisa Tomasetti: Christine Anu and Elenoa Rokobaro; Abigail Adriano and Noah Mullins

New Orleans’ fabled Preservation Hall is the single, multi-level setting, designed by Rachel Hauck, for Anaïs Mitchell’s also fabled musical Hadestown. Mitchell’s book, music, and lyrics have undergone an extraordinary years-long journey of development, near-misses, more development, try-outs, more development, off-Broadway staging, more development, London production, and $US11million investment before finally making it to Broadway and eight Tony awards.

Almost as torturous as Orpheus and Eurydice’s treks between our world and the underworld as related in ancient Greek myth and on stage, in Sydney. And it could have been a Greek tragedy, or farce, when, ten minutes into opening night, a technical glitch forced the house lights up and a calm voice to ask us to sit tight while it’s fixed…as soon as possible.

And it’s a further ten minutes – which inevitably seems longer – before the lights go down and the company resumes positions from where it left off. The tableau is held until the auditorium is quiet and concentrated, then off we go again. Admirable and amazing discipline. Within another ten minutes, it was as if nothing had ever been amiss.

The Sydney production is dynamically cast, on both sides of the footlights (and hundreds of other lights – design by Bradley King, realised here by Trudy Dalgleish). As Hermes the Narrator, Christine Anu swaggers about in a silvery suit and sleek Cruella hair-do to keep us abreast of goings-on. The benighted young lovers are valiant, passionate, and golden-voiced – Abigail Adriano as Eurydice, and Noah Mullins as Orpheus. The other lovers: older and entwined from another story, are King Hades and Persephone, AKA sexy-hot and gloriously menacing bass-baritone Adrian Tamburini and the utterly electrifying showstopper Elenoa Rokobaro (if Broadway isn’t knocking on her door I’ll eat my Choc-Top).

To keep the narrative flowing and the audience on edge, The Fates are represented by Sarah Murr, Jennifer Trijo, and Imani Williams. They’re like The Ronettes on acid with extra sass. Also presenting with sass and molto sexy is the troupe of singer-dancers Eliza Soriano, Afua Adjei, Sam Richardson, Iosefa Laga’aia, and Devon Braithwaite. Clad either as grungy factory workers or leather-armored netherworld miners, they are integrated into the action with the onstage musicians in muscular choreography by David Neumann with Alex Lugo in Sydney. (It should be noted that Hades is bigly into fossil fuels as well as building walls to – yes, really – keep the people free, so these proto-MAGAs are a riveting vision of now, even though dreamed up well before the clear and present danger in the Oval Office.)

Mitchell’s evocative score of Americana – folk, jazz, blues, New Orleans, ragtime, honky-tonk, and gospel – is thrillingly brought to life onstage by drums, trombone, violin, cello, double bass, and amplified acoustic guitar. Musical director Laura Tipoki conducts from piano and keyboards as well as occasional piano accordion. (Original orchestrations and arrangements: Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose.)

Running 2.5 hours with interval, Hadestown is deftly steered by original director Rachel Chavkin and Sydney's Tiffani Swalley. The result is a show that’s slick yet soulful and deeply engaging as only gods and fabled beings can be. While the less palatable aspects of ancient mythology have largely been left on the cutting room floor, there is enough toughness and the inevitable end to make it a rich and most often thrilling experience.

Hadestown can be taken at face value as a clever and easily digested night out of exceptional theatre and performance. Alternatively, you can read into it as much about life and politics in the world now as you like and not come up empty. The Australian cast is superb, the staging is simple and stunning, the musicians make the most of a scrumptious score and, basically, what’s not to like? If we have to go to hell – and it’s beginning to look that way – it might as well be in a marvelous musical rather than a handcart. Not to be missed.