| Hadestown this Afternoon | |
| Last Edit: robert_j 10:01 pm EDT 06/19/19 | |
| Posted by: robert_j 09:49 pm EDT 06/19/19 | |
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| I had been on the fence about this one but I decided to go this afternoon and I am so glad that I did. I was very taken by this production. It is so well directed, so beautiful and atmospheric, setting just the right tone for the story. I do think it helps to know some of the score going in, to get the melodies in your ear and to get a feel for the style of the piece. That is often the case for shows like this (I cannot believe that, on first hearing, I thought that the Light in the Piazza was dull and tuneless…). Perhaps instructive, the number that got the biggest applause was the one from the Tony Awards (“Wait for Me”). Not sure if that was always the case, but I suspect the audience’s familiarity helped. Certainly, the number had much more impact on me in the house than it did on the broadcast, probably because I knew it already. I also thought Reeve Carney came across much better than expected. Maybe I just had low expectations based on the word-of-mouth, but I respected what he was going for and I thought that many times the effect was quite beautiful. To be sure, I prefer his voice more in the range it was in for Spider Man, but technically I think his performance was quite accomplished. I do not know how he sustains that high falsetto 8 times a week. In general, I thought that the cast was pretty fabulous. I can see how people might say that this is not a cast dependent show, but IMHO the OBC is pretty iconic. Particularly Andre de Shields, who is the glue that holds the production together. So much of this show is about atmosphere, and De Shields hits exactly the right note. But really the whole cast, including the ensemble, contributes so much to the spell the show casts. In many ways, Hadestown reminded me a lot of Spring Awakening, another show that was heavy on atmosphere and had a pretty iconic OBC. Like that show, I think Hadestown will wear well on disc and be remembered as having a better score than people thought it did at first listen. |
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