There are only fall and winter, when people bustle to get food and clothing to keep alive.Īs Orpheus descends to Hadestown to rescue Eurydice, his music and poetry awaken people's memories of spring and joy. Spring and summer-in which people sing, dance, read poems, and truly live-don't exist in the gloomy Hadestown. One becomes aloof and comfortably numb under consistent brainwashing and repression, detaching from the real, pleasurable principle of living.Īlthough it seems that with the money earned through her labor, Eurydice could escape the threat of starving to death, she indeed has entered the world of hell, where there is no pleasure-only suffering. They can look / But they don't see." Individuals in Hadestown, as the underworld realm is referred to in the play, become alienated components of a mechanized organization. Repeating the same work again and again while keeping heads low, "They can hear / But they don't care. Eurydice joins the people who are preached at every day to work even harder, to build walls to defend properties, and keep themselves free from the ultimate enemy of poverty. She’s too poor to afford food, and she’s dying. Here, unlike classic versions of the tale, Eurydice voluntarily signs the contract to come down to the underworld. Therefore, Hades transcends his mythological role and comes to represent the capitalists who build factories and turn cities into machines of generating profit. To further accumulate wealth to secure his pleasure, he induces people to work for him by granting them a hope of mobility, affluence, freedom, and happiness in the context of a capitalist, industrialized society. Initially, Hades builds the city full of minerals, oil, and gemstones because he fears that his wife Persephone, the goddess of spring growth, will never come back down. The musical Hadestown keeps the basic structure and plot of the ancient tragedy but devises the most brilliant method of configuring Hades, the King of the underworld, as the King of mining. Tragically, Orpheus doesn’t overcome his yearning and eventually looks back, and at that moment his beloved wife disappears. The King of the underworld agrees to Orpheus’s plea, but under one condition: that Eurydice would have to walk behind Orpheus on their way back to the land of the living, and that Orpheus cannot look back at her during this journey. Orpheus decides to descend to the underworld to restore her to life. Orpheus falls in love with the human woman Eurydice at first sight and marries her, but happiness doesn't last long-Eurydice is bit by a viper and passes away. His divinely gifted voice can charm every living creature on the earth and unite man with god and with nature. In ancient Greek mythology, Orpheus, the son of the god Apollo, is known as the most talented singer and poet. Written by Anaïs Mitchell and directed by Rachel Chavkin, this Broadway blockbuster revisits the mythic tale of Orpheus and Eurydice. The 2019 Tony–and–Grammy–award–winning musical Hadestown premiered in Philadelphia at the Academy of Music on February 9th. However, just before he stepped out, Orpheus succumbed to his doubts and turned to look, thus losing Eurydice again - this time forever."Once upon a time there was a railroad line / Don't ask where, brother, don't ask why / It was the road to Hell / It was hard times"-these seemingly unspirited lyrics are sung in an extremely cheerful, uplifting tone as those singing them clap and dance on the stage. His request was granted, on the condition that he could not turn around to look at her until they had left the underworld. The song recounts the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice: Orpheus descended into the Underworld to plea for the return of Eurydice, his deceased lover. It is sung by Orpheus in game, after he has been gifted 1 or more. Lament of Orpheus is one of the vocal tracks in Hades.
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