Singer and songwriter
Anais Mitchell
wrote the first draft of her "folk opera"
Hadestown
in 2006 with arranger
Michael Chorney
and director
Ben T. Matchstick
. After numerous drafts and performances, it is set in stone here.
retells the Orpheus and Eurydice myth set in an America of hard times economically, socially, and politically. (There is a hint of the great Depression as a setting, but only a hint.) The cast includes
Mitchell
as Eurydice,
Justin Vernon
(
Bon Iver
) as Orpheus,
Ani DiFranco
as Persephone,
Greg Brown
as Hades,
Ben Knox Miller
The Low Anthem
) as Hermes, and the
Haden Triplets
--
Petra
,
Rachel
, and
Tanya
) as the Fates. The large band includes
Rob Burger
Jim Black
Josh Roseman
Nate Wooley
Todd Sickafoose
Marika Hughes
Tanya Kalmanovich
, to name a few.
Hadestown'
s narrative, like the myth, steeps itself in ambiguities more than dead certainties. It moves past dualities of good and evil, life and death, hope and despair, while examining how commonly held beliefs about class reinforce poverty, how our desire for security is complicit in giving away our freedoms, and what real generosity in love actually is. Nowhere is this more evident than a
Brown
showcase number,
"Why We Build the Wall."
(With the cast/chorus unintentionally answering
Woody Guthrie
's
"This Land Is Your Land"
anthem that would make him weep with grief.) There isn't a weak track here, but high points include
"Our Lady of the Underground,"
sung by
DiFranco
; the fierce, yet tender
"How Long"
with
and
; both parts of
Vernon
"Epic,"
's and
"Doubt Comes In,"
"I Raise My Cup to Him,"
by
. Everything here is ambitious, nothing is excessive. The music ranges with classic American folk forms: country gospel, ragtime, blues, and early jazz, to approximations of rock, swing, and avant-garde -- all of it immediate, accessible, and inviting.
's vocal range -- husky baritone to sweet falsetto -- does justice to Orpheus. Only a singer like this could write a song beautiful enough to rescue his lover from the Underworld.
doesn't make herself the star, but is nonetheless. She is convincing as Eurydice; her lyrics are poetic, and her melodies unpretentious, yet sophisticated thanks to
Chorney
's arrangements. This 57-minute work goes by in a flash. Artfully conceived, articulated, and produced,
raises
's creative bar exponentially: there isn't anything else remotely like it. ~ Thom Jurek