Hadestown (Broadway)

"'Hadestown' is easily the most tautly constructed and beautifully realized musical on this side of 'Hamilton' —a riveting, heart-wrenching, and sumptuous folk opera that vibrantly renders some of mankind’s oldest and most enduring myths as an epic and compelling piece of modern musical theatre...'Hadestown' is a triumph of craft and imagination, boldly poetic, rousingly political, and vividly beautiful. If I could live in the magic and the majesty of this musical, I would." Full Review

"A production rejoicing in originality, soulfulness and luminescence...With Rachel Chavkin’s brilliant direction, the visual wonders are enthralling. 'Hadestown' lands on Broadway dreaming of a better world. I cannot imagine there will be a better Broadway musical this season. Run." Full Review

“Practically every single thing about 'Hadestown' is perfect. It plays with form in new ways, forcing us to question what we know and believe about the genre. Its design is breathtaking, its performances masterful, and its direction superb. Everything about this masterpiece of a musical has Rachel Chavkin written all over it, which is the main reason why it is so effective...She has created a god among musicals.” Full Review

"Hadestown takes the audience on a journey from New Orleans to Hell and back, weaving an entrancing spell all the way. We are swept along as Eurydice and Orpheus fall in love with spring, each other and life. They meet as Persephone who rises from Hell to herald Spring back into the world. The celebratory mood is infectious and joy leaps from the talented cast. When Hades summons Persephone back to the underworld, darkness descends once more...Cast is amazing." Full Review

“The production superbly showcases both Mitchell’s work and a superlative cast, accompanied by an orchestra so seamlessly integrated into the production that the evening is at once a vibrant theatrical reimagining of the classical doomed-love story and a rollicking pop-rock concert that keeps scaling new musical heights....The power of the show resides in the variegated beauty of Mitchell’s score and the heat-generating intensity with which the uniformly terrific cast delivers it." Full Review

“Chavkin has created a hip and wholly inventive production that combines the contemporary and the timeless...She’s restaged it for a proscenium instead of it playing it in the round as she did downtown...She’s also added an ensemble of dancers to fill out her imaginary world and, most importantly, she’s recast some of the principal roles and allowed the new actors to bring their distinctive flavors to her still-savory stew...The show remains pretty close to perfect too.” Full Review

“The creative team behind the stunningly visceral production delivered in spades. And while this free-wheeling version of the Orpheus myth may not appeal to everyone, it is a collaborative tour de force...The tale's message is all about the power of love over death. But this telling goes further, commenting on current political themes...Chavkin crafted an exquisitely original production with a dream company featuring terrific choreography and a fabulous cast.” Full Review

"'Hadestown' is a breathtaking journey, into a phantasmagorical world whose musical pageantry and flickering contrasts between revelatory light and atmospheric darkness vibrate to one’s core...As Hades, Patrick Page’s eminence is superbly realized in his demeanor, walk, voice and appearance...The music and lyrics are unparalleled, thrilling, coherent. Mitchell and Chavkin, the ensemble and creatives have wrought a divine work for the ages." Full Review

“It’s immediately clear that ‘Hadestown’, a haunting gut-punch of a new musical...breathes the same air we do. This imaginative spin on Orpheus and Eurydice speaks with a bleeding heart to the here and now. It is both the most original and breathtaking musical of the season and a trenchant piece of political art...For all its chilling resonance, ‘Hadestown’ is also a hoot...It’s further proof we’re witnessing a new dawn for American musicals.” Full Review

"With a decade-long peripatetic journey of development and furbishing, 'Hadestown' has finally ignited on Broadway. The wait was worth every minute. With book, lyrics and music by singer-songwriter Mitchell, this deep dive into Greek mythology works like an hallucination you may never want to end...Under Chavkin’s non-stop inspirational direction, the five are giving spectacular performances that fairly seethe with magic, combining contemporary vibrancy and attitude." Full Review

“The most thrilling new original musical of the season...Carney’s is perhaps the riskiest interpretation...The choice might strike some as mannered, but it worked for me...With an ending as moving as anything on Broadway – and for hades’ sake, don’t leave before the cast finishes its curtain call – ‘Hadestown’ stands alongside Fish’s ‘Oklahoma!’ and Sher’s ‘Mockinbird’ as this Broadway season’s visionary triumvirate, looking to the past and feeling undeniably, stirringly now.” Full Review

"'Hadestown' is probably the most exciting musical to be seen in New York at present with its all-inclusive staging, ingenious design, classic story and colorful score in various styles and genres. Credit director/developer Rachel Chavkin with the imagination to not only conceive this production but also to make it all work. If you have seen it in its Off Broadway incarnation it is vastly different with many new songs and an entirely different staging. Miss it at your own peril." Full Review

“The ‘Road to Hell’ has never been finer...With Mitchell’s spectacular retelling of the old Orpheus myth...It’s clear from the hot and fiery opening that...Chavkin has a pure vision of tense and muscular motion...The songs are beautiful...’Hadestown’ delivers a deeply resonant and defiantly hopeful theatrical experience, filled to overflowing with passion, artistry, and love, even as are hearts are crushed in the end by our human frailties." Full Review

"Quite possibly the most exciting new musical of the Broadway season...It also takes the nod for most-improved new musical...It is also very much a musical for our times, set in a world out of joint...The central genius of Mitchell's conception is that jazz/blues music -- a folk idiom that notes the world's wicked ways with a glint in its eye and a today-we-dance attitude -- is the right choice to revivify this story for a contemporary audience." Full Review

"Tunefully delicious, theatrically tasty…While not its strongest feature, 'Hadestown''s book now seems a fine wine accompaniment to a spellbindingly scrumptious theatrical feast…These factors seem secondary now; enough is revealed by Hermes' narration to serve the story and characters It seems far more dramatically fleshed out than I remember, and many will be emotionally moved by its tragic story." Full Review

"A hell of a musical...What made ‘Hadestown’ most thrilling remains – the delightful score...And there are some improvements....A sharper clarity to the tale...’Hadestown’ wouldn’t be quite as splendid if it were not for the parallel love story of Hades and Persephone – in large measure because of the performers who portray them...They are beyond extraordinary...’Hadestown’ doesn’t feel like just a concert with benefits. It feels like a full-fledged musical, and it’s devilishly good.” Full Review

"With its earthly delights more or less intact, this perfectly heavenly musical should stick around for a while....Although the production has lost some of the electricity that goes with playing in the round, Chavkin...has done a super job of adapting this pretty thing for a proscenium stage...The world on top looks a bit like New Orleans...But the real action happens in hell, depicted here by the entire company in a rousing number, 'Way Down Hadestown,' that could make the dead dance.” Full Review

“All the changes accomplished something of a miracle. The book and music are the same yet it's now very much a Broadway worthy musical...The Broadway staging is stunning...The real star of ‘Hadestown’ no matter where it's set is the music presented...The lyrics throughout are also very fine, and, thanks to the small on stage band and lack of Broadway's usual excessive amplification, can be clearly understood and appreciated.” Full Review

“The Act One finale of the stunning musical romance contains the most memorable, eerie and politically relevant moment of the entire Broadway season...A stunning visual design...Bold performances and expressive choreography...Many of the songs are reflective in nature, which leads to some slow points...But, more often than not, ‘Hadestown' is exciting, compelling and beautiful...’Hadestown’ may very well become the next risk-taking, genre-defying new musical.” Full Review

"What has been lost in intimacy has been counterbalanced by enhanced production values...The chorus is excellent. The seven onstage musicians are splendid...Alas, Carney is miscast...You might think that a miscast lead would be a near-fatal flaw, but the rest of the show is so strong and so enjoyable that it is little more than a lost opportunity of minor consequence. While there are aspects of the plot that remain a bit murky, the plot is not the big draw. The score is the main attraction.” Full Review

"It's been pumped and spruced up for its Broadway debut. But it still seems fresh and new, thanks to its talented creator (book and music and lyrics by Ms. Mitchell) and its long-time champion and director Rachel Chavkin, who has been nurturing it for lo these many years...But the music and the performances are the triumphs of 'Hadestown,' with one gem following the other until the curtain call and beyond...I happily raise my cup to this sublime evening of musical theater." Full Review

“A seamless theatrical experience, this beguiling, virtually sung-through musical is notable for the expressive beauty of its score, the dark imagination of its stage pictures and the clarity of its storytelling. Performed by a first-rate cast and played with spirited feeling by seven onstage musicians, it arrives on Broadway with a furnace-like blast of creativity...Though it ends on a note of desolate loss, this spellbinding musical sends you out on a high." Full Review

“’Hadestown’ has arrived...And its current manifestation feels lush, vigorous, and formally exciting, not to mention witchily prescient...As an intricate and gorgeous feat of songwriting, as a vehicle for dynamite performances, as a visionary long-term collaboration and a courageous experiment with form, ‘Hadestown’ is cause for celebration...Mitchell’s lyrics are image-rich and clever, her tunes exhilarating...Page and Gray are the twin sensations of the show.” Full Review

“The thrillingly alarmist new Broadway musical with the score that feels like it comes from somewhere deep in the American gut...An eye-popping, mythological blend of steampunk...’Hadestown’ feels like the most relevant and resistant musical in town, but it never comes off as shrill or moving in some kind of dull lockstep with all the other self-aware plays and musicals lamenting Trump’s America by playing tritely to the choir, critics and all.” Full Review

“’Hadestown’ is the mythological story told here through well-crafted music and an imaginative book...The cast is accompanied by a superb on-stage band, bringing fresh creativity to this musical season...The production values are lively and colorful...Under the direction of Rachel Chavkin, this stage brings a bright freshness to a classic tale and ‘Hadestown’ is definitely a must-see for this season.” Full Review