Hadestown (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets

“The sumptuous, hypnotic and somewhat hyperactive musical...Chavkin and her creative team have saved ‘Hadestown’ on its way uptown by turning it into something very much warmer...The story is clearer...’Hadestown,' even with the heat turned up, is still a somewhat abstract experience...Mitchell develops her larger themes mostly through metaphor. This can get tiring; even though so much of what happens happens beautifully."
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“Mitchell’s fizzy, moody, thrilling new musical....Although the narrative has gained some bulk since 'Hadestown’s' Off Broadway run, it is still wight-thin...Yet somehow that hardly matters: ‘Hadestown’ sweeps you up in its atmospherics and in the intensity of its eco-Marxist vision of solidarity and the liberating potential of art...Most important, it has Mitchell’s score: a joyful combination of folk, pop, Dixieland and blues that will make you want to rehear it as soon as the lights come up.”
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“’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.”
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“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."
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“As far as tales as old as time go, the stories of Greek mythology are pretty high up there...But there’s little that feels old or stately about the way those stories are told in ‘Hadestown’...With a journey to the underworld that feels like it sprung forth as something entirely new...And while the second act slows down at points, as the story builds toward that fated journey back to the surface, ‘Hadestown' is a trip to Hell that’s dark and tragic but spellbinding all the same.”
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"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.”
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“Hadestown” isn’t perfect, but it’s so fresh that you’ll gladly look past its forgivable flaws and savor the kaleidoscopic stylistic variety of Ms. Mitchell’s score...Mitchell’s down-home score is the incontestable star of the show...Mitchell’s songs are beautiful but undramatic...Chavkin’s endlessly varied direction and Neumann’s dances help to keep things on the move...Would that ‘Hadestown’ were a bit shorter, too, but there’s no point in fussing over a show as rich as this one.”
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“The cast is rich with charismatic worthies...Less fruitful is Carney’s Orpheus...But that’s a minor quibble compared to the structural hurdles Chavkin & Co face: the theatrical flimsiness of the source, and the limitations of pop songs in a theatrical context...The sameness of the sonic landscape grows monotonous. The plot is just circling; we’re no closer to the characters...Many talented people worked on it, and there are a dozen lovely songs, but I wish they were in a better package.”
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“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.”
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“The lugubrious new Broadway musical that takes us to hell and back, via a jazz and blues-fueled account of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice...The embellishing of the myth, through an assembly line of sound-alike songs and mechanistic dance sequences, rambles on...and, only occasionally, with any inspirational joy, or heart...The plot comes across as an accessory to the production’s style rather than the other way around. It’s not a winning formula.”
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“For a show about hell, ‘Hadestown’ doesn’t have much heat...This classic tale of love — he looks back, she gets trapped in the underworld for all eternity — is still too slick and sterile for us to give a damn about her damnation...The sluggish musical mostly honors the framework of the ancient Greek tragedy...On the whole, Mitchell’s sung-through bluesy score is quite beautiful, if a better fit for a Starbucks than a Broadway theater.”
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“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.”
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“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.”
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“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.”
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“Mitchell's incredible score remains the heart of the show, all performed magnificently...’Hadestown’ is visually and aurally stunning — which is why I was disappointed that it left no emotional impact on me...Even intellectually, ‘Hadestown’ is not nearly as satisfying as one might hope...Still, if you're looking for a gorgeous, formally challenging, and finely performed show wrapped in the comforting blanket of the classics, you can do no better than ‘Hadestown’."
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"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."
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"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."
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"Looks and sounds terrific, and yet it lacks something vital...The show is brilliantly staged and designed, and there’s no denying the infernal red-hot charms of the...score...There’s too little heat to the young couple’s relationship, which perhaps is why the musical lacks punch...Such absence of emotional resonance, as well as lapses in character motivation in the storyline, are flaws partly masked by the striking stagecraft of Chavkin’s sterling production.”
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“Mitchell is a gifted tunesmith, and lyricist...Her melodic savvy, is buttressed by an ear for piercing, haunting harmonies...Moreover, Mitchell and Chavkin have mined a beautiful and theatrically resonant tale from their source material...If there is more darkness than light in ‘Hadestown’, there’s also a tender love story—two, in fact, one ending on a more hopeful note than you might expect—and songs and performances that will lift mortal spirits, from wherever they lurk.”
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“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."
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"'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."
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“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.”
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"Going to hell has never been as much fun as seeing a performance of Anaïs Mitchell’s musical 'Hadestown'...Michael Krass’ costumes for the Chorus in the underworld are outstanding, as is the visually stunning dance number choreographed by David Neumann done with headlamps and swinging lights. And if the love story between Orpheus and Eurydice didn’t smolder, Patrick Page and Amber Gray set the house on fire as Orpheus and Persephone."
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“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."
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"Usually, I only tell my enemies to go to hell, but, right now, I'm making an exception. Friends, countrymen, whoever -get thee down to the Walter Kerr where Anais Mitchell's incredibly moving and melodic musical, 'Hadestown,' is burning up the stage, bursting with ingenuity and intensity. This unusual retelling of the well-known Greek myth may well not only turn out to be the true cult hit of this theatrical season, but it's likely to be a major contender at awards time."
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"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."
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"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.”
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"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.”
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“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.”
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"'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."
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“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.”
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"Even though this retelling of a well-trodden Greek myth feels slight, it also makes for a joyful performance. Mitchell’s musical is delicious to look at and listen to even if its story is as wan as its central couple...As repetitive as the musical becomes, Chavkin’s busy, warm staging and its wonderful music and energy means ‘Hadestown’ is like listening to an epic song around a roaring fire...Less a tragic love story than a rousing celebration and affirmation of a craft.”
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“The thin narrative structure and minimal character development are not so much acted as felt in the expressive delivery of the songs...The ill-fated young couple...lack a convincing sense of romantic chemistry between them...While not every aspect...succeeds in presenting a cohesive and clearly comprehensible story, its Broadway debut offers an innovative approach to the musical genre and an often electrifying experience in cutting-edge theater.”
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"'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."
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“’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.”
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"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."
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"'Hadestown' is the best new musical I have seen in years...overflowing with rich, lively music...The act-one closer, 'Why We Build the Wall,' was written long before our current national nightmare and yet describes it with more elegance than any attempt I have seen to account for Trump on stage."
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“An ambitious mix of the hipster and the precious...Flawless staging...Mitchell’s diverse score, some of which is thrilling, some dull...’Hadestown’ is full of feeling, movement, and journeys to the dark side, though it strains for profundity and is a bit twee in trotting out old-time views of young love...If the whole isn’t greater than the sum of its parts, ‘Hadestown’ still has effective elements that come together for the best atmosphere on Broadway.”
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“The poignant, enchanting story is notable mostly for its memorable music and especially haunting lyrics. But the songs come to life through a stunning ensemble, right down to the fabulous onstage orchestra...Carney and Noblezada are achingly sad as the doomed lovers, Page and Gray smoldering...Like most Greek myths, this one doesn't have a happy ending, but it does offer hope in its suggestion that by repeating such a sad story, things might turn out better next time.”
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“If the show as a whole let me a little cold, it is probably a matter of elevated expectations...The dark story and bluesy orchestrations can’t really support the various dance sequences...And one major casting change from the original feels misjudged...Still, if this is your first visit to ‘Hadestown’, it’s likely to be a satisfying one...While the story sometimes drags, Mitchell’s magnificent music holds us rapt.”
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"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."
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"Anaïs Mitchell, a singer/songwriter, originally wrote this show as a concept album, and it shows in her richly textured, roots-inspired songs. She connected with director Rachel Chavkin and the result is a stylish, resonant, high-energy musical, much fuller than the Off Broadway version...Chavkin's staging is exquisite...But the most provocative part of this show has been there since the beginning...There are obvious parallels to today's politics."
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"What makes this journey bearable is the remarkable score by Anais Mitchell. It is jazz-infused, rhythmic, pulsating and palpable...The cast is superb, headed by the indefatigable Andre DeShields, a theater legend...Director Rachel Chavkin has outdone herself here...The nightmarish story is not necessarily uplifting, but the theatrical experience is priceless."
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"The haunting and beautiful poetic folk opera that imaginatively fuses the myths of Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone, is not only a marker in the maturation of American musical but also testament to the ancient Greek’s timeless power of storytelling...Boldly distinctive, emotionally resonant, and uniquely refined...'Hadestown' has a coda, an elegant, stirring ensemble ballad that reminds us why we still tell Orpheus’ sad tale."
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“Chavkin, her production team and cast are working at the top of their form — and they go a long way to masking some of the show’s shortcomings. Mitchell is a better composer than a lyricist, alas, and sometimes leans too heavily on De Shields’ narration...The fact remains that there’s just not much story here...Still, there is something refreshing about a new musical that nods to the past even as it presents stage images and melodies that seem entirely fresh and new.”
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“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.”
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"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."
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"Mitchell and Rachel Chavkin's strange, stunning folk opera...The pleasure of surrendering oneself to something so very lovely, even as you know it will end sadly, helps mitigate the sorrow, and that's one of the points that 'Hadestown' drives home all along. That it pauses along the way to muse about the gender gap, the colossal failures of late capitalism makes it doubly impressive. "
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"Every time it’s evolved, 'Hadestown' has only gotten better...The narrative is a little bit shaggy, and some of the characters are a little bit flat. But 'Hadestown' in its final form, revised and workshopped and thoroughly thought through, rises above the sum of its parts...Gray doesn’t so much run away with the show as dances off with it."
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"It’s lost some intimacy from its Off-Broadway run, and gained some more conventional expository show tunes, which lard the opening section perilously...But with the entrance of Persephone — played with boozy authority by Amber Gray, rewinding her Off-Broadway role — things gain steam quickly...The whole cast is on point...The music...generates thrilling momentum with the sort of free-range musicality you rarely hear in Broadway shows.”
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