Hadestown (Off-Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (261)
See it if You want to be blown away.
Don't see it if You are not interested in Southern Gothic style music.
See it if You like amazing theatre staged beautifully and performed creatively. You love folk/jazz/contemporary music. You like great mythology.
Don't see it if You don't like seating in the round. You are specifically seeking dance heavy material. You prefer vanilla.
See it if You love jazz and want to see a crushingly beautiful retelling of Orpheus and Euridice
Don't see it if Sung through musicals are unapealing
See it if you like seeing adventurous theatre that pushes boundaries. Immersive staging, stellar cast, and great music. What more could you want?
Don't see it if you want to see a more traditional musical with elaborate staging and props.
See it if you want to fall in love with a gorgeous, melancholy, lush, and trenchant musical about love, money, and American myths.
Don't see it if you need jazz hands in a musical
See it if You want to see an old Greek myth told with new life, new agency and music that soars in all of the best ways. It's engrossing.
Don't see it if You prefer a more straight-forward telling of a story and don't want to fill in the narrative gaps with your brain.
See it if You love great musicals with high energy that offers wonderful dancing, lyrics, costumes and music.
Don't see it if You prefer quiet dramas or plays of shorter lengths.
See it if You enjoy excellent singing and music, inventive staging, and unusual storytelling structure. Amazingly good show.
Don't see it if You require a black and white, linear narrative; if you are a literal-minded clod; if you aren't willing to "go along" with a show's idea.
Critic Reviews (27)
“A testament to the rewards that can be reaped from conceiving an approach and sticking to it no matter what. Lots of theatre claims to be immersive, but few accomplish it as totally as ‘Hadestown’ does. But for all its physical and technical brilliance, it's dull, even irritating, as an example of musical theatre writing...As with other recent stage efforts from pop artists, it has no discernible interest in telling its story on the theatrical terms.”
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"In 'Hadestown' the old tale has been brought to fascinating, lushly staged new life…Imperative for anyone who appreciates vibrant, original musicals. While 'Hadestown' hasn't completely shed its album-concert roots, it's not overstating anything when it describes itself as a folk opera...The real star of 'Hadestown' is the music with its well blended mix of folk music, blues-y jazz and pop...The lyrics are also very smart...'Hadestown' is highly original and enjoyable."
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"A thrilling new musical…With her partner, director Rachel Chavkin and this magnificent design team and orchestra – a thing of beauty has been created. While at times it is is more concert than theatre (this was the first incarnation of the piece) the story nevertheless reaches out and grabs you in your wooden seat."
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"Put a great Greek myth together with an awesome genre-spanning score plus a superb cast and you get the downtown hit 'Hadestown'…It hits with the full impact of the consequences of one fearful action…Mr. Sullivan’s stage presence is a study in 'less is more;' he is riveting and endearing as he moves the action along with his blues-tinged vocals, sometimes pulling out a harmonica to wail upon…The lyrics are chilling and familiar in this election year. 'Hadestown' is not to be missed!"
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"'Hadestown' manages to be both simple in structure but complex in references...Most of the time the allegory works. Occasionally it is strained...It’s a talented cast, and the music is so often devilishly enticing that it is easy to forgive it some dramaturgical gaps…The love story could have used an injection of sizzle…Beautiful harmonies and evocative performances keep it from drifting too far into the didactic. Chavkin and Mitchell craft a vivid space to explore a probing political agenda."
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"Anaïs Mitchell’s 'Hadestown' is a faithful retelling of this epic myth with a deep connection to the present and the plight of the 99 percent. Orpheus’ journey to rescue Eurydice from Hades and death and the gripping journey of the pair to the very Gates of Hell has never been more clear or more compelling...Ms. Mitchell’s scintillating 'Hadestown' quickens the deadliness of our current political maelstrom and the social ennui it so weakly attempts to address."
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“Mixes sweet and sexy folk, rocking New Orleans jazz, get-down blues and sinful soul. The eight cast members who perform the 35 songs are uniformly terrific; it’s hard to imagine anybody better. If the plot strays little from the bare-bones story of Orpheus, the songs and the staging are enough to enchant for the two-hour running time...'Hadestown' is not a traditional musical. Think of it as a concert with benefits, but don’t resist the temptation to go.”
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"For a show inspired by a tale dramatized in countless films, plays, and operas...it’s disappointing to see how little drama has been squeezed from it here, despite the many appealing songs and the infusion of a capitalistic exploitation theme...With its extensive use of mics, and even a section where Persephone introduces each orchestra member for applause, it's basically a well-staged concert. Judging by the warm response, however, many will have a hot time in old Hadestown tonight."
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