Theater Roundup: ‘Hadestown’ puts New Orleans spin on classic Greek mythology

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Greek mythology, a New Orleans jazz club, hell, and contemporary songs from a 2010 album improbably come together in the new musical “Hadestown,” next up at the Providence Performing Arts Center.

On Broadway, the show won eight 2019 Tony Awards along with a multiple awards from Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, including Outstanding New Broadway Musical, and the Drama League. The cast album earned the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

On tour, the show is moving people to laughter and tears, according to Belén Moyano, who plays one of three Fates keeping tabs on all the goings on.

Don’t let all this talk about Fates and myths give you pause. The show does “a really beautiful job” of making everything clear, Moyano says.

“Hadestown” started out as a studio album from singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell. She described it as a “folk opera” about Orpheus and Eurydice set in Depression-era America. A host of guest artists performed on the album, including Ben Knox Miller of  The Low Anthem, a Rhode Island group. Mitchell is a Montpelier, Vt., native.

Shortly after the album’s release, Mitchell and director Rachel Chavkin began developing it into a stage musical. A version opened in 2016 at the New York Theatre Workshop, followed by performances in Edmonton, Canada, in 2018, and a three-month stint in London before opening on Broadway in 2019.

Moyen saw the show for the first time that year and was so taken by the story, the music and the diversity within the cast, she told her husband, “I’m going to be in that show.”

She auditioned in New York City for the tour, was called back multiple times — and then the pandemic put a halt to theater everywhere.

“A year goes by, and I get an email saying, ‘See you again, via Zoom,’” she recalls. Two days later, she had been cast.

She’s been performing — and playing violin — as one of the Fates for about 18 months, but as the understudy, she recently appeared in the lead role of Eurydice, and her Fate never will be the same.

“I had felt the Fates were like chess masters; they told the characters what they could do,” Moyano says. Playing the lead gave her a different perspective.

“They are the voices inside her head. They are what she believes. It made my Fate slightly more empathetic.”

“Hadestown” mixes the stories of two mythological couples: the singer Orpheus and Eurydice, his love; and Hades, god of the underworld, and his queen, Persephone.

When Eurydice unexpectedly dies, Orpheus makes a plea to Hades to bring her back to life. Hades agrees, but with a condition: Orpheus must pass a test.

Hades has his own issues with his wife, Persephone, who spends half the year with him in the underworld, and the other half above ground. The arrangement is the mythological rationale for changing seasons: winter/underworld, summer/above ground.

The Greeks had multiple versions of these stories, and “Hadestown” goes even further, imagining the story in the early 1900s in a setting suggestive of New Orleans. The score, like the original concept album, features folk, jazz and country music styles.

The show is sung through, with almost no spoken word other than by Hermes, another mythological character. “Hermes is our narrator,” Moyano says, but even he speaks in verse.

In addition to the mythological foundation, the story brings in themes of greed; climate change, courtesy of Persephone; and worker exploitation. When the story moves to the underworld, the setting becomes a bleak, industrial operation.  

Making sense of it all are Hermes’ comments and more significantly, the lyrics in Mitchell’s songs, Moyano promises.

More important, the emotional connection Moyano felt when she first saw “Hadestown” is what she now enjoys about being on tour.

“Seeing people and the way they are moved, the ability to connect,” she says. “There are moments of hope, loss, forgiveness, grace, tragedy. It’s why we’re still telling Greek myths today.”

“Hadestown” plays March 21-26 at the Providence Performing Arts Center, 220 Weybosset St. Tickets are $57-$104 and available at the box office in the theater, online at ppacri.org, and by phone at (401) 421-ARTS (2787).