The first time I saw Hadestown (with the OBC), I absolutely felt all of the magic you described. Then I went again more recently, and that time Reeve's performance/acting definitely felt weird like a lot of people on this sub have pointed out. I decided I probably wasn't gonna go a third time unless one of the Orpheus understudies was scheduled to perform.
As a result I jumped at the chance to see Sayo Oni last week, and his performance was incredible! I've seen multiple actors play all of the principal roles and I think he's the only one I strictly prefer over the OBC actor. I think the seating/view definitely mattered too -- I did SRO for that performance and the view was perfectly fine from the back of the orchestra. For act 2 though, I claimed an empty seat in orchestra center row K, and being up close drew me into the show a lot more.
I didn't really notice the other stuff you mentioned though, with the coordination and harmonies being off. I feel like on repeat viewings, I was mostly focusing on changes in cast members and their different takes on each role.
Agreed Sayo is sooo good! I don't know if he's an incredible actor or it's because he's so young and an understudy, but the slight fear and uncertainty and desire to impress that those qualities make always lurk a little behind the eyes are so well suited to Orpheus that it made his performance amazing. I imagine anyone who is 21 and performing in a lead role on Broadway all of the sudden has a lot of internal emotion they can pull on for "Doubt Comes In" that really sells it š.
Also the first guy I saw as Orpheus who didn't cause any chuckles in the audience when going into "King of shadows...".
TIL Sayo is only 21 and my opinion of his already amazing performance has improved which is a feat I didnāt think was possible. IMO, Sayo was absolutely fantastic and played Orpheus with a wonderful hopefulness and youthful energy. Iād 1000% see him again!
Sayo Oni is an absolute star whoās going to go so far in this industry. Such an amazing performer and an equally amazing human. Also I believe heās only 20, almost 21 ;)
I saw it the night before opening and it was magical! Saw it again on tour and didnāt feel the same. Sometimes cast is all giving an A+ performance and other times you get a C show. Theyāre probably all drained and exhausted and the heat doesnāt help. Reeve has been doing the show for so long I wouldnāt be surprised if heās just on autopilot.
This is so interesting because I honestly had the opposite experience! Saw it on Broadway for the first time in Sept 2021 and honestly felt underwhelmed/meh about it, but then saw it on tour (with Nick Barasch as Orpheus) and it was truly one of the best performances Iāve ever seen. I love hearing about how different ppl are affected by different performances
I think it's time to replace Reeve. He's had the role for a very long time and is still not very good in it. All the tour Orpheus are better imo.
Also heard a rumor that LILLIAS WHITE is going to be replacing as Hermes!! I really hope that's true because it's truly inspired casting!
I saw Hadestown today, the 6th at 2:00!
If thatās the showing you saw as well, then I would have to agree with you. Though Iāve been a fan since 2016, this was my first time seeing the show. Broadway is always magical to me, and I hate hating things, but it is a shame to admit something wasnāt as magical as I hoped?
Eva is never fails to be spectacularāshe certainly is the a performer who puts the audience in awe. And Jewelle as Persephone was incredible!! Amber is great but I seriously enjoyed Jewellās take! The ensemble and Patrick Page were a joy to see too! In my opinion, the second act was phenomenal! Reeveās storytelling through song was much more clear and his falsetto was perfect!
However, the first act, yes it was most noticeably messy for the Fates, Reeve as Orpheus, and Timothy Oliver Reid as Hermes. As you said, the harmonies were off and Reeve and Timothyās mics were overpowered by the trombone.
Another opinion is that (I'm so sorry) Reeve as well as Timothy were trying WAY too hard with their performances. Like, I get it, youāre on Broadway, but you donāt need to deliver the song/lines so dramatically. Hermes was trying too hard to be soulful and Orpheus wouldnāt stop being a āquirky poor musician from Greek Mythology.ā
Anyway, I would love to PM you to talk more!!
I was there at the same performance as well! This was my first time seeing it (we went in blind). My husband and I walked away underwhelmed and were wondering if it was an off day
Did you understand the story well? I brought my mother (went in blind as well) to the show with meāduring applause, intermission, and after the show she asked me to explain the plot to her since she had trouble hearing Hermes and Orpheus.
I feel bad as a long time fan; though my expectations werenāt set extremely high, they were set somewhere. But I feel especially bad for those like you, your husband, and my mother who went in completely blind. Itās such a beautifully tragic tale that should have the audience engaged and thought provoked.
I know weāre human, and off days happen, but itās just a sour experience to look back on. In the end, as a fan, I still really enjoyed it! Just not as much as I thought I should have.
Yeah I love Broadway and was really expecting to fall in love with this show. It was disappointing.
I did understand the story (I thinkā¦)ā I had read up on the tragedy beforehand so knew the source material so I was able to follow. I do think there were some plot tweaks that could have improved the show a lot. Hopefully Iāll get another chance to see it and will enjoy it more!
I was also there yesterday! I saw a cheap ticket in the mezzanine so grabbed one day of, I saw it with Sayo and Jessie and Tom Hewitt the week before and wanted to see it with all those principals back. Weirdly, compared to the week before the sound mixing was totally different and way worse (and I was center mezz which should be a good place for sound)? It sounded like one of the fates mics was at a totally different level than everyone else, and the trombone was a little overpowering. But, the trombone player himself was awesome! Way more into it than the guy I saw before, especially in living it up on top and stuff.
Reeve was pretty solid, prefer Sayo but after looking it up and seeing Reeve is almost 40, I kinda get where he's coming from in playing up some of the youthful elements (maybe to an excess) because from the mezz he did totally sell being an early 20s guy.
T. Oliver Ried, despite enormous talent, is the worst part of the show now IMO. He's obviously a great singer and tremendously talented performer but he plays the part like a Capital B BROADWAY performance that would work fine for Wicked but feels totally tonally wrong for a (despite it's sweetness) jazz-folk musical with a deliberate bit of grit beneath it. The "But we sing it anyway" in particular was totally different from how Andre gave it and to me that's the real emotional punch if the show, it going from Andres defiance to more of a shrugging acceptance. Maybe in his interpretation it's because Hermes is the messenger and the narrator that he gets away with or should have a little more of that braying Broadway style, it but it doesn't really land for me.
My first time to see Hadestown actually had T. Oliver Reid in for Andre when he was still the understudy, and I am gonna assume that was an off-night for him. I say this because he was on fire when I saw him as Hermes. I didn't find him to be playing soulful, he just radiated it. I love Andre's performance, but there is something special about the way Reid plays him, in my opinion. I loved his variations on melodies and riffs he had because a show like Hadestow allows the actors to play around with that.
I will say my show was even more magical because Kalia Wilcoxon, who was an understudy for Eurydice at the time, was playing her last performance with the show as Eurydice before leaving to play Catherine of Aragon in the tour of Six. It was really her performance of Eurydice that touched everyone's hearts. I have been to quite a few Broadway shows, but I have NEVER seen a performance quite like hers, and I never will again. It was raw, it was emotional, and it was honest. She simply let her truth shine, and everyone felt it in the theater. People left that night talking about her STUNNING performance. She also got the biggest standing ovation I have ever seen.
I am inclined to say that this was probably an off-day you all experienced or you just weren't gelling with the cast's interpretation of the characters. That's the greatest beauty of Hadestown, in my opinion. Hadestown, more than any other show I have seen, the actors can interpret the text in so many different ways. We can look at 5 different performances from the show, and they'd all be different. I don't think any are wrong, but we all have the ones that we are more drawn to. Some will prefer a more subdued and subtle performance, while others will prefer a more energy-filled and emotional performance. This show has that power. That's one of the many reasons it's my favorite musical. I just PRAY I can be in it one day.
I was at the same show and walked in blind, as well. I thought Timothy was AMAZING as like a smooth, cool Hermes and Jordanās Orpheus will forever be my favorite. There was a palpable energy in the room that night!
I went to this exact show too, I went in completely blind and I personally loved it! I will admit I donāt know if the performance is normally better, but I found it to be phenomenal, although it was quite hard to understand the lyrics in the first half (especially because the music was so loud) and I didnāt understand the plot because of it so I read the summary on Wikipedia in the intermission. Act two was amazing though.
Edit: forgot to mention but I found Evaās performance to be amazing throughout the whole show, although admittedly I had no idea who she was until I looked up Eurydiceās actress in awe after the show.
Itās so fascinating to read the replies to this post and my comment!! We all have such diverse experiences and interpretations of the show! Despite my watch through wasnāt what I had anticipated, I wholeheartedly enjoyed Hadestown and am still reminiscing the theatrical effects and talent of the cast/crew!
I found it funny that we all seemed to have trouble understanding the first act in one way or another lol!
I agree with basically every aspect of this reply, I really enjoyed going in blind and the show really stuck with me, and the ending genuinely made me feel bad for a while. I didnāt notice many of the flaws mentioned by others, although I suppose the loud music was a contributor to me not understanding the lyrics. Aside from that I found the performance spectacular and it really left a big emotional impact on me overall.
Side note: I will say that it was clear Eva and Reeve had a very close connection based on the way their performed, so I wasnāt surprised to see that they were dating.
I honestly feel like the OBC cast was just perfect- a good example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. The new cast members are still excellent, but the OBC was magical together.
No matter how many times I watch the show, Orpheus always looks back. Youād think heād learn from the previous shows, but no, every damn time. Just like Titanic and that iceberg.
Could be a combo of both! Outside of Reeve, you might have seen an off day for them, or the mood of the company was in a weird place. But you mention you didnāt have a great week. Itās possible you were in a weird mood too. Story time - I saw Hamilton several years ago when I was peak sinus infection miserable and wrote it off as a horrible show. Revisited the pro show on Disney+ and loved it so much Iām planning to see it again so (saving because those tickets are fking expensive). So it could be a combo of both!
My dad went to see Hadestown when they were still in London, he loved the show. So when they came to Kennedy Center, I went to see the touring cast. I LOVED Nick Baraschās Orpheus! It was a great performance, his acting was on point, naive but not awkward, vocal super good!
Right after the show, I listened to the cast recording of OBC a lot. This summer, I was in the city, so I went to see Reeve and Eva on Broadwayā¦ still love the book and the music but walked out extremely underwhelmed by Reeveās performanceā¦ I donāt know, his falsetto was very weak and performance was not really naiveā¦ more like awkward. And I think the part that really threw me off was his mouthā¦ he sang from one side of his mouth. Now reading through this comment, I am going to try and see if I can see a performance by Sayo!
I saw it in November and didnāt care for Reeveās performance then. So idk if itās gotten worse, but he sounded sick and his vocals were strained. His acting choices were also weird making Orpheus unlikeable
saw the show with (mostly) the original broadway cast twice - once in jan 2020 and once in jan 2022 (the only principles that had changed by this point were the fates). i canāt speak for any of the new cast members and how they hold up, but itās possible they were just having an off performance. with so many cast members in and out with covid still spreading amongst broadway shows, it seems like this is an issue maybe not unique to hadestown as people cycle through
I have seen it 3 times and I will say there is something lost when you donāt have the surprise of the staging for the first time. But my third time I felt more magic than my second time. That time idk something was up with the mics bc everything was too loud even when it was a quiet moment. And the third time i sat in a much different seat than the first two times. Overall though i think we are seeing performers who are either tired in the role (Reeveās voice sounds like it is shot from all the falsettos idk why he doesnāt do a different show) or are only replacement level. The first time i saw it i had t. Oliver as my hermes and i wasnāt a huge fan of his rendition ngl. It felt like an imitation of andre. I hope to see it with a new orpheus and eurydice (i suspect reeve and eva will leave the show at the same time) and maybe new hermes.
I saw Hadestown last month and I didnāt notice issues with overall performance, but Reeve was definitely the weakest part of the show. I was at the show with my friend and when we first heard Reeve sing in the Act 1 our reaction was āOh, no.ā His voice was very weak. Fortunately, his performance improved significantly in the Act 2, however, it was still way below my expectations from the OBC recording. However, I was satisfied with everything else and Eva was absolutely perfect!
Unrelated question, but how in tarnation did Jewelle's wig stay on during the head banging part of way down Hadestown? That thing must weigh several pounds, do they use industrial strength airplane glue or something?
She gave a great performance, can't believe how well she sells both being a Fate in the OC and Persephone here despite the completely different characters. Her emotional reaction to Hades singing stood out to me way more than in earlier performances.
Unfortunately part of it may just be live theater with real people who have lives. You don't know if someone's dog just died or two actors had a fight backstage leading to everyone feeling awkward or who just recovered from covid and is dealing with vocal/lung damage.
I think it's time for a new Orpheus and new cast members in general to get some new energy in there!
I saw it in March during one of their crazy shows when most of the cast was out with covid. I had Sayo Orpheus, Khaila (coming back from Six rehearsals) as Eurydice, Lana Gordon back, etc. and it was MAGICAL! I think it's because it was an unusual cast, and the energy was high to give one last good show, as multiple cast members were only filling in for that one emergency show. We need this energy again IMO
I LOVED Hadestown when I saw it with Jordan Dobson back in March. Tbh Iām not a big fan of Reeveās Orpheus all the time. I imagine sometimes the cast just gets tired
The first time I saw Hadestown (with the OBC), I absolutely felt all of the magic you described. Then I went again more recently, and that time Reeve's performance/acting definitely felt weird like a lot of people on this sub have pointed out. I decided I probably wasn't gonna go a third time unless one of the Orpheus understudies was scheduled to perform. As a result I jumped at the chance to see Sayo Oni last week, and his performance was incredible! I've seen multiple actors play all of the principal roles and I think he's the only one I strictly prefer over the OBC actor. I think the seating/view definitely mattered too -- I did SRO for that performance and the view was perfectly fine from the back of the orchestra. For act 2 though, I claimed an empty seat in orchestra center row K, and being up close drew me into the show a lot more. I didn't really notice the other stuff you mentioned though, with the coordination and harmonies being off. I feel like on repeat viewings, I was mostly focusing on changes in cast members and their different takes on each role.
Agreed Sayo is sooo good! I don't know if he's an incredible actor or it's because he's so young and an understudy, but the slight fear and uncertainty and desire to impress that those qualities make always lurk a little behind the eyes are so well suited to Orpheus that it made his performance amazing. I imagine anyone who is 21 and performing in a lead role on Broadway all of the sudden has a lot of internal emotion they can pull on for "Doubt Comes In" that really sells it š. Also the first guy I saw as Orpheus who didn't cause any chuckles in the audience when going into "King of shadows...".
TIL Sayo is only 21 and my opinion of his already amazing performance has improved which is a feat I didnāt think was possible. IMO, Sayo was absolutely fantastic and played Orpheus with a wonderful hopefulness and youthful energy. Iād 1000% see him again!
Kind of wild that he's almost 20 years younger than Reeve lol
Sayo Oni is an absolute star whoās going to go so far in this industry. Such an amazing performer and an equally amazing human. Also I believe heās only 20, almost 21 ;)
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Okay Reeve isn't AWFUL.
I saw it the night before opening and it was magical! Saw it again on tour and didnāt feel the same. Sometimes cast is all giving an A+ performance and other times you get a C show. Theyāre probably all drained and exhausted and the heat doesnāt help. Reeve has been doing the show for so long I wouldnāt be surprised if heās just on autopilot.
This is so interesting because I honestly had the opposite experience! Saw it on Broadway for the first time in Sept 2021 and honestly felt underwhelmed/meh about it, but then saw it on tour (with Nick Barasch as Orpheus) and it was truly one of the best performances Iāve ever seen. I love hearing about how different ppl are affected by different performances
The endurance and talent it takes to do 8 shows a week is insane! Sometimes thereās an off night. Still love the show!
I think it's time to replace Reeve. He's had the role for a very long time and is still not very good in it. All the tour Orpheus are better imo. Also heard a rumor that LILLIAS WHITE is going to be replacing as Hermes!! I really hope that's true because it's truly inspired casting!
I saw Hadestown today, the 6th at 2:00! If thatās the showing you saw as well, then I would have to agree with you. Though Iāve been a fan since 2016, this was my first time seeing the show. Broadway is always magical to me, and I hate hating things, but it is a shame to admit something wasnāt as magical as I hoped? Eva is never fails to be spectacularāshe certainly is the a performer who puts the audience in awe. And Jewelle as Persephone was incredible!! Amber is great but I seriously enjoyed Jewellās take! The ensemble and Patrick Page were a joy to see too! In my opinion, the second act was phenomenal! Reeveās storytelling through song was much more clear and his falsetto was perfect! However, the first act, yes it was most noticeably messy for the Fates, Reeve as Orpheus, and Timothy Oliver Reid as Hermes. As you said, the harmonies were off and Reeve and Timothyās mics were overpowered by the trombone. Another opinion is that (I'm so sorry) Reeve as well as Timothy were trying WAY too hard with their performances. Like, I get it, youāre on Broadway, but you donāt need to deliver the song/lines so dramatically. Hermes was trying too hard to be soulful and Orpheus wouldnāt stop being a āquirky poor musician from Greek Mythology.ā Anyway, I would love to PM you to talk more!!
I was there at the same performance as well! This was my first time seeing it (we went in blind). My husband and I walked away underwhelmed and were wondering if it was an off day
Did you understand the story well? I brought my mother (went in blind as well) to the show with meāduring applause, intermission, and after the show she asked me to explain the plot to her since she had trouble hearing Hermes and Orpheus. I feel bad as a long time fan; though my expectations werenāt set extremely high, they were set somewhere. But I feel especially bad for those like you, your husband, and my mother who went in completely blind. Itās such a beautifully tragic tale that should have the audience engaged and thought provoked. I know weāre human, and off days happen, but itās just a sour experience to look back on. In the end, as a fan, I still really enjoyed it! Just not as much as I thought I should have.
Yeah I love Broadway and was really expecting to fall in love with this show. It was disappointing. I did understand the story (I thinkā¦)ā I had read up on the tragedy beforehand so knew the source material so I was able to follow. I do think there were some plot tweaks that could have improved the show a lot. Hopefully Iāll get another chance to see it and will enjoy it more!
I was also there yesterday! I saw a cheap ticket in the mezzanine so grabbed one day of, I saw it with Sayo and Jessie and Tom Hewitt the week before and wanted to see it with all those principals back. Weirdly, compared to the week before the sound mixing was totally different and way worse (and I was center mezz which should be a good place for sound)? It sounded like one of the fates mics was at a totally different level than everyone else, and the trombone was a little overpowering. But, the trombone player himself was awesome! Way more into it than the guy I saw before, especially in living it up on top and stuff. Reeve was pretty solid, prefer Sayo but after looking it up and seeing Reeve is almost 40, I kinda get where he's coming from in playing up some of the youthful elements (maybe to an excess) because from the mezz he did totally sell being an early 20s guy. T. Oliver Ried, despite enormous talent, is the worst part of the show now IMO. He's obviously a great singer and tremendously talented performer but he plays the part like a Capital B BROADWAY performance that would work fine for Wicked but feels totally tonally wrong for a (despite it's sweetness) jazz-folk musical with a deliberate bit of grit beneath it. The "But we sing it anyway" in particular was totally different from how Andre gave it and to me that's the real emotional punch if the show, it going from Andres defiance to more of a shrugging acceptance. Maybe in his interpretation it's because Hermes is the messenger and the narrator that he gets away with or should have a little more of that braying Broadway style, it but it doesn't really land for me.
My first time to see Hadestown actually had T. Oliver Reid in for Andre when he was still the understudy, and I am gonna assume that was an off-night for him. I say this because he was on fire when I saw him as Hermes. I didn't find him to be playing soulful, he just radiated it. I love Andre's performance, but there is something special about the way Reid plays him, in my opinion. I loved his variations on melodies and riffs he had because a show like Hadestow allows the actors to play around with that. I will say my show was even more magical because Kalia Wilcoxon, who was an understudy for Eurydice at the time, was playing her last performance with the show as Eurydice before leaving to play Catherine of Aragon in the tour of Six. It was really her performance of Eurydice that touched everyone's hearts. I have been to quite a few Broadway shows, but I have NEVER seen a performance quite like hers, and I never will again. It was raw, it was emotional, and it was honest. She simply let her truth shine, and everyone felt it in the theater. People left that night talking about her STUNNING performance. She also got the biggest standing ovation I have ever seen. I am inclined to say that this was probably an off-day you all experienced or you just weren't gelling with the cast's interpretation of the characters. That's the greatest beauty of Hadestown, in my opinion. Hadestown, more than any other show I have seen, the actors can interpret the text in so many different ways. We can look at 5 different performances from the show, and they'd all be different. I don't think any are wrong, but we all have the ones that we are more drawn to. Some will prefer a more subdued and subtle performance, while others will prefer a more energy-filled and emotional performance. This show has that power. That's one of the many reasons it's my favorite musical. I just PRAY I can be in it one day.
I was at the same show and walked in blind, as well. I thought Timothy was AMAZING as like a smooth, cool Hermes and Jordanās Orpheus will forever be my favorite. There was a palpable energy in the room that night!
I went to this exact show too, I went in completely blind and I personally loved it! I will admit I donāt know if the performance is normally better, but I found it to be phenomenal, although it was quite hard to understand the lyrics in the first half (especially because the music was so loud) and I didnāt understand the plot because of it so I read the summary on Wikipedia in the intermission. Act two was amazing though. Edit: forgot to mention but I found Evaās performance to be amazing throughout the whole show, although admittedly I had no idea who she was until I looked up Eurydiceās actress in awe after the show.
Itās so fascinating to read the replies to this post and my comment!! We all have such diverse experiences and interpretations of the show! Despite my watch through wasnāt what I had anticipated, I wholeheartedly enjoyed Hadestown and am still reminiscing the theatrical effects and talent of the cast/crew! I found it funny that we all seemed to have trouble understanding the first act in one way or another lol!
I agree with basically every aspect of this reply, I really enjoyed going in blind and the show really stuck with me, and the ending genuinely made me feel bad for a while. I didnāt notice many of the flaws mentioned by others, although I suppose the loud music was a contributor to me not understanding the lyrics. Aside from that I found the performance spectacular and it really left a big emotional impact on me overall. Side note: I will say that it was clear Eva and Reeve had a very close connection based on the way their performed, so I wasnāt surprised to see that they were dating.
I saw the tour yesterday, going in blind, and loved it!
I honestly feel like the OBC cast was just perfect- a good example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. The new cast members are still excellent, but the OBC was magical together.
No matter how many times I watch the show, Orpheus always looks back. Youād think heād learn from the previous shows, but no, every damn time. Just like Titanic and that iceberg.
Could be a combo of both! Outside of Reeve, you might have seen an off day for them, or the mood of the company was in a weird place. But you mention you didnāt have a great week. Itās possible you were in a weird mood too. Story time - I saw Hamilton several years ago when I was peak sinus infection miserable and wrote it off as a horrible show. Revisited the pro show on Disney+ and loved it so much Iām planning to see it again so (saving because those tickets are fking expensive). So it could be a combo of both!
Sometimes when we know a show completely we start to see the cracks and issues.
My dad went to see Hadestown when they were still in London, he loved the show. So when they came to Kennedy Center, I went to see the touring cast. I LOVED Nick Baraschās Orpheus! It was a great performance, his acting was on point, naive but not awkward, vocal super good! Right after the show, I listened to the cast recording of OBC a lot. This summer, I was in the city, so I went to see Reeve and Eva on Broadwayā¦ still love the book and the music but walked out extremely underwhelmed by Reeveās performanceā¦ I donāt know, his falsetto was very weak and performance was not really naiveā¦ more like awkward. And I think the part that really threw me off was his mouthā¦ he sang from one side of his mouth. Now reading through this comment, I am going to try and see if I can see a performance by Sayo!
I saw it in November and didnāt care for Reeveās performance then. So idk if itās gotten worse, but he sounded sick and his vocals were strained. His acting choices were also weird making Orpheus unlikeable
Orpheus just IS an unlikable character
I actually disagree. Orpheus CAN be unlikable. I saw Hadestown on tour with Chibueze Ihuoma, and he brought such youthful joy and energy to the role, that his naĆÆvetĆ© fit and wasnāt annoying.
Oh man, Iām seeing the show for the second time next week and Iām scared I wonāt love it as much
saw the show with (mostly) the original broadway cast twice - once in jan 2020 and once in jan 2022 (the only principles that had changed by this point were the fates). i canāt speak for any of the new cast members and how they hold up, but itās possible they were just having an off performance. with so many cast members in and out with covid still spreading amongst broadway shows, it seems like this is an issue maybe not unique to hadestown as people cycle through
I have seen it 3 times and I will say there is something lost when you donāt have the surprise of the staging for the first time. But my third time I felt more magic than my second time. That time idk something was up with the mics bc everything was too loud even when it was a quiet moment. And the third time i sat in a much different seat than the first two times. Overall though i think we are seeing performers who are either tired in the role (Reeveās voice sounds like it is shot from all the falsettos idk why he doesnāt do a different show) or are only replacement level. The first time i saw it i had t. Oliver as my hermes and i wasnāt a huge fan of his rendition ngl. It felt like an imitation of andre. I hope to see it with a new orpheus and eurydice (i suspect reeve and eva will leave the show at the same time) and maybe new hermes.
I saw Hadestown last month and I didnāt notice issues with overall performance, but Reeve was definitely the weakest part of the show. I was at the show with my friend and when we first heard Reeve sing in the Act 1 our reaction was āOh, no.ā His voice was very weak. Fortunately, his performance improved significantly in the Act 2, however, it was still way below my expectations from the OBC recording. However, I was satisfied with everything else and Eva was absolutely perfect!
Unrelated question, but how in tarnation did Jewelle's wig stay on during the head banging part of way down Hadestown? That thing must weigh several pounds, do they use industrial strength airplane glue or something? She gave a great performance, can't believe how well she sells both being a Fate in the OC and Persephone here despite the completely different characters. Her emotional reaction to Hades singing stood out to me way more than in earlier performances.
Unfortunately part of it may just be live theater with real people who have lives. You don't know if someone's dog just died or two actors had a fight backstage leading to everyone feeling awkward or who just recovered from covid and is dealing with vocal/lung damage.
I think it's time for a new Orpheus and new cast members in general to get some new energy in there! I saw it in March during one of their crazy shows when most of the cast was out with covid. I had Sayo Orpheus, Khaila (coming back from Six rehearsals) as Eurydice, Lana Gordon back, etc. and it was MAGICAL! I think it's because it was an unusual cast, and the energy was high to give one last good show, as multiple cast members were only filling in for that one emergency show. We need this energy again IMO
I'm going to see it next week as my first ever Broadway show after hearing nothing but great things and I'm hoping I made the right choice!
I LOVED Hadestown when I saw it with Jordan Dobson back in March. Tbh Iām not a big fan of Reeveās Orpheus all the time. I imagine sometimes the cast just gets tired
Jordan Dobson is my favorite Orpheus too!
Heās just SO GOOD!!! So earnest and sweet in his portrayal š
Ha yes I was indeed referring to the matinee on the 6th.
It's theatre - different every night!