This past weekend I had the amazing opportunity to see “Hadestown” on Broadway. During some free time at the Intercollegiate Broadcasting Systems Conference, my friend and former roommate Alexa and I knew we wanted to see the show and did not care what it took to get in. We are both obsessed with Jordan Fisher, who is the current male lead of Orpheus. I also love Lola Tung, who actually took some classes at Carnegie Mellon. So, needless to say, we did not mind the splurge.

“Hadestown” follows the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, a young girl looking for something to eat, who goes to work in a hellish industrial version of the underworld to escape poverty and the cold. Her poor singer-songwriter lover Orpheus comes to attempt to rescue her. Hades, the god of the underworld, is married to Persephone, the goddess of spring. The entire musical is narrated by Hermes, the god of travelers. These are the main five characters, and there were only eight others in the company.

While the cast was small, their performance more than filled the stage and auditorium. I loved that Hermes was played by a woman. There are not strong enough words to describe current Hermes actor Lillias White’s voice. In the opening song “Road to Hell,” which is led by White, there are multiple times where she has to jump from upper to lower register and hold long notes back to back. Her technique was impeccable and made these crazy hard transitions sound so smooth, creamy and very pleasing to the ear. Her stage presence was incredible as well. Being the narrator of the show, she was not very involved in the main scenes, but she was always doing something off to the side, like interacting with the orchestra.

Another unique part of this version of “Hadestown” is that the orchestra was on stage and dressed to match the Great Depression, steampunk vibe of the other characters. The drummer was also behind the bar and had many interactions with characters as well. 

While I typically do not like musicals without a good amount of dialogue, I had no complaints about this show. Jordan Fisher’s and Lola Tung’s voices blend so well. While Tung’s voice is not the typical loud and bold Broadway voice, that is not what the part calls for. Her voice is so angelic, yet complex, as she portrays Eurydice’s rollercoaster of emotions throughout the show, from happiness to hunger to sadness to devastation. Orpheus’ main melody ends up being the same as what Hermes would sing to Persephone when they were younger and happier, and Fisher’s voice matches the tone so well. I never got tired of hearing it, and it is still stuck in my head days later.

Another very cool element of the stage was a turning circle that had two other turning circles around it. The main one in the center descended and ascended to show the underworld and the real world, and when all the circles would spin at once and in different directions, it showed how the characters felt so far apart and that they were always just missing each other. I loved when the workers in Hadestown, who became imprisoned and brainwashed to the point of no personality, slowly came out of their trance and rose to the center together. 

While I knew the Greek myth before, I became so entranced in this new experience and forgot about the true ending. To get Eurydice back to the real world, Orpheus must walk in front of her and not look back to see if she is still there. When they almost reach the finish line, Orpheus does turn back. When the show reached this moment, everyone fell silent for a solid 45 seconds, which I think sums up the show experience. The talent, set, costumes and music were all incredible and left you speechless for the rest of the night.