“A gorgeously sung, elementally spare production...The performers intermittently move through aisles in the audience, bringing an inviting intimacy to the production. It’s a smart tactic, because while its score is continually beguiling, ‘Hadestown’ might feel static were it not for Ms. Chavkin’s simple but inventive staging...Ms. Mitchell’s lovely music and well-turned lyrics are tightly bound together, and recall traditional folk music with a distinctive Southern flavor.”
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“The stellar ensemble fills the theater with soaring harmonies, weaving in and out of the audience and the onstage band. Mitchell’s music, lush and strange and lyrically brilliant, has found its match in this cast...The one weak spot is Daunno, whose vocal and acting chops don’t stack up against his peers. Still, ‘Hadestown’ is something special, a sensory feast that’s also a passionate debate between pragmatism and romance.”
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“The likelihood of enjoyment may depend on your willingness to accept that what you are watching is not in fact a musical but more of an illustrated pop concert, if a very pretty one. On the other hand, if you go in hoping for a story told through song, the traditional province of musical theater, you will be very much disappointed...Luckily the singing is generally excellent...When almost everything is narrated, the lack of variety dulls emotion and smothers the pulse."
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"First recorded and performed as a concept album, the song cycle by Anaïs Mitchell is easy listening, sometimes sparkling…Director Rachel Chavkin working with terrific design talent and superb jazz-meets-country orchestrations by Michael Chorney, provides a Tiffany setting for Mitchell’s work...I didn’t weep for E&O when he blew their escape plan in the end. But maybe it’s me: The lady seated behind me, emoting heartily the show, was practically speaking in tongues by the end."
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“The material has been given an enthralling environmental staging...Energetically sung by the powerful-voiced ensemble, the music is terrific: endlessly inventive and eclectic, as melodic as it is funky and folksy...The lyrics aren't as scintillating as the music, and the action feels overly busy at times. The dialogue can be wince-inducing...It hardly matters, thanks to the music's relentless energy and inventiveness as delivered by the crack band and terrific ensemble.”
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“Proves to be smart and romantic but dramatically underwhelming...In Mitchell’s hands, the sensitive Orpheus is too focused on playing the guitar to provide for Eurydice’s real-world needs, so she independently ventures down to an industrialized underworld...The cast is excellent and songs are either gently touching or catchy, but ‘Hadestown’ does come off as slow, undercooked and choppy, more reminiscent of a concert than a theatrical work.”
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“Chavkin has crafted a visually arresting production to match the richness of Mitchell's score...Chavkin and Mitchell enrich this ancient story in their imaginative rendering, making the characters and their relationships seem fresh and relatable...Everything about ‘Hadestown’ is designed to grab your attention and pull you into the story. Even if you are not a fan of folk music, it will be difficult to resist this tuneful and visually spectacular production.”
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“What's most engaging about ‘Hadestown’ isn't the story it tells but the way it tells it -- with a barrelhouse sense of rhythm and plenty of blue notes. Under Chavkin's direction, the entire cast is in synch with the music's sassy, cynically upbeat mood, delivering each lyric with a lazy vibrato and a shrugging acknowledgement of the world's wicked ways...‘Hadestown’ delivers its tragic tale with a wink and a snap in its step."
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