Hadestown

Hadestown! I enjoyed it but didn't love it. The "story of two marriages" layer vs the "capitalism vs union organizer" layer felt muddled; I know it's possible for things to mean two things at once, but it's also possible for those meanings detract and distract from each other, and I felt like they did here. Orpheus always being predestined by fate to fail (for no particular reason, either, like, they didn't play up the moment at all, he just turns seemingly at random because it's time for that to happen) also feels like a weird beat to go with for the capitalism layer? Like, not just "you will often fail" (clearly true) but "it is literally inherent in the story that winning is impossible". Without even a "but we bought ourselves one more day" or "but we can be proud or satisfied to have tried", just a "yup, this is how the endless doom cycle goes". Ok, sure, I guess, whatever, but I prefer to go to the theater to feel things. :/