Hadestown

[psocoptera]

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. :/

Comments

[irilyth]

To me, the important part isn't the inevitable failure, but the relentless persistence despite the inevitable failure. See also "nevertheless, we will circumcise them"; "We're all going to die, but three of us are going to do something"; "'I know you won't,' she said. 'But I'll wait.'"; but I am a total sucker for this sort of thing.

Anyway, I found that moving, the idea that even though Orpheus is doomed, he tried, and inspired others to keep trying.

[psocoptera]

Those don't seem at all the same though. God does eventually keep the covenant and liberate the Israelites, in the Exodus story! Flight 93 couldn't save themselves but they probably saved a bunch of other people. (I'm not sure what the third thing is from.) The Hadestown take seems more like "the Israelites will definitely absolutely never be free, and no one can be saved, but we're stuck trying because that's how it goes (in fact we also can't change that)." Sorry to argue, I mean, I really am glad you enjoyed that aspect of the show even if I didn't. :)

[irilyth]

Sure, but they didn't know that at the time. :^ ) And Orpheus doesn't know that he's doomed; and he came really close, so maybe the next people to try won't be doomed.

I think that's part of it for me (which I didn't say before): Trying and failing, even when you're sure/doomed/fated/etc to fail, may still pave the way for someone else to succeed.

[elysdir]

I haven’t seen Hadestown yet, but I appreciate this post because I think it’s the first time I’ve seen anyone be less than enthusiastically positive about the show, which will help temper my expectations.

[psocoptera]

I definitely do think it's worthwhile! (If going to live theater is something one does, etc.) There's a bunch of good music - some very exciting trombone solos, some cool use of folk-song formats in lyrics, some really good - I'm not great at knowing the words for music styles, but, like, jazz chorale? "Nifty singing", let's go with that. :)

[psocoptera]

So maybe I should be thinking about it more like an opera, where you're mostly there for the music, rather than a play...