Opposite him, Elenoa Rokobaro plays a Persephone loosened by moonshine, tearing up jazz and blues numbers in Dionysian style.
Noah Mullins faces the daunting vocal challenge of channelling Orpheus, a Muse’s son, whose song can charm even the lord of the underworld. Their sustained falsetto only occasionally sounds strained – a superhuman feat in itself – with the return to a mortal register catching a more anthemic sound, sometimes augmented by choric harmonies.
And Eliza Soriano covered Eurydice on opening night, playing her as a pop-punk pocket rocket so impoverished, so downtrodden by the world, that she chooses her fate. Having said that, the Fates themselves (Sarah Murr, Jennifer Trijo, Imani Williams) are such an irresistible trio vocally, such decisions are never fair.
This production of Hadestown delivers the score with propulsive catchiness and assurance.Credit: Penny Stephens
A full complement of musicians onstage thoroughly enlivens proceedings and plays to the show’s greatest strength. Featured solos from Griffin Youngs on jazz trombone are an unexpected highlight.
Some of the visual production elements and world-building is less cogent and inspired, although the doomed walk out of the underworld proves atmospheric, rendered through umbral lighting design and haze effects.
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Shadows of contemporary US politics don’t quite coalesce or fit easily into the myth’s emotional logic. Hades is building a Trumpian wall, for instance, to keep poor people out of his kingdom, who knows why. Still, Hadestown doesn’t have to make sense at every level. Few musicals do, and the sweep and surge of the show’s score carries us to hell and back with conviction and charm.
Reviewed by Cameron Woodhead
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