Interview: Patrick Page is Ruling the Underworld Downtown in NYTW's HADESTOWN

By: May. 22, 2016
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He's taken on Scar, Claude Frollo, the Green Goblin, and the Grinch... but his past characters are not all that bad (at least he doesn't see it that way). Now Patrick Page is back on stage at New York Theatre Workshop and this time it's all about the underworld.

He is currently starring as Hades in HADESTOWN, written by celebrated singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and developed with and directed by the inventive two-time OBIE award-winning director Rachel Chavkin (Three Pianos; Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812).

HADESTOWN follows Orpheus' mythical quest to overcome Hades and regain the favor of his one true love, Eurydice. Together we travel from wide open plains where love and music are not enough nourishment to survive the winter, down to HADESTOWN, an industrialized world of mindless labor and full stomachs. Inspired by traditions of classic American folk music and vintage New Orleans jazz, Mitchell's beguiling melodies and poetic imagination pit nature against industry, faith against doubt, and love against death.

So how have previews been going so far. Read on to find out what Page ha sto say about his latest role!

You're currently in previews and I'd heard nothing but great things so far....

It's just amazing. It's just a piece that I really wanted to be a part of because I loved the music so much. And, we have this incredible band and this incredible cast and director, so I'm in heaven.

I heard you guys just extended, also. So, clearly things are going well!

Yeah, we just extended. It's selling well, which I'm thrilled about. I think it will sell even better once people see it.

I know that's it's being called a "folk opera," right? It seems to be kind of a traditionalist story that's maybe told in a non traditional way? How would you describe what this show is all about?

Well, it's a myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, so it's a very old story, that a lot of people know, but maybe some don't know. So it's a beautiful, tragic love story that's told with this music that's sort of hard to describe. It's a rock and bluesy... sort of a New Orleans flavor to a lot of it. It's definitely not told like a standard Greek tragedy.

So it's unlike anything that's out there right now.

It's actually based on an album called "Hadestown." A lot of it is music from the album, then there are new songs that are especially for the stage version. But all the music from the album is in the stage version. The album has a huge following, so we have a lot of people coming to the show and you can see their lips moving to the songs as we sing them.

You play the titular "Hades." What has it been like taking on this character?

It's fantastic. He's the lord of the underworld, you know? When everything was split up by the gods on Mt. Olympus between Zeus and Neptune and Hades, Zeus got the heavens, Neptune got the waters, and Hades got the Underworld. And he's the ruler the underworld and he's in love with his wife, Persephone. She is the goddess of the seasons, so she spends half of the year in the Underworld with Hades and half of the time up above where she really likes to be in nature, and that makes for a difficult marriage.

Is this a villainous Hades?

Well, I never like to characterized my people that way. As the person who rules over the kingdom of death, he is a person who has very strict rules: Death is final. You don't get to go back. And the conflict in the play is somebody comes down into the underworld, Persephone, and wants to go back up into the living world. And he's the person who has very strict rules.

What's it been like for you collaborating with NYTW?

It's been wonderful. I've worked with Public Theatre a couple of times, but normally when I've done that, we performed uptown. For example, last year I was in CYMBELINE, and we performed in the Delacorte, so it's been a long time... gosh 20 years at least, since I've performed downtown. It's really exciting. It's a great vibe.

I also have to say congrats, because of course, SPRING AWAKENING got some Tonys love. That has to be pretty exciting for you too...

Yeah. I'm very excited, especially for Michael Arden, because I think he did such an amazing job on it. I was thrilled to see he won the Outer Critic's Circle Award in such a completive field, with these amazing veteran directors who have been at it for years and he very much deserved it. And I'm excited to see what happens for the Tonys.

So often shows that open earlier in the season get forgotten at this time of year, so it's wonderful that it left such a mark.

Absolutely. I was so glad. I wished a couple of our actors had been nominated, you know? Sandra Mae Frank and Daniel Durant- especially our deaf actors, because people don't realize what an extraordinary thing it is to act without the benefit of words. I just felt that it was so amazing.

So you've got this going on until July...

I'm just so thrilled. I'm hoping this will extend a little bit more because I have people who want to come in and see it and they haven't been able to get tickets. I hope so!

Looking ahead at your run in this, what are you most excited about?

It's a really unique piece of theatre in terms of the environment that's been created by the director. It's a real immersive, interactive environment. It's not like going and sitting in a seated house. It's like like the GREAT COMET. It brings the audience into the event. You walk into the stage, and if you've been to the New York Theatre Workshop before you will come in and you will not recognize the space. And hearing this music, which I think has a theatrical score... it's really one of the most amazing scores I've ever heard, and really unique. It's so unlike anything you've heard before, and yet melodic, memorable. It's a whole new kind of vibe, and I'm really excited about sharing that with people.

Page's Broadway credits include: Valentina in Casa Valentina, Buckley in Time to Kill, Adult Men in Spring Awakening, De Guiche in Cyrano De Bergerac, Green Goblin in Spider-Man, Henry VIII in Man for All Seasons, The Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Decius Brutus in Julius Caesar, Scar in the Lion King, Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, and The Kentucky Cycle. Other New York credits include Cymbeline in Cymbeline in Central Park, Max in Sound of Music at Carnegie Hall, Marley in Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden, Cardinal in The Duchess of Malfi at Red Bull, Aumerle in Richard II at The Public, and the title role in Rex at the York Theatre. Patrick's regional credits span 25 years, including Associate Artist of The Old Globe Theater where roles include Cyrano in Cyrano De Bergerac (Craig Noel Award), Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Jeffrey Cordova in Dancing in the Dark (Craig Noel Award) etc. He is an Affiliated Artist with The Shakespeare Theater in DC, where roles include Coriolanus in Coriolanus (Emery Battis Award), Iago in Othello (Helen Hayes Award), Macbeth in Macbeth, etc. Television credits include "The Good Wife", "Elementary", "Flesh and Bone", "Law and Order: SVU", etc.

HADESTOWN is currently in previews with an opening night set for tomorrow, May 23, 2016 at New York Theatre Workshop (79 E. 4th Street New York, NY 10003), playing through Sunday, June 12, 2016. Single tickets for HADESTOWN are $85, with $45 tickets available for performances from May 8 to May 12 and $70 tickets available for performances from May 13 to May 22.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus



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