Review: HADESTOWN at Ahmanson Theatre

It seems entirely superfluous to write a review of the national tour of Hadestown which just returned to the Ahmanson. When I told friends I was covering it, they responded, “wasn’t that just here two months ago?”. The show has received its accolades, the public has made up its mind about it, and at a certain point, we should acknowledge the cogs in the machine are just turning and we should let them spin. But as long as CTG is providing tickets, I’m happy to write up my thoughts. I had already listened to (and adored) the original Hadestown concept album. Anaïs Mitchell has delivered an absolutely remarkable score. Through TikTok, I was already aware of the look and vibe of the production. What shocked me about attending Hadestown is that the opening night audience was crawling with people in the show’s costumes. I was not aware that the show had an obsessive cult following that could procure an audience dressed as Orpheus, Eurydice, Persephone, and The Fates or bedecked in all manner of branded merch. Though it caught me off-guard, I was a teen obsessed with musical theatre at one point and remember seeing a touring production of Rent with a friend dressed as Mark. I lived the crest of the Wicked craze so I don’t not get it.

The cogs of the commercial theatre model are turning with this one, and I don’t mean to be a raincloud, but as someone on the outside of this craze looking in, at this point with Hadestown, one can really feel the cogs turning. There are moments in the show which clearly became iconic in its more intimate premiere that are absolutely drowned out by the cavernous Ahmanson space. At one point, Hermes procures a silver umbrella. The crowd went wild for what I can only assume was a show-stopping moment when originated by Andre DeShields on Broadway but in this iteration was merely the presentation of a silver umbrella.

Rachel Chavkin’s staging is resourceful and inventive, packing major punches within Rachel Hauck’s deceptively-simple design. David Neumann’s choreography shines in moments of storytelling, defining locales and making electric the mundane act of sitting in a stool, but flounders during more formal dance breaks. Lots of kick-ball-change happening. The score is catchy and effective, but dramaturgically the piece has some excess and missteps. Though a quick two and a half hours, the content would be best served whittled down to ninety minutes. Lots of overdrawn explanations, redundancies, and a wholly misplaced intermission. Thankfully, the staging imagistically conveys the story, because even with the accompaniment of an onstage music combo, the Ahmanson team has still fumbled the overall mix of the show and many of the lyrics are indiscernible.

Lana Gordon is the undisputed star of the performance with a zany, uninhibited Persephone. She summons a level of familiarity and intimacy with her Act II opener that salvages a cabaret-esque quality of the show within these expansive digs. Amaya Braganza lends Eurydice a powerhouse pop voice that carries the show’s second act. J Antonio Rodriguez’ Orpheus pushes as hard as he can into the cute naïveté attributed to the character to a point of near pity that feels reductive. As The Fates, Marla Louissaint, Lizzie Markson, and Hannah Schreer are uniformly distinguished, poised, and haunting.

All in all, Hadestown as it currently stands at the Ahmanson is a solid touring production of a solid show.

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