I want to be clear that while Hadestown (Teen Edition), the spring musical currently offered by Saint Joseph Notre Dame High School, made me cry, everyone should absolutely go see it. I also want to be clear that I meant it when I told the director, the remarkable Kristine Roxas-Miller, that I thought the show was amazing, and it broke my heart, and I was a little bit mad at her. Finally, I want to be clear that my goal in the following review is to sing the praises of the performers and this production with as much love and earnestness as the actors showed on stage. But it did break my heart and make me cry, so who the heck knows?
For those who are Greek-tragedy-challenged like myself, Hadestown (Teen Edition) is the story of Orpheus who travels to the underworld to rescue his love, Eurydice, who sold her soul to Hades. The back story is way more than that, as is the Anais Mitchell musical, which is enriched with American folk and jazz music. It won eight Tony Awards in 2019, along with Grammy, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama League awards. The St. Joe’s production employed 22 actors and 17 crew members, all of whom fit onto and around the medium-sized stage on their campus. The ensemble was terrific and the lead performers were doubly good.
Zelig Camblor-Weisberg plays Hermes, costumed as if he’d gone shopping at Hermes. Wearing a slick silvery suit with an attractively dappled bow tie, he is our narrator. He sings and speaks to us with confidence and panache, a concierge of sorts. Assisting him are the Fates—Megan Springer-Sullivan, Mary-Rose Nguyen and Rylie Willkom—whose presence, bodices, and skirts help make mythology cool with couture. The power couple is Hades and Persephone, played memorably by Amari James-Phillips and Violetta Vitarelli. Where he is darkly attired and brooding, with a menacing look and voice, she is seductive, bright, and charismatic, a contrasting, compelling match.
Then there are our tragic heroes, Alphonse Clark as Orpheus and Nora McNish as Eurydice (sharing the role with Zora Oliverius). Their collaborative sincerity, the capacity to make us fall for them as they fall for one another, is the engine for everything. Their voices are not the strongest on the stage, but in many ways that serves the story well. They sing with such urgency, such authenticity, that we believe every note. They have an “Everyman” quality about them that glows. They deserve most of the blame for making me cry.
Deserving much praise is the ensemble in the show, the overalls-clad crew who, given the simple but effective single-setting set (kudos to Mr. Thomas Clark, Duarte Drywall) create place and mood through wonderfully choreographed movements (well done, Mrs. Kelly Rogers Flynt). Whether being the wind, or the residents of Hades, they as a group were a powerful presence, providing essentially specific effects for the production. Their diversity in size, shape, and color represented the breadth of humanity and the messages inscribed onto their costumes were subtle and poignant.
Hadestown (Teen Edition) reminded me a bit of Rent, the 1996 Tony Award-winning rock musical by the late Jonathan Larson. Each begins with a love story, two characters unexpectedly finding and falling for one another. Each also has a character (Orpheus and Roger) struggling to write a song for their girl. And the other similarity is this: While Rent is a show of its time, speaking to how hard life was for so many in the ’90s, Hadestown (Teen Edition), which was inspired by the myth written in the 6th century BCE, also speaks to our time now, today. The heroic struggle to find and keep love is historic and contemporary and maybe the singular cause of all music. What also anchors Hadestown (Teen Edition) to our modern hearts is the song “Why We Build the Wall,” sung by Amari James-Phillips and backed by the ensemble. It was especially difficult to hear with the tragic events in Minnesota still reverberating for many and was made more beautiful given the diversity of those on stage.
So on a beautiful Saturday evening, having spent the day in shorts and flip-flops, I was transported far back in time and into the underworld by the young actors at St. Joseph Notre Dame High School. Their stage may not be the biggest in town and their program maybe not be as heralded as others, but as they’ve done in the past, they have taken on complex musical theater, combined their many talents, led by an astounding artist, and told a story of tragic beauty that I shall never forget.
Hadestown (Teen Edition) performances are scheduled for Friday, March 6, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 7, at 5 p.m. Bring your heart, bring tissues, see this show. Get Tickets online.
Gene Kahane is the founder of the Foodbank Players, a lifelong teacher, and former Poet Laureate for the City of Alameda. Reach him at [email protected]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Gene-Kahane.
