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Mickey Jo
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Mickey Jo
Wait for me. Oh you did. Thank you. That's very thoughtful of you. Oh my God. Hey. Welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. My name is Mickey Jo. I am obsessed with all things theatre. I am a professional theatre critic here on social media. I travel the world seeing exciting theatre everywhere I can. And a couple of weeks ago I went to Amsterdam, the Netherlands with the express purpose of seeing the gala opening performance of the first ever Dutch production of Hadestown. And there is plenty to say about it. And finally I'm going to tell you all about it. How different is this production? What is it like in the Netherlands? Is it replica? Is it non replica? Is it English language? Are there Dutch accents? How are the performances? We're going to talk about all of it today as well as a little bit of background about the musical Hadestown. For those of you who may not know it now, my history with the show is thus. I saw the pre Broadway production at the National Theatre here in London and I enjoyed it to a certain extent. I wasn't really emotionally moved by it, but I appreciate it. The music and the creativity and you know, putting this ancient Greek tragedy in this more contemporary setting. I then subsequently saw it a few years later on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre where It had gone on to become a Tony Award winning Best musical and I definitely vibed with it a little bit more. But it wasn't until I saw its West End return at the Lyric Theater that I fully understood what the show was saying in the multiple levels on which it worked and truly how clever it is and how emotional it is. It is the brilliant of singer songwriter Aeneas Mitchell. She has written both the book and composed the score for the show, as well as conceiving the whole thing. And since really falling in love with it, I have been back to see the show a whole handful of times, both on Broadway and in the West End. So earlier this year, when my stagey fiance Aaron James and I happened to be in Amsterdam before the opening of the Dutch production, we wanted to go and seek out the theater where it was going to be playing. And we did, and we put together a silly little social media reel about being too early to see the show. Cut to a couple of months later and I had been planning to in touch with somebody at the production and say hi, would you be interested in us coming along to see the show so I can talk about it? At some point before I had the chance to, they emailed me and they invited the two of us to the gala opening, which was so exciting. So we went last month to go and check it out and made an updated version of the same social media reel. You can check all of this out on my Instagram, but I said at the time I would also be making a full fuller video, a fuller podcast wherever you are seeing or hearing me talking about the Dutch production and that is what this is going to be. So let's talk all about Hadestown in Amsterdam. If you've seen it already for yourself, I would love to know what you thought in the comments section down below. Especially if you are a Dutch musical theatre fan. I would like to meet more of you and I'm particularly curious for your perspective on how Hadestown and this production really fits into the Amsterdam musical theatre scene. Which is what I'm still kind of figuring out. And as always, if you are meeting me for the first time with this review, make sure to subscribe or follow me on podcast platforms, whichever you prefer. In the meantime, wait for me no longer. It's time to talk about Hadestown. We're going to review it again and again. So as promised, for those of you who don't necessarily know Hadestown that well, this is the part of the review where I talk a little bit about the show and about the material I'm going to try and keep it brief because these sections have a habit of running on and we could be here all day. And we'll begin with the face value interpretation that I understood the first time I saw it, which is this is the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, ancient Greek tragedy, framed alongside the very relevant and pertinent story of Hades and Persephone. Two great and ultimately sort of tragic ancient Greek love stories, originally conceived as means of understanding things in the world. This is what you have to understand about Greek tragedy, is these were answers to life's then unanswerable questions and realities, pre science, basically. So the story of Hades and Persephone went much of the way towards explaining why we have the seasons, how that came to be. Because Persephone was torn between her love for her mother and the human world and her love for Hades, who had tricked her into joining him as his queen in the underworld. And so a decision was made that she would divide her time between the two and for the six months she would spend above ground, it would be spring and summer and then she'd go back downstairs to hell and then the weather would be sad, basically because her mother was a goddess of the. We could go further and further into all of this and eventually, you know, it just, it all goes back to Zeus in a very sort of a toxic masculinity way. My point is that is what these ancient myths and legends were and Hadestown sort of speaks to that. But that isn't something I would really start picking it in my brain until a couple of visits later. What I understood about the show the first time I saw it is that it was framing all of these charact characters alongside each other, with Hermes very smartly as the narrator, as the messenger of the gods, with the Fates in and amongst them as well. But it was in the aesthetic and the context of, like I said, a much more modern situation. It was sort of industrial, very Americana, with a jazzy sort of New Orleans, Louisiana style score. And so recontextualizing the stories and characters of ancient times into a modern context, which I thought was interesting enough, but I don't know that I really understood why. Cut to realizing that Aeneas Mitchell is doing the same thing with the story of Hadestown that the ancient Greeks and Romans were doing with this mythology. She is trying to prompt answers to what are the contemporary questions. And so where the original story of Hades and Persephone offered insights into the way that the seasons work, Aeneas offers a new story later in the romance of Hades and Persephone, in which their marriage has become strained and as a result the seasons are getting distorted, offering answers about contemporary problems like climate change, but also talking about political realities and talking about capitalism and, you know, all of the stuff that's really at the crux of this, because we can't have a conversation about environmentalism without having a conversation about capitalism and post industrialism and colonialism and class inequality and poverty, which are all threads that Hadestown is pulling at. And there is such a cleverness in the lyrics. This is why every single time I never go and see the show, I hear something else every single time. And what I thought were just innocuous lyrics are deceptively clever. Really, really brilliant. And so that's the sort of intellectual layer on which Hadestown is functioning. But there's also such an emotional heart to it as well, which is the relationship between all of these characters who may be partly or entirely gods, but have very honest human experiences. And the thing that speaks to me more and more now when I see the show for my last few visits is the parallel between the young lovers Orpheus and Eurydice and how they are able, through their love and through their innocence and their determination to be together in spite of the harsh realities of the world that they live in. How that inspires a rekindling in the romance of Hades and Persephone and reminds them why they fell in love in the first place. And it's not just that simple, because you have a character like Orpheus who wants nothing more than to care for this young woman who he has just met, but whose focus is divided because of this duty that he feels to create a song to bring the world back into order, as only he has the power to do. Then you have Eurydice, who is torn between her love for Orpheus and the desire to live a more comfortable life free from the desperation that she has been forced into by poverty. And you have Hades and Persephone, who have each in their own way grown resentful. She is, is drinking and he is taking it out on the workers who work for him as he rules over Hadestown, which is sort of Jamestown esque inspired, but also, I think, very possibly a nod to mid 20th century Russia, when you had like the renaming of Leningrad and Stalingrad. That's a different idea that I'm still holding a little bit of space for in the back of my head. But Hades is going through this whole toxic masculinity experience because he's overcompensating for the lack of attention from his wife, but he's not able to articulate that emotionally. So he's doing all of this crazy stuff and lashing out rather than just having a conversation with the woman. And she's drinking and she doesn't want to talk to him about it either. In the whole six months, six month arrangement has become strained for the two of them. And he's not letting her spend the full six months upstairs. It's all going on in Hadestown. And the music is brilliant and stirring and passionate and uplifting and brooding and deep and celebratory of so many different vocal types of a real kind of mixture of different vocal ranges. We have bass, vocals being celebrated and we have. I think all of the Persephone stuff is like not your typical high belting musical theater. It's not an Elphaba kind of a sound, which almost everything else in contemporary musical theater is these days. It's jazzy and it's gritty and it's character driven. And we'll talk about this a little bit later when we talk about the casting for this particular production. But the ethos of Hadestown has also given way to some really exciting casting because the whole thing has been pretty colorblind in terms of its casting approach from the off. It's been consistently one of the most diverse casts on Broadway. And then you have a character like Hermes who has been portrayed from production to production or. Or even at the same time with multiple understudies in the same production by people of different gender identities and expressions. And brilliant trans and non binary performers have been in this show. There's been disability representation among the company of this show. Historically, it's. It's been so great to see completely different people telling this story. And it's through that that you come to recognize Hadestown or that I've come to recognize Hadestown, at least as a universal story of the human experience that doesn't have to look a specific type of way, that doesn't have to sound a specific type of way, because the story, as communicated through this extraordinary music, can speak to us all. And if you don't feel the full weight of that experience the first time you see or hear Hadestown, I encourage you to revisit it and to really let it dwell with you. I was pretty dispassionate about having seen it the first time, but something about the score, I kept listening to it and it just persisted with me. And eventually, you know, it took me longer than it probably ought to have done. But I eventually figured it out and I've come to really love the show. And I'm not the only one. It continues to run successfully on Broadway, having won multiple Tony Awards when it first opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre. It's doing quite well in the West End as well at the Lyric Theatre. And there have been a handful of international productions. I believe the only non English language production was one in Korea. There was also an Australian production. I know, I'm so sorry, Australia, that I couldn't down there to see what I've been affectionately referring to as Good Aides Town. I apologize both for not making the journey and for the pun that I just made. That was not my best work. The show has also been touring the us. They have just started licensing schools editions of Hadestown, which I think is really, really cool because, you know, it can be young people performing a show that talks about the challenges of the world that they are inheriting and growing up in, and talks about, you know, how they go on living, knowing all of this, how they carry on each day, because that's the enduring message of the show. This is a sad, tragic story that we are going to continue to tell anyway. It's sort of this therapeutic idea about how we, we carry on with our lives. But among these, the Dutch production in Amsterdam, which is what we're going to talk about. What is this production? How different is it? Let's talk details. So the Dutch production of Hadestown is a replica staging of the show. That means it is the same set design, it is the same costume design, it is the same direction by Rachel Chavkin at the head of this brilliant creative team, and the same choreography. It is for all intents and purposes, the same production. It is running at the Royal Theatre Caray in Amsterdam, a gorgeous theatre with a fairly unique, sort of slightly circular configuration. I'm told by someone who works there that the theater is often a circus venue, hence why it's shaped like that. But Hadestown fits very nicely into the auditorium and I'm getting a little ahead of the most important details. But the headline news about how it fits into the auditorium is during Wait for Me. This is a bit of a spoiler. If you don't want to know anything, then you may not want to know this. You can skip forwards a little bit. But for those of you who know Hadestown or who have seen Hadestown during Wait For Me in the Amsterdam production, the lamps do swing out over the audience. Broadway listeners may be surprised that I'm pointing that out. That's Something that does happen at the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway. It doesn't happen at the Lyric. I think it's just a logistical thing in the West End because of the height of the stage and where the proscenium is. But it does happen in Amsterdam. We get the lamps swinging out again over the first few rows. So if you happen to pick a seat in one of the first few rows of like the main stalls seating section, then you will have a very novel experience. But going back to some of the most important details about the show, it is performed in English, but by a predominantly Dutch cast using Dutch accents. And before they even began performances, this seemed to be getting a surprising reaction. Surprising to me at least over on social media. And I think because they had used pre existing production images and footage in the marketing, some fans, and, you know, you have to be sympathetic to the fact that musical theater fans living in Amsterdam are, or living in the Netherlands are seeing West End and Broadway productions and longing for those shows and those performers to come and travel closer to them. So I think people had been anticipating or hoping for West End or Broadway performers to come with the show. And there are a handful of performers from the West End production among the ensemble of this company. But almost all of the principal roles are played by Dutch performers. Not all, but almost all. And I will tell you, I personally love that. I love hearing Hadestown performed with different accents because so much of the music and the style of the music makes the most sense in an American accent. And there's so much of the Americana to it. But when I saw the cast at the Lyric Theatre when it was reopening, and you had the wonderful Melnie La Barrie with her own Trinidadian accent as Hermes, and you had Zachary with an American accent, and we've had various different Gaelic accents with Irish and Scottish Orpheuses. Orphei. Orpheuses and English accents and regional British accents in the mix there as well. Because there were so many different kinds of voices and accents in that cast, it really, truly allowed it to feel like a story of the world that wasn't tethered to any one specific location. And because it's so mythical and mystical, that really works for it as well, I think. And then when all these productions started popping up around the world, it was so cool to listen to performers get to sing the material in their own accents. You have to imagine that when a lot of shows open somewhere like Australia, there's very few musicals set in Australia. So for the most part, they're forever doing English or mostly American accents. Like even when Les Mis goes there, they're doing British accents because that's bafflingly how Les Mis is done. Hamilton goes there, they're doing American accents. It's only with newer shows like Six or like Hadestown, where performers are allowed to use their own accents and people have opinions about the six sounding maybe a little bit weird in non British accents or wicked sounding strange in non American accents. And I think.
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Nicole Byer
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Mickey Jo
Wayfair. Every style, every home. Honestly, it's something that you get used to when you see the show. Know I'm a big fan, particularly for Hadestown, of hearing performers get to do it in a whole variety of different accents. And I think it would be really hollow to have a Dutch production and to not have any sense of local identity to the Netherlands, especially because there is a really tremendous amount of talent in the cast and they are who we're going to focus on for the rest of this review. Because otherwise it's the same production. It is the same show. It is just as brilliant. It still connects. It still makes the same kind of impact. They have taken the really winning Western, West End and Broadway staging of the show and they have put it in this gorgeous theater in Amsterdam. The way that the show kind of then adapts and shifts is among the individuals who are telling that story. So let's talk about them now. I am looking at the website to see the casting because they didn't have programs when we went to see the show. For those of you who have seen it outside of the gala performance, please let us know if they do normally have programs or if this is perhaps just a thing that they're doing with the production, I don't know. But we'll begin by talking about Hermes, because there are two different performers sharing the role of Hermes, and there hasn't been an official schedule published about which dates they are doing, from what I can tell. So it's a little bit of a game of roulette there. But the role of Hermes is being shared between performers Claudia Debris and Martin Hymans. I'm going to issue a blanket apology for the way that I pronounce Dutch names. There is really just very little space in between us as countries, but such a gap in terms of linguistics and pronunciation. And we saw Claudia do it, the gala performance. And Hermes is maybe one of the most adaptable characters in the show, especially because they've cast it in such different ways. I mean, look at Claudia Debris versus Melanie, Larry and Cedric Neil, currently in the West End. Or originator Andre de Shields, or his replacement, Lillias White. Or. I mean, just so many different performers have taken on this role and find such different qualities in it. I loved Melanie LaBarrie because I felt as though she was able to draw on the masculine and the feminine. It was an authoritative Hermes, but also a nurturing one. Also a reassuring sort of maternal one. Lilias White, very maternal as Hermes. And Claudia feels like that, but a little bit detached from Orpheus. Also, it's Orpheus with whom Hermes predominantly interacts and certainly during their most powerful moments. But Claudia, I would say, feels kind of more like Aunt Hermy, which is an interesting characterization. I understand that she has a background in singing, but is also a comedian as well. And there is definitely a lot of a sense of charm to her performance. Hermes is a character who requires a real command of the stage because it's Hermes who first addresses the audience and then begins and tells the story. So it has to be a charismatic performance, and Claudia does that very well. But I would also be really intrigued to go back and see Martin, because you'd have to imagine that they're doing it very differently. And I want to talk about the Fates before we get on to the big four. So you have British performer Journey Ayton Kent, whose voice I've enjoyed in many shows for years now, as well as April Darby, who is also the alternate Persephone, as well as being one of the Fates, and Aisha Gill. And I really love the menace that they found with the Fates here. And once again, it's a trio that blends brilliantly. But the bite with which they attack their material, particularly as we head into the second act act is so, so satisfying. I love a great trio of fates and these ones are really brilliant. I kept being drawn back to Joanie's sort of mockingly sarcastic facial expressions. Now Orpheus is played by an actor called Jangu McCroy who I understand was recently playing Jesus in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar, which I believe was directed by Ivo Van Hove. And interesting parallels between Jesus and Orpheus, both these sort of of savior type figures. Jesus with a little bit more knowledge of his purpose than Orpheus, who just sort of feels compelled to sing a song in order to make more flowers grow and save the world, but doesn't really understand why and is characterized by his naivety. But you know, his, his well meaning love and determination. And Orpheus, if you don't know, is a character who was sort of tinkered with a lot as they were retooling the show for Broadway and trying to work out how to really get all the cogs moving together. And there was something about Orpheus as a character that wasn't really connecting. And I think there was a little too much knowingness or too much ego or too much confidence. And it was in the naivety, perhaps even sort of making him a neurodivergent coded character in some ways that kind of unlocked how to make him work alongside everything else happening. Because you know, if he has too much certainty and too much conviction, his material doesn't really sing in the same way, especially as we get into the second act and he is forced to come to terms with the difficult truths of the world when singing one of my favorite songs in the score. Is it true now? Djongo is clearly a really talented vocalist. He is a very tall Orpheus, which is not something that I've seen before on stage. And it sounds like a trivial detail and I usually don't like to talk about performers physical characteristics, but I do think that it changes things here because I think when you have that physical stature, but you're still then playing this youthful innocence and naivety, it comes across even more and he starts to feel like a very sheltered character.
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Nicole Byer
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Mickey Jo
Play who has been allowed to remain innocent despite taking up more space in the world? I guess. And as a general thought, I've had the privilege of seeing a lot of performers in these roles who have spent an awful lot of time with these characters. I saw the original Broadway company do it again recently when they returned to the roles in the West End. And the level of nuance and depth was so stunning and so overwhelming because they've spent so much time, you know, living in these roles. And I think there's room to find more nuance and more layers for every member of the company right now. In Amsterdam for Claudius Hermes as an example, I think there's probably moments where she could decide really what her perspective is as an individual about Orpheus. Does she feel sort of ashamed of him at the end? She's a little, perhaps too ambivalent at times. For Djangu as Orpheus, it could perhaps be a little more whimsical, a little bit more characterful. Eurydice opposite him, as portrayed by Sarah Afiba. I believe that she is a very recent graduate. Yeah, she graduated in 2023 from the Amsterdam Academy of Theater and Dance. She sounded wonderful singing the Eurydice material. And this has become a character that I've started to struggle with on occasion when she is pitched a little too independent and a little too feisty, because you need to understand where the drive comes from for her to want to venture down to Hadestown. It can't be about, you know, just wanting to lead a comfortable, luxurious life. It has to come from desperation. Otherwise, her choosing that over Orpheus starts to look a little bit questionable. But she really balanced very well that evident desire with the desperation and with the real urge to stay with him. But this impossible indecision in the face of dire circumstances, all of which, I guess, is meant to be this metaphorical representation of death in austerity and poverty. And my point is there was just enough vulnerability while also allowing Eurydice to be an empowered young woman who makes her own choices. And that's her whole thing. Then we have the characters who have come to be my favorites. Hades and Persephone, portrayed by Edwin Jonker and Joy Wilkins. And I loved these performances. I really enjoyed them the most. Moments where they came back together, the moments that they fought. I thought the song in the second act, when they're singing, how does the sun even fit in the sky? It just burns like a pit of the Sky I. That's never normally a highlight for me. It may have been a highlight of this particular production because I thought it was done just so, so well. The two of them both gave brilliantly emotional performances so gorgeously. And Edwin in particular was a really top tier Hades for me. And I could phrase this in a very unprofessional way and say that I have nothing against a sort of a daddy Hades in Hadestown. But what I mean by that, stay with me, everybody, is when it's possible to glimpse beyond the facade of this stern, imperial, autocratic dictator and glimpse the pain of rejected romantic young man beneath all of that, and really see the parallels between him and Orpheus, that's when I think everything in the second act suddenly works. And that's when Epic 3 becomes magical. And in this production, the thing that I took away this time, because I always find something else to really take away from Hadestown this time it was the parallel between Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone. And I think it's because I could draw more direct lines between Orpheus and Had and Persephone and Eurydice, even in that moment when he goes out and he takes in Eurydice and he gives her the whole, hey, little songbird. I think it's easier in this production to look at Eurydice as a younger Persephone and understand where that sort of attraction might come from. But also for exactly the same reason that I love to talk about these performances so much. I dare say that they are going to continue to evolve because when you get malleable material like this. I was just saying the same thing about the current revival of Cabaret. It can shift and it can adapt as they are in conversation with each other and, you know, finding more nuance in the roles and in the material. That's an experience that I had just as an audience member. I dare say, as a performer, when you're singing these lyrics nightly, you start to uncover new meanings and new treasures within them as well. Well, but in summary, I really enjoy this cast. I think it's a really brilliantly cohesive cast. And if you were to have a random principal performer from the West End and another from Broadway alongside Dutch performers, unless you did it in a really specific way, like with Hades, Persephone, and then verses like, I just don't see a way in which it would be as cohesive. And I also think it would be a shame. I like that this is celebrating and platforming astonishing Dutch talent and acquainting me as A visitor to Amsterdam with all of these brilliant, exceptional performers. So the answer to the question, does Hadestown work in the Netherlands? Is yes. I think it's a show that can be made to really work anywhere and they've done a really great and diligent job of allowing this to feel like an authentic production of Hadestown. You are still getting the Broadway, the West End Hadestown experience and you're getting what I think is is the perfect version of it for the Netherlands. And if that sounds interesting to you, honestly, if you're any kind of a musical theatre fan within reach of Amsterdam, I encourage you to go and check it out this summer. It is only running as a limited run in Amsterdam right now at the Royal Theatre Carre. Go and check it out. It's a gorgeous theatrical experience by the river in the summer with the sunshine. Are you kidding me? You're gonna have a great time. Book your tickets to go and see this world class piece of thoughtful and vibrant and emotional musical theater that speaks really acutely to the times that we are living in. Go book those if you haven't already, and if you have already, and if you've already seen Hadestown in Amsterdam, then let us all know in the comments section down below what you thought of it, who gave the standout performance for you, what was your favorite moment in the show and are they selling programs? I just want to know. In the meantime, I hope that you've enjoyed listening to my thoughts about this production. Make sure to subscribe to my theater themed YouTube channel because just maybe I'm going to be talking about another musical that I saw in the Netherlands really, really soon. And at the time of sharing this video, I'm either about to share a vlog all about my experience of seeing two shows in the Netherlands or I recently shared it. So make sure to check that out as well. Or go follow me on podcast platforms or other social media platforms. I have been Mickiejo Theatre. I hope that you have enjoyed and that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day for 10 more seconds. I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a Stagey day. Subscribe.
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Podcast Summary: MickeyJoTheatre – "Hadestown (Royal Theater Carré, Amsterdam) - REVIEW"
Release Date: July 15, 2025
Introduction
In this episode, Mickey-Jo from MickeyJoTheatre delves into his review of the Dutch production of the acclaimed musical Hadestown at the Royal Theater Carré in Amsterdam. Drawing from his extensive experience as a professional theatre critic, Mickey-Jo provides an insightful analysis of the production's nuances, performances, and how it adapts the beloved show for a Dutch audience.
Background on Hadestown
Mickey-Jo begins by sharing his personal journey with Hadestown, having witnessed its evolution from the pre-Broadway production at the National Theatre in London to its Tony Award-winning Broadway version. He recounts how his appreciation for the musical deepened with each subsequent viewing, particularly after experiencing its return to the West End at the Lyric Theatre.
"The music and the creativity and you know, putting this ancient Greek tragedy in this more contemporary setting." (03:45)
The Dutch Production Experience
Mickey-Jo discusses his trip to Amsterdam with his fiancé, Aaron James, specifically to attend the gala opening of the first Dutch production of Hadestown. He recounts the serendipitous invitation they received to the event, highlighting the excitement and anticipation surrounding the show's debut in the Netherlands.
"They invited the two of us to the gala opening, which was so exciting." (05:10)
Production Design and Staging
The review highlights that the Amsterdam production is a replica of the original staging, maintaining the same set and costume designs under the direction of Rachel Chavkin. Mickey-Jo praises how Hadestown seamlessly fits into the unique, slightly circular configuration of the Royal Theater Carré, enhancing the overall theatrical experience.
"It is running at the Royal Theatre Caré in Amsterdam, a gorgeous theatre with a fairly unique, sort of slightly circular configuration." (15:30)
A notable feature he points out is the interactive stage elements, such as the swinging lamps over the audience during the song "Wait for Me," a feature previously seen only in the Broadway version.
"We get the lamps swinging out again over the first few rows. So if you happen to pick a seat in one of the first few rows... you will have a very novel experience." (17:45)
Language and Accents
The musical is performed in English by a predominantly Dutch cast, who incorporate Dutch accents into their performances. Mickey-Jo appreciates this blend, noting how it adds a unique flavor to the Americana-inspired score without detracting from the show's authenticity.
"I love hearing Hadestown performed with different accents because so much of the music and the style of the music makes the most sense in an American accent." (20:55)
Cast and Performances
Mickey-Jo provides an in-depth analysis of the principal cast members:
Hermes: Shared between Claudia Debris and Martin Hymans, Mickey-Jo admires Claudia's charismatic and detached portrayal, likening her to an "Aunt Hermy."
"Hermes is a character who requires a real command of the stage because it's Hermes who first addresses the audience and then begins and tells the story." (23:10)
Orpheus: Portrayed by Jangu McCroy, Mickey-Jo praises his ability to convey Orpheus's youthful innocence and naivety, adding depth to the character's development.
"Djangu is clearly a really talented vocalist. He is a very tall Orpheus... and he starts to feel like a very sheltered character." (25:00)
Eurydice: Played by Sarah Afiba, her performance strikes a balance between independence and desperation, embodying the character's internal conflict.
"She really balanced very well that evident desire with the desperation and with the real urge to stay with him." (27:20)
Hades and Persephone: Edwin Jonker and Joy Wilkins deliver emotionally charged performances, bringing a fresh dynamic to the strained relationship between the characters.
"Both of them gave brilliantly emotional performances so gorgeously." (28:15)
Thematic Depth and Musicality
Mickey-Jo explores the thematic layers of Hadestown, emphasizing its commentary on contemporary issues such as climate change, capitalism, and social inequality. He lauds the show's ability to intertwine intellectual depth with emotional storytelling.
"Hadestown sort of speaks to that... Has been assigned to pull at threads like capitalism, post-industrialism, colonialism, class inequality, and poverty." (10:50)
He also praises the musical score for its versatility, describing it as "brilliant and stirring and passionate and uplifting and brooding and deep and celebratory."
"It's jazzy and it's gritty and it's character driven." (12:30)
Casting Diversity and Representation
The production is noted for its colorblind casting approach, featuring a diverse ensemble that includes trans and non-binary performers, as well as representation for disabilities within the company. This inclusivity enriches the universal themes of the story.
"It's been consistently one of the most diverse casts on Broadway... And it's through that that you come to recognize Hadestown or that I've come to recognize Hadestown, at least as a universal story of the human experience." (22:05)
Conclusion and Recommendations
Mickey-Jo concludes with a strong recommendation to experience the Dutch production of Hadestown. He emphasizes the authenticity and emotional impact of the show, encouraging theatre enthusiasts to witness it firsthand in Amsterdam's picturesque setting by the river.
"If you were to have a random principal performer from the West End and another from Broadway alongside Dutch performers... I think it would be a shame." (30:00)
He invites listeners to share their thoughts and experiences in the comments section, fostering a community of Dutch musical theatre fans.
"If you've already seen Hadestown in Amsterdam, then let us all know in the comments section down below what you thought of it..." (31:45)
Closing Remarks
Mickey-Jo wraps up the episode by promoting his YouTube channel and upcoming content related to theatre in the Netherlands, encouraging listeners to subscribe and stay connected for future reviews.
"Make sure to subscribe to my theatre themed YouTube channel because just maybe I'm going to be talking about another musical that I saw in the Netherlands really, really soon." (32:10)
Notable Quotes
Final Thoughts
This episode offers a comprehensive and engaging review of Hadestown's Dutch production, blending personal insights with critical analysis. Mickey-Jo successfully captures the essence of the show, making the summary valuable for both seasoned fans and newcomers interested in theatrical performances.