Review: Hadestown – Lyric Theatre, London

Hadestown’s much-anticipated return to London will doubtlessly pack audiences in for months and months to come. Yet, would this version of Anaïs Mitchell‘s cult concept album turned awards-dominating Broadway smash achieve similar acclaim? Possibly not.

Rest assured, there’s no fatal flaw with this rendition, indeed there’s an abundance to admire, but it lacks a certain alchemical je ne sais quoi.

Structurally, the show is little changed from the statuette-claiming iteration pulling in New York crowds since 2019. Mitchell, and collaborating Director Rachel Chavkin‘s reimagined Greek fable still follows God-touched bard Orpheus (Dónal Finn) into Hades‘ (Zachary James channelling Leonard Cohen) underworld to retrieve his beloved wife Eurydice (Grace Hodgett Young). The story still plays out in an American ‘somewhere’ perched between the Great Depression and an undefined post-apocalypse. The score remains a masterful weaving of New Orleans Jazz, Blues, and roots Americana, and the cast and musicians assembled for the West End are more than capable of delivering it.

The show’s tremendously romantic message of hope for hope’s sake, and compassion for those who strive but fail is clear. This West End Hadestown’s particular blend of narrative originality and arch-musicality certainly tingled the hairs on the back of my neck, but never quite got them to their feet. Why?

Well, it’s certainly not for want of a phenomenal turn from a sensational Melanie La Barrie as Orpheus’s hype-God Hermes. With effortless presence, she owns the stage from the first twinkle of a sparkling waistcoat; her steampowered opener ‘Road to Hell’ is the stuff that musical theatre dreams are made of. Many, perhaps most, of this production’s flirtations with true glory stem directly from La Barrie’s contributions as narrator-cum-Greek chorus.

Gloria Onitiri too, deserves kudos for her winning Persephone, wife to Hades and part-time co-ruler of the down below. Vocally agile, and warmly prepossessing, Onitiri finds sassy, wine-soaked harvest-goddess realness in every number.

However, whilst Finn and Hodgett Young give invested performances as the central lovers, an initial bloom of stage chemistry falters a little as the story proceeds. Further, Finn’s falsetto can hit the high notes, but he lacks the stronger head voice found in previous occupants of the role. There’s a resulting risk, thankfully never fully realised, of Orpheus’s floating, soaring melodies sliding into whininess.

His distinctly Irish take on the character, on the other hand, does bring a fresh energy to the character. Orpheus’s journey from dreaming bard to underworld union organiser is delivered with bewildered conviction in distinct contrast to James’ towering and Disney-worthy populist despot.

Hodgett Young for her part, brings terrific character, and a powerful voice to the doomed heroine but her Eurydice fades a little through the production’s middle sections, blunting the emotional gut punch that her fall into despair and Hades’ waiting clutches should deliver. Some of this is a product of structural problems with the text, however, which jumps from joyous meet-cute to starvation-induced marital strife inside a handful of vignettes.

“Finn’s falsetto can hit the high notes, but he lacks the stronger head voice found in previous occupants of the role.”

The relatively intimate confines of the Lyric theatre, however, do help to focus energy through this Hadestown. David Neumann’s choreography is sharp, and sophisticated, whilst Rachel Hauck‘s stage deftly blends hints of an amphitheatre with elements of shabby Louisiana style, and dustbowl desolation. The on-stage band under Music Director Tarek Merchant is as tight as you like but swing like the best. This show sounds and looks classy.

Hadestown’s abundant humour is delivered with panache, not a single punchline misses, and when not laughing it’s a struggle not to bop along to the show’s excellent collage of rhythms and beats. Reader, I did not struggle hard, nor did I resist the urge to sing ‘What ya gonna do when the chips are down?’ or ‘Way Down Hadestown‘ all the way to Euston station. Bravo indeed to the imperious Fates: Bella Brown, Madeline Charlemagne, and Allie Daniel, whose terrific close harmonies help sear those big choruses into the little grey cells.

Ultimately, this rendition of Hadestown obviously gets a lot of things right, but it’s now I finally realise what’s missing…tears. The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is a tragedy and one that Mitchell and Chavkin fully embrace. It should devastate before consoling, but at least on opening night, I ‘only had’ a very good time. Hardly a bad result for any musical, but sitting here with increasingly heavy eyelids on the Caledonian Sleeper back to Edinburgh, how I wish my heart was sorer.

Hadestown will play the Lyric Theatre, London until at least December 2024. For tickets and more information, click here.