#Nytw!Orpheus

[icantrecallaskysoclear]

NYTW!Orpheus how I miss you 🥺🤍

let the world we dream about be the one we live in now.

[holly-mckenzie]

But that was in another life That was in another world When I was a young girl!

nytw hadestown appreciation  →  Chant II

[jaxs-beanie]

A fun thing about the song 'If It's True' is how it's a big moment not only for Orpheus, but Persephone as well, since it's this song she refers to when pleading with Hades in How Long. Depending on the Orpheus it's a whole spectrum from 'depressed' to 'furious' (in the album and NYTW productions it was much more 'depressed'). Sometimes he starts angry and ends sad, other times he's scared but trying, and in an interview, Reeve Carney felt the song was about the lack of love people have for each other, so he played it softer and sadder. In the old lyrics 'tell me what to do' is sung at Eurydice as he asks for help, and the final line is sung directly at Persephone.

For Persephone, Way Down Hadestown 2 and If It's True feel like Persephone's first real look at the workers 'on the floor' as it were, and she crashes hard after Way Down 2 into sleep/drunken stupor. But she can't look away in If It's True cause Orpheus and the others won't let her. In Chant her first complaint wasn't 'what are you doing with these people' it's 'why is it so HOT', so there was a disconnect.

Earlier Hermeses (around NYTW and Edmonton) had a verse in if it's true where they narrated that Persephone heard the song and felt sad over it: 'Persephone heard the poor boy sing and it broke her heart in two / so she went to go find that mighty king to see what she could do'

I think that was changed when she became more complicit with Hadestown and what it was, so instead of 'oh no that was sad' it's 'oh gods what have I been allowing?'

[trobeds]

oh my god

i was thinking about "youre early" / "i missed you" AGAIN and. it was hades n persephones first interaction of the show but it was orpheus n eurydices last (as per nytw. will never get over hadestown bway not including this exchange)

and the tone is so incredibly different for both of them because hades n persephones seems light n kinda humorous while orpheus n eurydices is. they get a second before shes gone again. what hes defending is already gone. god. fuck. the way both pairs parallel each other while having this stark contrast. the way orpheus n eurydice lose each other (again) just when hades n persephone find each other (again). the horrors are never ending i will never stop crying about this holy fucking shit

[its-a-gold-song]

epic iii by @druid-for-hire

[roukabi]

Wayyy down crittertown, way down under the grouuuund

design notes under the cut

I can't believe it's taken me this long to finalize some animal-ifications for Hadestown, but hey, they're here now!

Orpheus was pretty simple. I wanted something cute and cuddly, and I figured it'd be interesting to turn him into an animal commonly seen as a trickster. It'd throw Eurydice (and maybe The Audience) off guard, maybe as a little nod to looking beyond the darkness of the world to find the abundance of light within. I like to think that he wraps Eurydice up in his fluffy tail when they sleep together :)

For Eurydice, I decided against a literal songbird in favor of something that would better foil Orpheus (and leave the avian designs to the neutral characters). Where Orpheus is an honest fox, Eurydice decided to be a true raccoon - traveler of the streets, thief of the city, and a true loner. Survival of the fittest is her life philosophy... until she meets Orpheus and sees the world from a different perspective. Deep down, she wants to let herself go, to enjoy life, and to be loved. Isn't that what any stray animal wants?

As previously mentioned, I wanted to keep Hermes and the Fates as birds to separate them from the story they tell. The tall, elegant form of a great blue heron seemed right for such a sage god, even if the real Hermes' bird is the rooster. He gets to literally take Orpheus under his wing, too.

Not all gods have to be imposing, though. Persephone as a squirrel is exciting to me, because there's a lot of comedic potential in a mighty goddess being contained in a foot-long, very lively, wine-loving vessel. That isn't to say she can't be serious, of course. I've learned that most squirrels do not actually hibernate, and instead tough out the winter with stored food and a deep burrow. Squirrels are also known to (accidentally) plant trees. Therefore, I think Persephone would be even more concerned about the seasons going haywire than normal, and would react accordingly.

Hades, meanwhile, is far more stony and mountainous than his wife. Unlike their European cousins, American badgers are so infamously pushy that the word 'badgering' was invented. Hades embodies this to a mild degree, being stubborn but not too ornery. He is, above all, a king. His leucism and reversed coloring helps him stand out as the big boss of the tunnels, and obscures him in the snow. Deep, deep down, maybe he's just a big fuzzball...

The Fates may look like old crows, but they're actually ravens, and they're very insistent on that. Clotho (left) is the youngest and least concerned about mortal woes. She just spins up the string, it's none of her business what happens later. Lachesis (top) is the middle sister with an airtight plan for everything, especially the lifespans of the people. She can be a bit bossy. Atropos (right) plays it straight, and cleanly cuts mortals' strings of life. She's not benevolent, but she's not unkind, either.

As for the workers, they're just miscellaneous critters doing Hades' burrow work. it used to be a snake pit before, y'know, the snakes moved out. Now it's Hades' new empire, just as warm and bright and unstable as the surface. The burrows are large enough to house some scary-looking hounds just waiting for a chance to stretch their legs and hunt...

That's it. Yaaaay! As usual, designs are free to use with credit, should they interest you. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be looking for every excuse possible to draw the hadestown cast as critters.

[optimistic-autistic]

i looove 2018 london orpheus. he's so utterly pathetic.

[sipping-ambrosia-wine]

further lyrics and info below the cut. even if you havent seen the show i want opinions!

NYTW-> BROADWAY

1 2 3 4 5 6

EPIC III-

Where is the man with his hat in his hands/Who stands in the garden with nothing to lose -> Where is the man with arms outstretched?/ To the woman he loves with nothing to lose

DOUBT COMES IN-

Doubt comes in/ And strips the paint/ Doubt comes in/ And turns the wine/ Doubt comes in and leaves a trace/ Of vinegar and turpentine -> Doubt comes in/ The wind is changing/ Doubt comes in/ How cold it's blowing/Doubt comes in and meets a stranger/ Walking on a road alone

IF IT'S TRUE-

If it’s true what they say/If my love is gone for good/They can take this heart away/They can take this flesh and blood/Take my mouth that kissed her mouth/Take my tongue that sung her praise/Take my arms that used to reach out/ In the dark to where she lay -> If it's true what they say/if theres nothing to be done/If its true that its too late/And the girl I love is gone/If its true what they say/Is this how the world is?/To be beaten and betrayed and then be told that nothing changes

[...]

Take this voice, take these hands/I can’t use them anyway/Take this music and the memory/Of the muse from which it came -> (Absent, replaced with the workers' lyrics?)

WAY DOWN HADESTOWN-

Everybody dresses in clothes so fine/Everybody's pocket are weighted down/Everybody sippin the ambrosia wine/ It's a goldmine, in hadestown -> [Cut, replaced with she's gonna ride that train" build up after "that was not six months"]

CHANT II-

When I was a young girl like you/Sister, I was hungry too/Hungry for the underworld/When I was a young girl/Now you know how it tastes/The fruit of Mr. Hades’ ways/Sister, it’s a bitter wine-Spit it out while you still have time/Take it from a woman of my age/Love is not a gilded cage/All the wealth within these walls/Will never buy the thing called love/Love was when he came to me/Begging on his bended knees/To please have pity on his heart/And let him lay me in the dirt.../I felt his arms around me then/We didn’t need a wedding bed/Dark seeds scattered on the ground/The wild birds were flying around/That’s when I became his wife/But that was in another life/That was in another world/When I was a young girl!-> [Cut entirely]

ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS

In the fever of a world in flame/in the season of the hurricane/flood'll get ya if the fire dont/any way the wind blows/Sister gone gone the [nomad*]'s route/brother gone gone for a job down south/gone the same way as the shanty town/and the traveling show/any way the wind blows

In the valley of the exodut/in the belly of a bowl of dust/crows and buzzards fly in a row/any way the wind blows-> [replaced by hermes's exposition on the fates]

*initial use of the word g*psy, which is a slur against the roma/romani people. mitchell was unaware of the hateful connotations and cut the lyric once made aware.

[theshockinglyeloquentdog]

[hopecel]

[thesweetnessofspring]

The last tribute alive receives a life of ease back home, and their district will be showered with prizes, largely consisting of food. All year, the Capitol will show the winning district gifts of grain and oil and even delicacies like sugar while the rest of us battle starvation.

HungerTown 14/?

[singerorpheus]

15 songs on the album, 5 of 18 songs from act ii 😭 say it isnt true 😭

[holly-mckenzie]

Are you always this confident? When I look at you I am. When you look at me, what do you see? Someone stronger than me, somebody who survive. So why should I become your wife? Because I make you feel alive. That’s worth a lot... What else you got?

nytw hadestown appreciation  →  Come Home With Me (Non-Album Track)

[jaxs-beanie]

Got some new Hadestown memes from Vermont, NYTW, Edmonton, Broadway, and the tour! :)

[trobeds]

to know how it ends and still begin to sing it again road to hell + road to hell ii, hadestown

[optimistic-autistic]

hadestown cats again. this time the nytw ones. beloveds <33