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to-know-how-it-ends · 2 years

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Hadestown Thoughts

- .Hello fellow humans (and intelligent cats) of tumblr! I saw Hadestown on Broadway exactly 12 days ago and I have some thoughts. It was my first Broadway musical in my entire life and it was absolutely the most amazing thing I’ve ever witnessed/heard since... December last year when I saw Wicked on tour. Let’s go song by song to show just how much of a masterpiece this is.

Road to Hell:

- All of the actors just burst from the entrance door thingies and the wings! wowww. It felt so casual but so awesome

- T. Oliver Reid was Hermes and he had such a remarkable stage presence, like gosh, that’s good.

- I was a bit confused about the setup because it kind of looked to me like Hermes was a teacher and the chorus and Eurydice (Eva!!!!) were high school students. Maybe it’s just me. But then it all made sense.

- Hermes stops at every member of the chorus, doing handshakes, fistbumps, etc., and then he stops at Eurydice and puts his hand on her shoulder, and lingers for a moment, as if he’s regretful for the story having to happen yet again

- then he faces the audience, does that little lapel thing, unbuttons his suit (really shiny and i want it), puts his hands on his hips, and goes “alright!” to the chorus and then to the audience who repeats it back. Instantly drew us in, the fourth wall has officially been obliterated. I know Andre de Shields did an “aight” as opposed to “alright”, but it still had the same effect

- T. Oliver Reid’s mustache.

- the trombone player is a gift to this world

- It’s a sad song -- in the jumpiest tune ever

- this is really random but I really liked the yellow dress that the violin player was wearing

- when Hermes calls Orpheus and he misses his cue because he’s so focused on that red shmata and then he gives that cute little wave

- when Reeve and Eva pause in front of one another and Orpheus just has plain heart eyes

Any Way the Wind Blows

- the fates! the harmonies! my god. They were fantastic! Soara-Joye Ross was Atropos, and she had such a beautiful low voice. Jessie Shelton played Laechesis (hope i’m not totally butchering the spelling) and she had such an interesting mixture of joy and haunting. She had this huge taunting smile, and she seemed to love it whenever she could manipulate people. Literally amazing. Kay Trinidad (nothing like the OBC) was Clotho, and I feel like she brought the group together. She was mystical and creepy. And also seemingly very cold.

- Eva Noblezada is a blessing unto this earth. I mean it. And her voice! Ahhhh! From the literal heavens.

- I don’t know why this part always sticks out to me and some people might not notice it, but there are 3 notes in the word “blows”, and when Eva sings it they all flow together seamlessly, like pouring water into a glass. She could be a disney princess and outshine all of them. She can do amazing belts and also go very low and high. She can do anything. In case you couldn’t tell, I’m just a little bit in love with her.

- also if you look really close, on the candle that Eurydice lights there are flower designs -- my inner English teacher says good symbolism and also foreshadowing

- also, (wow i say that a lot) the acting in this (and the rest of the show) is incredible. I’ve seen a bunch of musicals in person before this (never on Broadway though), and while, granted, the acting is good, they act the relationships well, it’s very clearly acting. I don’t know what makes this so different but here it feels real, not fake. Maybe because Reeve and Eva are actually dating lol.

- ooooooh.

Come Home With Me

- Orpheus is a sweetheart. I’m also a little bit in love with him too. You know that a musical is good when you’re in love with both of the leads.

- I didn’t think I’d like him originally, but (like Eurydice) I fell in love in spite of myself

- Orpheus is adorable

- You can sense Hermes’ admiration of him, even if Orpheus is always like this

- when the chorus starts singing behind Orpheus. Someone said this in another review, and it’s very true: (i’m paraphrasing) It’s cool to see the balance of how awkward Orpheus is alongside how he commands attention with every note he sings

- also another thing -- in ancient greek epics, it was common for a chorus to sing behind the hero so I liked that symbolism

- That little scooch across the table Eva does when she’s like “oh, he’s craaazy”

Wedding Song

- I love the balance between Eurydice’s teasing and Orpheus’ earnestness and naivete

- Have I mentioned how adorable Orpheus is?

- when Eurydice is like “you wanna take me home?” and pulls down her coat to show her shoulder. tee hee. and orpheus totally misses the innuendo and is like Yes!

- He’s such a sweetie

- Reeve’s falsetto! I swear everyone in the cast has a voice straight from the heavens.

- La la la la la la la...

- When the chorus moves the tables for Orpheus to walk on in his ethereal state as Eurydice just looks on in awe

- I’ve watched a bunch of slime tutorials by now (only 12 days wow), and I know that the flower comes out of his hand, but I have to admit that when I was watching it I must have not been paying good enough attention because at first there was nothing in his hand, and then I blinked and there was

- that flower is beautiful by the way. I was recently visiting my grandparents and my Zaidy (grandfather) has a beautiful garden. I asked him if next year he could plant carnations but he wrinkled his nose and said that carnations were tacky flowers that don’t have a smell and that if you gave them to somebody it would be like an insult. But my mother likes them so I’ll get them for her. They will always be beautiful to me.

- And then at the end Eurydice’s face when she looks at him like, “Maybe he is everything he’s all cracked up to be. And even if he’s not, it’s kinda cute.”

Epic I

- I don’t have a lot of notes on this one except Reeve’s gift-from-god voice

- and also the sweet Orpheus/Hermes father/son relationship

- another difference i noticed from the soundtrack and seeing it live is that a lot of the words blend together when he’s singing in falsetto. Like when he says “And he fell in love with a beautiful lady” It sounds kind of like “beautifalady” but I actually prefer that because to me it sounds more raw, like it’s coming entirely out of him and not a songbook

Livin’ It Up On Top

- Jewelle Blackman as Persephone is a force to be reckoned with. I’m not going to compare versions as to which one is better but I will say that the way Amber Gray and Jewelle play Persephone differ greatly

- Jewelle used to play Atropos, so you know she has a MUCH deeper voice than Amber’s, but she does the same gritty things with her voice during certain lines like Amber.

- Eurydice’s reluctance to dance and then her getting right in the middle of it

- Persephone instantly clinging to Eurydice and giving her some alcohol from her flask, and then Eurydice’s surprised gasp lol

- The way Persephone lovingly touches Orpheus every time he passes her

- The way Eurydice looked at Orpheus when he gave her and Persephone cups, like “Oh, he’s so thoughtful...”

All I’ve Ever Known

- The mother of all love songs except perhaps As Long As You’re Mine. Actually no. This one is better

- The way they hold one another! Ahhhh my heart

- Like they simply can’t stay apart from one another, they live for the other

- that violin solo and the love ballet

Way Down Hadestown

- I knew this song was in the musical before I saw it because it’s in all the ads but I had no idea of the context

- How Orpheus and Eurydice are lying on the ground and holding one another for half the song and then the other half just hugging and making out because they’re totally oblivious to the change

- Basically singing that everything’s going wrong to the tune of sesame street

- the umbrella

- Jewelle’s forced smile when she says “you’re early”

- When Hades says “I missed ya” in his crazily low voice. It’s even lower now, probably because Patrick Page has aged. hehehe that rhymed

- When Eurydice says “Kinda makes you wonder how it feels” and then Hades lowers his shades and turns to her, and then Orpheus literally jumps in front of her

skipping a gathering storm because it’s like three seconds long and it’s usually always the same except Eurydice sounds more understanding and trusting in this than she does in the soundtrack and slime tutorials

Epic II

- when I tell you how much this song broke my heart

- And Orpheus’ empathy my gosh. How he’s able to empathize with Hades who is so different from him. It sounds like he’s the only one who truly understands how Hades is feeling

- La la la la la la la

- la la la la la la la

- that’s it

Chant

- by far the best song in the musical

- highlights every single perspective:

Persephone -- in shock of how much has changed in the underworld and how unnatural all this manufactured light and heat is so she’s trying to numb herself from it with wine, she cannot believe that this is what has become of the man she once fell in love with “I don’t know you anymore”

Hades -- the fact that he’s doing this all out of love for Persephone, to mimic the sunlight on earth so that she’ll want to stay, but he’s so blinded that he’s allowing himself to go down a very dark and dare I say evil (but somewhat i don’t want to say understandable but like you see why) path and he’s sort of jealous of her devotion to the people on earth

Orpheus -- trying desperately to finish the song, all he wants is to protect Eurydice with it, all he wants is for her to be safe and have everything he promised her because he feels she deserves it so much that he himself has also blinded into oblivion and can’t get the focus off the song. What he doesn’t realize is that they need food and shelter and fire now, but he’s just so swept up. Was that wrong? Yes, but he’s not to blame though he will blame himself. If I hear any hate for Orpheus I have an orange belt in Tai Shin Do -- that’s all I’m saying

Eurydice -- Orpheus showed her the way the world could be and she’s trying in spite of her gut to see that, to trust that Orpheus is going to “shelter us”, but she knows how the world is. She’s more cynical, but also more reasonable, and Orpheus isn’t helping to provide because he’s so stuck on his song which leaves her as the main provider until his song is done. She’s losing everything, and as the wind grows, her hope lessens and she becomes more desperate, and as everyone knows, desperate times call for desperate measures...

Hermes -- trying to get Orpheus out of his head, perhaps I can change the direction of the story, maybe it can go right this time, but I feel like by the time Orpheus has the a-ha moment and says “The gods have forgotten the song of their love”, and Hermes turns away, he knows that Orpheus has lost himself completely and there’s nothing he can do

The Fates -- acting as the doubt in Eurydice’s head and the wind, taking away everything she and Orpheus has, and you feel awful as they pull off Eurydice’s coat

The Workers -- Their chant is so ominous “Keep your head low” and that fact that the reason they are working is because of how much Hades has been changed because of his blindness and jealousy because of his love for Persephone

- I just love that all the parts blend together. Visually, it’s a masterpiece, with all the turntables being used and the thingy that brings people up and down in the middle

- eva’s pure desperation

- the way it seems like orpheus is really trying to get the sound right, he’s repeating himself and scrunching up his face desperately

Hey, Little Songbird

- Oh man, Patrick Page’s voice is like a massage on your brain

- But it is so, so creepy

- as is the song which is kinda the point

- It makes it look like he’s trying to seduce Eurydice

- You really get a sense of Eva’s range in this song. In four lines, she basically uses all of it, and I feel like that’s sort of the symbolism for Eurydice giving everything she has if you think about it but that could just be me.

- Like the low part in “Wasn’t it gonna be the two of us?” and then the high “weren’t” in “Weren’t we birds of a feather”

- I love all the bird analogies in it, like of course with the songbird thing, but then “I wanna fly down and feed at his hand, I want a nice soft place to land”

- The pure grief and desperation (i use this word a lot) in her voice

- “songbird vs. rattlesnake” kinda interesting when you think about it that the reason Eurydice went down to the Underworld in the original myth was because she was bitten by a snake on her wedding day and now she’s being lured down by a metaphorical “snake”, Hades

- “see how the vipers and vultures surround you” - this song is very reminiscent to me of Eicha (איכה) where it basically uses metaphors like this to describe the exile of the Jewish people

- Hades is also doing this as a kind of petty way to get back at Persephone

- God, Hades is so creepy

When The Chips Are Down

- there is so much I love about this song

- the vocals! Ahhhh! they were perfect! PERFECT and so spicy!

- the taunting, ooh. You never know whether or not to love or hate the Fates in this, but it still stands that they have the best harmonies in the show

- When they say “You got a knife in the back”, and then Eurydice acts like she’s literally been stabbed in the back. You can actually see the pain and tears on her face and feel it in your chest. Or, at least I could.

- “you can have your principles when you’ve got a belly full” -- there was an interview with the cast where reeve was saying something like “The point of the show is not that people say, oh that’s what she would do, that’s what they would do in hadestown, but can you honestly say that you would?” Someone said this somewhere, can’t remember, but if the choice is between x and survival, it’s not really a choice. What they’re really saying in this song and actually throughout the entire show is they’re using the characters as a vessel to challenge you, would you really have been able to do it any differently, honestly? Can you say that you’d be better?

Gone, I’m Gone

- not many notes, just the single tear that fell onto the stage. Like gosh. That’s not acting, that’s real

- Hermes wears glasses

Wait For Me

- I knew this song from the ads but, like Way Down Hadestown, I didn’t know the context.

- Visually a work of art

- the swinging lanterns! Oh my gosh.

- Hermes gets very stern in this. It’s almost like he’s mocking Orpheus a little bit, idrk what to think. Because like after he does that, he’s immediately helping him.

- i wonder what it tastes like to have your mouth stuffed with cotton

- orpheus’ desperate “noooo” when hermes is like, “But I guess you weren’t listening”

- The flower and how lovingly and desperately (there I go again with desperate but it seems like the main word of the musical) orpheus holds it out, like that’s his piece of Eurydice and he needs to be back together with her, he can’t bear to be without her

- The fates starting to also be a part of Orpheus’ story, acting as his doubt “who are you? where do you think you’re going? who are you to think that you can walk a road that no one’s ever walked before” and he’s like screw you, anything for my love

- the lights start swelling as Orpheus sings la la la la la la la

- when the stage opens up... the whole audience collectively gasped

- the last verse and everything about it -- “I’m coming!”

- I was a bit confused why this wasn’t the end of act 1 because it was a showstopper, and I still am a little bit confused, but I think the next song is worth it for the last song of act 1 and i will tell you why.

Why We Build The Wall

- what I think is so funny is that this song was written in 2006

- and it’s a kind of political musical. How did anais kind of prophesize Trump?

- that low voice, holy cow

- the fact that Hades refers to his workers as his children

- and the fact that the thing they are building to keep out poverty is the same thing they think that poverty wants

- But. I want to repeat something that Reeve Carney once said in an interview (he says the most meaningful things): “Oftentimes, physical walls are merely manifestations of emotional walls within oneself”

Carney: “Walls that we build against intimacy, togetherness, unity, all those things. I mean, there's so many walls you can build that prevent you from feeling something. That's where I think it starts. And our show deals those themes. I mean ... love, fear, hope, trust, doubt." and then Patrick Page: "And the world now is so complex and moving so fast and so scary, that it's not surprising to me that people would want to think, 'Oh, well there's a solution. We will simply build this barrier and will keep all of the good people inside and we'll put all of the bad people on the outside and we'll be safe.' That's what Hades is appealing to.”

I don’t think I can add any more, what they said is so perfectly true.

Wait one more Patrick quote:

"Any time you have someone who's trying to hold onto power, which is what my character is doing, he's trying at that moment to build up his own sense of himself, his own sense of power, because his relationship is threatened. Political things come from personal things, so he's feeling threatened in his personal life. He goes out and holds a rally in which he gets everyone to chant about building a wall."

- oh and this is why it’s a good ending - we set the scene for act 2 and Persephone gets to say “Anybody want a drink?” before intermission

end act 1

Our Lady of the Underground

- Jewelle and the vocals! wowww!!!!

- there’s a CRACK IN THE WAaaALLLllLlL!

- I wonder if Hades knew anything about this. Like there’s no way he’d allow his wife to run a speakeasy for his workers

Way Down Hadestown (Reprise)

- we see Eurydice in her worker’s uniform, but she doesn’t have the head-cover-goggly-thing that the other workers do.

- Eurydice doesn’t understand why they’re working -- she introduces herself to the workers and is like what are you doing, we’re free?

- then the Fates reveal what Hadestown really is -- freedom to spend eternity as basically a slave

- “your eyes will look like that someday” -- and Eurydice is like i have to go back and then the Fates mock her for already losing her memories of the past

- the fact that they sang this already but they sing it slower and then Eurydice understands -- no hate to Eurydice of course, but it’s kind of like when you say something slower so a younger person can understand. it’s sort of meant to be played as taunting and condescending

Flowers

- gut-wrenching

- my god

- so so so sad

- and the one thing she remembers is flowers and the fact that she has a lover. the symbolism!!!!!

Come Home With Me (Reprise)

- Literally two seconds after Eurydice sings her grief ballad and says come and find me, Orpheus runs through the audience and goes up to the stage and comes and finds her. I was in the mezzanine, so I didn’t see him run through but that must have been a treat for the people in orchestra seats

- I love the repetition, and of course the “It’s you,” “It’s me,” “Orpheus,” “Eurydice!” and then they rush into an embrace, they have longed to hold each other for so long and now they can’t let go.

- “You heard me?”

“...no.”

- Orpheus thinks he can get her out and is so confused why they can’t just leave

Papers

- The look of complete betrayal and fear and grief when he says it isn’t true and then Eurydice confirms that she belongs to Hades

- Orpheus still presses on, and immediately asks to take her home

- Hades’ laugh. An evil laugh if I ever heard one. But I started laughing too. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I don’t know why.

- Persephone’s trying to defend him but to no avail

- Everybody beats up poor Orpheus! noooo. Also, during the beatup scene, were they like smearing red makeup on his face that we couldn’t see? Because I am pretty certain he has more cuts and bruises after the fight and he doesn’t leave the stage once during that whole encounter

Nothing Changes

- the fates and their vocals can never be topped

- they are always taunting everyone. They’re like the murphy’s law voice in your head -- anything that can go wrong will go wrong, why try to fight it

If It’s True

- I’m pretty sure this is what you call the 11 ‘o clock number. Like No Good Deed in Wicked. Even if it’s not, it has the same effect.

- so incredibly inspiring.

- sweet little orpheus has seen how the world is but still he clings to the hope that things can change and unintentionally starts a strike

- a song of hope, resistance, and resilience

- reeve’s voice, ahhh like powerful magic

How Long

- This is the song I repeat the most because it’s pretty much the only female song I feel comfortable singing with the voice that I have

- with jewelle how long is very very very low and it sounds amazing

- It’s so beautiful

- The metaphors!

All of his sorrow won’t fit in his chest - figurative

It just burns like a fire in the pit of his chest - simile

And his heart is a bird on a spit in his chest - metaphor

How long, how long, how long

- I also love the repetition of chest chest chest, bed bed bed, and sky sky sky

- and how they duet at the end

- “The sun must go on rising” and the riff on rising is another brain massage

- shows how they both feel about their relationship and also as a parallel to orpheus and eurydice’s

Chant (Reprise)

- is almost as good as the first chant and is still amazing

- I wish they still kept Persephone’s part in it though so she could add to Eurydice’s parallel

- the worker’s singing

- you can’t really detect that much of a tune from Hades’ voice live, probably because Patrick Page aged, but still it sounds awesome

- “I CONDUCT THE ELECTRIC CITY!!!!”

- Hades is very scary

Epic III

- the best of the epics in my opinion

- you get the whole finished la la la song with all the parts come together, and with reeve’s voice and the entire company singing backup it is vocal gold.

- talk about killing them with kindness.

- like how a poor, young, beaten up boy in love manages to break down the shell of a mighty king simply by empathizing with him. he really did have a gift to give.

- and the parallel “It was like you were holding the world when you held her” to “suddenly I’m holding the world in my arms” and just the two love stories coming together

- when Hermes says, “and brother, you know what they did” the way t. oliver reid says it, it sounds like an innuendo. the audience cracked up.

- the cello and violin during Hades and Persephone’s dance and Orpheus accompanying them

- when the flower appears for Hades

Promises

- orpheus - “now what do i do?”

- re-affirming their love for one another

- Orpheus immediately doubting that Eurydice would want to stay with him after he wasn’t able to keep the promises he made in the Wedding Song and All I’ve Ever Known, asking are you sure you want to come back, I wasn’t able to provide for you -- “take me home”

- Eurydice immediately reassuring him

- the fact that it’s to the same tune as “say that you’ll hold me forever” in all I’ve ever known

- Hades and Persephone hugging and dancing the entire time

Word To the Wise

- Hades faces a dilemma here -- if I don’t let them go, i’ll be seen as a heartless man and my workers will view him as a martyr for their cause and will continue to fight, and if i do let them go, I’ll never get my workers in line again and will be considered spineless

- also, orpheus’ song touched him so much that it rebuilt his relationship with Persephone, so of course he feels pity for him and wants to let them go, but how can he do so without letting a revolution happen?

- fates vocals are of course top notch

- It’s kind of funny that word to the wise only has that line in it once and that doesn’t really have anything to do with the song

His Kiss, the Riot

- Hades makes his decision -- he will let them go but make it a journey that he doesn’t believe a even a god could ever face -- it’s a very difficult challenge, but it can still be beat with the right amount of trust

- interesting tidbit - the tune to “Who lays all the best laid plans” is the same tune that acts as sort of a theme whenever Hades comes in instrumentally.

Wait For Me (Reprise)

- I really love the line that Hermes says “the dog you really gotta dread, is the one that howls inside your head, it’s him who’s howling drives men mad, and a mind to its undoing”. He is, of course, referring to doubt, and how one can get stuck inside their head. This is fOrEsHaDoWiNggg....

- Orpheus and Eurydice holding each other for as long as they can until they have to let go.

- All the workers following Orpheus

- Persephone and Hades -- “Wait for me?” “I will.” We see their story end on a hopeful note, which I really like.

- and then everyone sings WAIT FOR ME and my god the emotion

- eva’s belt!

Doubt Comes In

- originally, when the fates start making him question himself, that’s just how it is but now when orpheus sings them out loud it shows he’s giving voice to these thoughts

- like what if this is a trick. I can’t see or hear or feel the presence of eurydice and the workers? What if Hades took them all back without me knowing, why would he, the king of the underworld, willingly let them go for a poor boys song. we know from greek mythology that the gods are not above tricking mere mortals, they’ve done it plenty of times for this to be a valid doubt. It could also be, why would eurydice even want to follow me? I wasn’t able to provide for her, why would she want me anymore, he blames himself for her going down to hadestown in the first place

- eurydice’s calls to him sound so beautiful, clear, and reassuring, and really highlight eva’s voice in all the best ways, but can orpheus actually hear her? i don’t know if that’s actually ever specified.

- when orpheus says “is this a trap that’s being played on me,” the vocals are so so good, another brain massage

- and when he says “I used to see the way the world could be, but now the way it is is all i see” he’s lost all hope, his experience has broken him, he can’t be naive or hopeful anymore, he feels so compelled that he must...

- he looks back and the audible gasp from the audience as the ground beneath eurydice starts sinking once more, and their final words to each other “it’s you” “it’s me. orpheus!” “eurydice...”

- gut punch. I’m dead, I’m crying, they’re crying, Eurydice is gone and Orpheus is knelt to the ground where she sank.

Road to Hell (Reprise)

- It’s a sad song.

- It’s a sad tale.

- It’s a tragedy.

- But we sing it anyway. (gaaaahhh the tears)

- Cause here’s the thing.

To know how it ends

And still begin to sing it again

As if it might turn out this time

I learned that from a friend of mine

- I liked how they started it again - Eurydice comes back in and asks for a match. It feels very full circle - which is the point.

- He could make you see how the world could be

In spite of the way that it is

Can you see it? (the trombone here, beginning, swelling, signifying hope and new beginnings)

Can you hear it? (more trombone -- everybody bless the trombone guy)

Can you feel it! (the way T. Oliver Reid says this -- kind of like Andre, but also with a lot more vigor)

Like a train... Is it coming?

Is it coming this way?

- and then we see that orpheus has indeed brought spring back -- just as he promised, and the chorus are back on stage in their normal clothes -- not as workers, as people starting once more

- and persephone comes back.

- It’s a love song

- orpheus and eurydice have the repeat of their bump into one another at the beginning

- and everything begins once more

- and we’re gonna sing it

We’re gonna sing it again.

And that’s just the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I can’t get it out of my system and I don’t want to. If you’ve stuck long enough to read this entire thing, bravo. I worked two days on this, so I appreciate it.

#hadestown #orpheus hadestown #eurydice hadestown #orphydice #hermes hadestown #hades hadestown #persephone hadestown #fates hadestown #reeve carney #eva noblezada #jewelle blackman #t. oliver reid #patrick page #soara-joye ross #jessie shelton #kay trinidad

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gladiates · 4 years

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175+ non-Western literature recommendations to diversify your academia, organized by continent + country

I love world literature, and I’ve been frustrated by the lack of representation of it in literature + academia communities on tumblr, so here are some recommendations. I haven’t read all of these myself yet, but the ones I have are excellent and the ones I haven’t come highly recommended from Goodreads and are on my to-read list!

With the exception of anthologies of older works, all of these books were written before 2000 (some literally thousands of years earlier), since I’m less familiar with super contemporary literature. Also, I only included each writer once, though many of them have multiple amazing books. I’m sure there are plenty of incredible books I’m missing, so please feel free to add on to this list! And countries that aren’t included absolutely have a lot to offer as well--usually, it was just hard to find books available in English translation (which all of the ones below are.)

List below the cut (it’s my first post with a cut so let’s hope I do it right... and also warning that it’s super long)

ASIA:

Bangladesh:

Pather Panchali by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay (1929)

China:

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (6th century BCE)

The Art of War by Sun Tzu (5th century BCE)

The Analects by Confucius (circa 5th-4th century BCE?)

The Book of Chuang Tzu by Zhuangzi (4th century BCE)

Mencius by Mencius (3rd century BCE)

The Songs of the South: An Anthology of Ancient Chinese Poems by Qu Yuan and Other Poets (2nd century AD)

Li Po and Tu Fu: Poems by Li Po and Tu Fu (written 8th century AD)

Poems of Wang Wei (8th century AD)

Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong (14th century AD)

Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling (1740)

Dream of the Red Chamber by Xueqin Cao (1791)

Six Records of a Floating Life by Shen Fu (1809)

Diary of a Madman and Other Stories by Lu Xun (1918)

Mr Ma and Son by Lao She (1929)

Family by Ba Jin (1933)

Love in a Fallen City by Eileen Chang (1943)

A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy by Wing-Tsit Chan (1963)

Red Sorghum by Mo Yan (1987)

Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian (1989)

The Big Red Book of Modern Chinese Literature edited by Yunte Huang (anthology, 2016)

India:

The Rig Vega (1500-1200 BCE)

The Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita (around 400 BCE but not known exactly. The Gita is part of the Mahabharata)

The Upanishads (REALLY wide date range)

The Dhammapada (3rd century BCE)

The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way by Nāgārjuna (2nd century AD)

The Recognition of Sakuntala by Kālidāsa (4th century AD)

The Way of the Bodhisattva by Santideva (700 AD)

Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore (1910)

Annihilation of Caste by B.R. Ambedkar (1936)

The Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru (1946)

Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh (1956)

A Source Book in Indian Philosophy by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Charles Alexander Moore (1957)

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (1981)

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (1993)

Women Writing in India: 600 BC to the Present V: The Twentieth Century by Susie J. Tharu and K. Lalita (1993)

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (1995)

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (1996)

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (1999)

Indian Philosophy in English: From Renaissance to Independence (anthology, 2011)

Indonesia:

The Weaverbirds by Y.B. Mangunwijaya (1981)

Iran:

Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings by Abolqasem Ferdowsi (11th century AD)

The Essential Rumi by Rumi (13th century AD)

The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat (1936)

Savushun by Simin Daneshvar (1969)

My Uncle Napoleon by Iran Pezeshkzad (1973)

Missing Soluch by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi (1979)

Iraq:

Fifteen Iraqi Poets edited by Dunya Mikhail (published 2013 but the poems are 20th century)

Japan:

The Ink Dark Moon: Love Poems by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu (9th-10th century AD)

The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon (1002 AD)

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu (1008 AD)

The Tale of the Heike, unknown (12th century AD)

One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each: A Treasury of Classical Japanese Verse (not sure of year)

Essays in Idleness by Yoshida Kenkō (1332)

Kokoro by Natsume Sōseki (1914)

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai (1948)

Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata (1948)

The Makioka Sisters by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1948)

Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima (1949)

Masks by Fumiko Enchi (1958)

The Woman in the Dunes by Kōbō Abe (1962)

A Personal Matter by Kenzaburō Ōe (1964)

Silence by Shūsaku Endō (1966)

Korea (written before the division into North/South):

The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong (written 1795-1805)

Lebanon:

Samarkand by Amin Maalouf (1988)

Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury (1998)

Pakistan:

We Sinful Women: Contemporary Urdu Feminist Poetry (1991)

The Rebel's Silhouette: Selected Poems by Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1991)

The Taste of Words: An Introduction to Urdu Poetry edited by Raza Mir (2014)

Palestine:

Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories by Ghassan Kanafani (1963)

Orientalism by Edward Said (1978)

I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti (1997)

Mural by Mahmoud Darwish (2000, which technically breaks my rule by a year but it’s great)

Philippines:

Noli Me Tángere by José Rizal (1887)

Saudi Arabia:

Cities of Salt by Abdul Rahman Munif (1984)

Sri Lanka:

Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai (1994)

Syria:

Damascus Nights by Rafik Schami (1989)

Taiwan:

Last Words from Montmartre by Qiu Miaojin (1996)

Turkey:

My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk (1998)

Vietnam:

Spring Essence: The Poetry of Hô Xuân Huong by Hô Xuân Huong (1801)

The Tale of Kieu by Nguyen Du (1820)

Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong (1988)

Miscellaneous Asia (country unclear or multiple current day countries):

The Epic of Gilgamesh (circa 1800 BCE)

Myths from Mesopotamia translated by Stephanie Dailey

The Arabian Nights (as early as the 9th century AD, lots of changes over the years)

The Qur’an

AFRICA:

Algeria:

Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade by Assia Djebar (1985)

The Bridges of Constantine by Ahlam Mosteghanemi (1993)

Cameroon:

Houseboy by Ferdinand Oyono (1956)

Egypt:

The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems 1940 - 1640 B.C. translated by R.B. Parkinson

Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz (1956)

The Sinners by Yusuf Idris (1959)

Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi (1975)

The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif (1999)

Ghana:

Our Sister Killjoy by Ama Ata Aidoo (1977)

Two Thousand Seasons by Ayi Kwei Armah (1979)

In My Father’s House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture by Kwame Anthony Appiah (1992)

Guinea:

The Radiance of the King by Camara Laye (1954)

Kenya:

A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thing'o (1994)

The River and the Source by Margaret A. Ogola (1995)

Libya:

The Bleeding of the Stone by Ibrahim al-Koni (1990)

Mali:

The Fortunes of Wangrin by Amadou Hampâté Bâ (1973)

Nigeria:

The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola (1952)

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (1958)

Efuru by Flora Nwapa (1966)

The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta (1979)

Aké: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka (1981)

Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English by Ken Saro-Wiwa (1985)

The Famished Road by Ben Okri (1991)

Senegal:

God’s Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembène (1960)

So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ (1981)

Somalia:

Maps by Nuruddin Farah (1986)

South Africa:

When Rain Clouds Gather by Bessie Head (1969)

Fools and Other Stories by Njabulo S. Ndebele (1986)

Sudan:

Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (1966)

Tunisia:

The Colonizer and the Colonized by Albert Memmi (1957)

Zimbabwe:

The House of Hunger by Dambudzo Marechera (1978)

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (1988)

Miscellaneous Africa:

The Granta Book of the African Short Story edited by Helon Habila (2011)

The Penguin Book of Modern African Poetry edited by Gerald Moore and Ulli Beier (1963)

AMERICAS:

Antigua and Barbuda:

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid (1988)

Argentina:

Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges (1944)

Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar (1963)

The Museum of Eterna’s Novel (The First Good Novel) by Macedonio Fernández (1967)

Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig (1976)

The Sixty-Five Years of Washington by Juan José Saer (1985)

How I Became a Nun by César Aira (1993)

Thus Were Their Faces by Silvina Ocampo (2015 but written earlier)

Brazil:

Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis (1900)

Chronicle of the Murdered House by Lúcio Cardoso (1959)

Dona Flor and her Two Husbands by Jorge Amado (1966)

Pedagagy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire (1968)

The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector (1977)

Vast Emotions and Imperfect Thoughts by Rubem Fonseca (1988)

Chile:

The Obscene Bird of Night by José Donoso (1970)

Emergency Poems by Nicanor Parra (1972)

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (1982)

Colombia:

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (1967)

Cuba:

The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier (1949)

Cold Tales by Virgilio Piñera (1958)

Dominican Republic:

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez (1994)

Guatemala:

Men of Maize by Miguel Ángel Asturias (1949)

I, Rigoberta Menchú by Rigoberta Menchú (1985)

Guadalupe (part of France but overseas):

I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé (1986)

Haiti:

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwige Danticat (1994)

Jamaica:

No Telephone to Heaven by Michelle Cliff (1987)

The True History of Paradise by Margaret Cezair-Thompson (1999)

Martinique (part of France but overseas):

Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire (1950)

Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon (1961)

Poetics of Relation by Édouard Glissant (1997)

Mexico:

Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo (1955)

Aura by Carlos Fuentes (1962)

The Hole by José Revueltas (1969)

Underground River and Other Stories by Inés Arredondo (1979)

The Collected Poems, 1957-1987 by Octavio Paz (1987)

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (1989)

Nicaragua:

Azul by Rubén Darío (1888)

Peru:

The Cardboard House by Martín Adán (1928)

The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa (1962)

The Complete Poems by César Vallejo (1968)

St. Lucia:

Omeros by Derek Walcott (1990)

Trinidad and Tobago:

The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution by C.L.R. James (1938)

A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul (1961)

Uruguay:

Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano (1971)

Venezuela:

Doña Bárbara by Rómulo Gallegos (1929)

Indigenous Writers from Canada and the United States:

American Indian Stories by Zitkála-Šá (Dakota) (1921)

Winter in the Blood by James Welch (Blackfeet and A’aninin) (1974)

Emplumada by Lorna Dee Cervantes (Chumash) (1982)

She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) (1982)

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich (Chippewa) (1984)

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo) (1986)

Custer Died for Your Sins by Vine Deloria Jr. (Dakota) (1988)

The Grass Dancer by Susan Power (Dakota) (1997)

Miscellaneous Americas:

And We Sold the Rain: Contemporary Fiction from Central America edited by Rosario Santos (1988)

Short Stories by Latin American Women: The Magic and the Real edited by Celia Correas de Zapata (2003)

Bordering Fires: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Mexican and Chicana and Chicano Literature edited by Cristina García (2006)

#dark academia #light academia #academia aesthetic #academic #academia #academics #studyblr #litblr #reading #books #booklr #literature #world literature #poc literature #writers of color #bookworm #bookaddict

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babtest · 2 years

Text

Yeah we all have brainrot, but do you have mad botanist brainrot?

So, I grow chili pepper plants as a hobby, and one of the things I like the most about it is the huge variety of plants you can get. This is just my harvest from last year, and I am pretty middle of the road.

And I did have an itching to start my own crossbreeding project, the actual planning of which coincided with the release of the funny pirate show.

And there are certain chili plants that I like to give to friends with goth-sensibilities, that grow very dark leaves and black fruit. There's also a type of chili pepper called The Scotch Bonnet. You can see where this is going. I could actually make a BlackBonnet plant. Let's all agree to stick with that shipname because this will take a couple years.

(ridiculous amount of info and pictures under the cut, this is partly for you and mostly for me)

"Surely," I thought "someone must have already made a BlackBonnet?" The Scotch Bonnets come in a huge variety, and chili enthusiasts like the Black Plants for their novelty. But no, the closest I can find is the 'Scotch Bonnet Guadalupe Black', which doesn't seem too popular and grows the usual green leaves. There are also a few 'chocolate' and 'brown' variants, but I believe we can go darker.

Anyway, these are the parents I'm working with:

"Scotch Bonnet Trinidad/ Trenton."

Scotch Bonnet chilis are a very popular, very hot variant of the type Capsicum Chinense. They come from the Caribbean but are named for the form of the fruit, which resembles the Scottish headwear.

Your mileage may vary on how accurate that is.

As you can see even from my little potted plant, the SB are very high yield, and their hotness and fruity aroma make them popular for sauces and powders. I'm using the Trenton FM (Gelb) and Trinidad(Red).

"Long Black Chili"

Now this I got from a seller who doesn't have the best reputation for breed purity. And then I collected seeds for two generations after I didn't do anything to prevent crossbreeding with a variant called Bolivian Rainbow, also famous for its dark leaves. So there's a good chance there's already some variety in here.

Anyway, my guess is that it started as a variant of Zimbabwe Black, an aanum that is well known for growing very dark leaves and fruit that turn from black to a nice deep red.

"But tumblr user babtest", you say, since you have immediately spotted the problem in my plan. "Capsicum Chinense and Capsicum Annuum are notoriously hard to crossbreed! Why not use another Chinense?"

Well, because I hadn't planned this when I got my seeds last december. And who'd start another crop mid-april because of some fandom nonsense?

So I ordered some seeds for the Pimenta de Neyde.

(Picture from Chilifee.de. Not the Seller i use, that'd be the amazing Semillas but the picture is a nice overview)

A beautiful dark Capsicum Chinense. We'll see how many I can actually grow this season, I'm only aiming to fill the two extra spots I have left on my windowsill, but it's a def. factor for next year.

Anyway, on the actual crossbreeding!

I'll be following this guide: https://www.fatalii.net/Growing_chile_peppers/Breeding

The goal: A Chili with dark leaves and stems, that grows black fruits in the typical round shape of a Scotch Bonnet.

'Male Parent' is the plant you take the pollen from, "Female Parent" is the one which germiates the seeds. The name for a new Breed is Female Parent x Male Parent so:

Oof, eight F1 (first generation hybrid) variants? I'll really need to step up my organisation game.

As far as I can tell, there's no majority opinion on which parents are more likely to retain which genes.

I'll be using both the SB Trenton (yellow) and SB trinidad (Red) because I have no clue which is more likely to take on the darker colours of the other parent plants.

There's also no telling how the fruits will turn out, so the first selection will be purely for leaf colour, then Fruit Colour and Shape. You keep the plants that show the attributes you want and collect seeds from them.

Since I'm selecting for several attributes (Plant colour, Fruit Shape, Fruit Colour), I might also crossbreed within the plants.

And as you know if you did Punnet squares, there's no guarantee that recessive genes won't come out in the 3rd and later Generations. So you rinse and repeat, select for attributes until the Breed is stabilized enough that (mutations notwithstanding) you get a reliable outcome. That averages between 5-15 generations. So. Not a short term project. But it's going to be fun.

And that is pretty much it. Yohoho, wish me luck.

#our flag means death #listen im only tagging this once for attention #the rest i'm just going to do sporadic updates we'll see how it goes #but i think it wil be fun #and if anyone within europe wants in hmu #this would be a nice project even without the show #but the connection makes it funnier

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galleryyuhself · 9 months

Text

Galleryyuhself - With a 'short' carnival season (February 12 and 13, 2024) Friends for the Road Jouvert as we say in Trinidad and Tobago....already sell out oui!

#galleryyuhself/Blaze the heat of Jouvert 2024 #galleryyuhself/launch lime done #galleryyuhself/jouvert in Trinidad and Tobago #galleryyuhself/2024 jouvert band launchings #tumblr/Friends for the road jouvert #tumblr/jouvert bands #tumblr/carnival 2024 #tumblr/lime #friends for the road #jouvert bands #jouvert #Trinidad and Tobago carnival 2024 #advertising for carnival 2024 #advertising

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strawberry-cloud-analyses · 3 years

Text

Theatre Thurs - April 15th

Hadestown is a musical that hit Broadway in March of 2019. Originally performed in Vermont in 2006, and with an earlier concept album coming out in 2010, the music and production of Hadestown has gone through a lot on the journey to Broadway. A Greek Tragedy with a Jazzy Twist, Hadestown has proven to be a success with audiences and critics alike.

And brother, thus begins the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice!

It’s a love song. It’s a love song!

It’s a tale of love from long ago

It’s a sad song. It’s a sad song!

But we’re gonna sing it even so

It’s an old song. It’s an old song!

It’s and old tale from way back when

And we’re gonna sing - We’re gonna sing

We’re gonna sing it again!

This is an introduction post to a four part series (six if you include the intro and conclusion) on Hadestown. Each part will cover ten songs in total, the introduction will cover more history and background, then the conclusion will cover more of my overall opinion on the show (spoiler- it’s really good).

Dropping music throughout the earlier months of 2019, as well as show clips and live performances really built up hype for this spectacular show. Once the whole soundtrack was released in July, it was on repeat for months on my Spotify and I’m sure I wasn’t alone in that.

Through multiple revisions of the musical as a whole, the story has remained mostly the same. It’s two Greek tragedies in one, and with a fun jazzy twist on top of that. Hadestown merges the stories of Orpheus (Reeve Carney) and Eurydice (Eva Noblezada), and Hades (Patrick Page) and Persephone (Amber Gray) to create one fluid and dynamic narrative on-stage.

Other cast members are Hermes, played by Andre De Shields, and the Fates who are currently played by Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzales-Nacer, and Kay Trinidad. There’s also a decently-sized ensemble, and a live band that plays on the stage for at least part of the show.

Nominated for fourteen Tony Awards, and winning eight of them including the all-important Best Musical and Best Original Score, Hadestown has been wowing audiences since its debut. It also has a spectacular set design, featuring a rotating stage and an in-floor elevator in the center.

I’ll further indulge my love for the lead’s and their voices in later posts, but a small mention to Noblezada’s gorgeous and powerful belting voice, and her insane range, as well as Page’s impressive lower register.

Hadestown is a new telling of classic Greek mythology (which I’ve always been obsessed with- you’ve been warned) that had spent a year on Broadway before everything got shut down. Here’s to hoping it comes back soon, I have see it before it goes off Broadway again!

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Here’s the first Theatre Thursday, Hadestown! It’s a little shorter then the other posts will be, since it’s just an Introduction to the next five TT posts. Next Week we’ll cover Road to Hell - A Gathering Storm.

Stay Sweet!

- Victoria Rodasta

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Next Week:

Miscellaneous Monday - Body by Mother Mother

Theatre Thursday - Hadestown Part One

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Follow me for more!

Insta: @strawberry.cloud.art - Tumblr: @strawberry-cloud-analyses

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searcher-69 · 3 years

Video

View this post on Instagram

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#Repost - @ttguardian by @get_regrammer Police officers in San Fernando conduct a road block exercise at the top of High Street during curfew hours today. 🎥 Rishi Ragoonath was there! #trinidadandtobago #curfew #sanfernando (at Trinidad and Tobago) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQT8U3ygwL4/?utm_medium=tumblr

#repost #trinidadandtobago #curfew #sanfernando

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druid-for-hire · 5 years

Audio

HADESTOWN, BROADWAY, Apr 25th 2019

Reeve Carney as Orpheus; Eva Noblezada as Eurydice; Amber Gray as Persephone; Patrick Page as Hades; André de Shields as Hermes; Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzales-Nacer, Kay Trinidad as the Fates; Afra Hines, Timothy Hughes, John Krause, Kimberly Marable, Ahmad Simmons as Workers Chorus.

Liam Robinson as Conductor/on piano/accordion; Dana Lyn on violin; Marika Hughes on cello; Michael Chorney on guitar; Brian Drye on trombone/glockenspiel; Robinson Morse on double bass; Ben Perowsky on the drums/percussion.

NOTE: I had to cut this down for Tumblr’s data restrains. Here’s the drive link to the full (and tumblr will kill me if I embed it): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SUwLtIv_4ehvDrRQa0b6-l6CSGLuBaM1/view?usp=sharing (If for some reason it doesn’t work, try opening it in a Chrome incognito window.)

Notes & lyrics:

(Note: these lyrics are directly transcribed out of the audio and i’m going off my memory, so there may be inaccuracies.)

[Persephone begins packing up her things on the balcony. Hades leads his elbow on the railing and his head on his hand, despairing her leave.]

HERMES And on the road to hell, there was a lotta waitin’

WORKERS CHORUS Mmmmm... Waiting

HERMES Everybody waitin’ on the train

CHORUS Mmmmm... Waitin’ on the lady with the...

HERMES Waiting on the train to bring that lady

CHORUS Mmmmm... Waiting

HERMES With her suitcase packed again She’s never early, always

HERMES & CHORUS Waiting

CHORUS Waiting...

HERMES These days she never stays for long But good things come to those who wait

[The train whistle sounds at the same time spotlights burst to life, which swirl around on the audience and the stage. The wall lights change to yellow-gold.]

Here she comes!

[The spotlights all land on Persephone.]

PERSEPHONE Well, it’s like he said, I’m an outdoor girl!

HERMES And you’re late again.

PERSEPHONE Married to the king of the underworld

[Persephone tosses a bouquet into the air, which one of the Chorus people catch.]

HERMES She’s forgotten a little thing called Spring...

PERSEPHONE Are you wonderin’ where I’ve been?

[Persephone crosses down into the bar and to center downstage.]

CHORUS - Yeah! - Where you been? - I’m wonderin’!

PERSEPHONE Been to hell and back again But like my mama always said Oh, when you’re down, you’re down When you’re up, you’re up If you ain’t six feet underground You’re livin’ it up on top

[Persephone sheds her coat; Orpheus takes it and hangs it up on the coatrack stage left (our right) near the band.]

Let’s not talk about hard times

[Persephone reaches down into her bag and pulls out bottles of wine.]

Pour the wine, it’s summertime!

[Chorus cheers; Orpheus bounds into movement, springing around and distributing cups to everyone, including a few for the band. Everyone’s jamming the hell out. Hades on the balcony has settled into turning his back to the audience and reading a newspaper with a little pair of reading glasses, no lights on him.] Right now we’re livin’ it

CHORUS How are we livin’ it?

PERSEPHONE Livin’ it, livin’ it up Oh, brother, right here we’re livin’ it

CHORUS Where are we livin’ it up?

PERSEPHONE Livin’ it up on top

(spoken) Who makes the summer sun shine bright? That’s right! Persephone! (sung) Who makes the fruit of the vine get ripe?

CHORUS (spoken) Persephone!

PERSEPHONE (spoken) That’s me! (sung) Who makes the flowers bloom again in spite of her man?

CHORUS (spoken) You do!

PERSEPHONE (sung) Who’s just doin’ the best she can? Persephone, that’s who Somebody said the weather ain’t the way it used to be Lemme tell you somethin’ now, my mama said to me You take what you can get And you make the most of it

So right now we’re livin’ it

CHORUS How are we livin’ it?

PERSEPHONE Livin’ it, livin’ it up Oh, brother, right here we’re livin’ it

CHORUS Where are we livin’ it?

PERSEPHONE Livin’ it up on top

HERMES (spoken) It was summertime on the road to hell...

CHORUS Mmmmm...

HERMES (spoken) There was a girl who had always run away...

CHORUS Mmmmm...

HERMES You might say it was in spite of herself

CHORUS Mmm hmm hmm...

HERMES (spoken) That this young girl decided to stay... With the poor boy with the lyre!

[The chorus begins to set the furniture aside, clearing center stage.]

PERSEPHONE (spoken) Who says times are hard?

HERMES (spoken) The flowers bloomed and the fruit got ripe; and, brother, for a moment, there...

PERSEPHONE (spoken) Anybody want a drink?

HERMES (spoken) The world came back to life!

[An absolutely sick dance and instrumental break. The chorus lines up in a semicircle around the stage and each of them take turns dancing in the center, a few sometimes together. Persephone hip bumps Eurydice into the circle, but she backs out. The trombonist comes down into stage right downstage when you hear the trombone kick in and is jamming with everyone else.

Eurydice makes her way behind the dancers, sheds her coat, and enters in; at first mild, before breaking out the sickest moves out of everyone, and proceeds to lead everyone else in a choreography. Persephone enters and takes center attention.

The trombonist takes off his hat and bows when it’s done, returning to the band; everyone else freezes in their place with attention turned to Persephone.]

PERSEPHONE Up on top we ain’t got much, but we’re

CHORUS & PERSEPHONE Livin’ it, livin’ it up

PERSPEHONE Just enough to fill our cups

CHORUS & PERSEPHONE Livin’ it up on top

PERSEPHONE Brother, pass that bottle around, ‘cause we’re

CHORUS & PERSEPHONE Livin’ it, livin’ it up

HERMES (spoken) Let the poet bless this round!

[Orpheus gets up on a table flush against the stage right stairs. A cup is tossed to him, which he catches, and raises.]

ORPHEUS To the patroness Of all of this Persephone!

HERMES Here, here!

CHORUS Here, here!

ORPHEUS Who has finally returned to us With wine enough to share

[A Chorus member comes around with a bottle to pour into everyone’s cups, including Orpheus’.]

CHORUS Uh huh!

ORPHEUS Asking nothing in return Except that we should live, and learn to live As brothers in this life And to trust she will provide And if no one takes too much There will always be enough She will always fill our cups

PERSEPHONE I will.

ORPHEUS And we will always raise them up

[Everyone raises their cups.]

(spoken) To the world we dream about...

[Everyone turns to the audience, toasting them.]

(spoken) And... the one we live in now.

[They all drink.]

ORPHEUS [Orpheus stomps the table and kicks the music back up with a strum of his guitar.] ‘Cause right now, we’re livin’ it

CHORUS How are we livin’ it?

ORPHEUS Livin’ it up, livin’ it up

[Everyone breaks back into dancing.]

Oh, brother, right here we’re livin’ it

CHORUS Where are we livin’ it?

ORPHEUS Listen here, I’ll tell you where we’re livin’ it Up on top

CHORUS Up on top!

ORPHEUS Livin’ it, livin’ it, and we ain’t gonna stop Livin’ it, livin’ it

CHORUS Livin’ it, livin’ it

ORPHEUS How are we livin’ it?

CHORUS Where are we livin’ it?

ORPHEUS Livin’ it, livin’ it

CHORUS Livin’ it, livin’ it

ALL Livin’ it up on top!

#audio #hadestown #hadestown song by song

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