#yeah this is about hadestown

[gilly-moon]

Biggest tragedy of seeing a musical that doesn't have the original cast is afterward when you listen to the original cast recording and it is....not as good as the cast that you saw :(

[theatricalmage]

The brainrot took over and so here's a vat7k hadestown au!! Don't know if I'll develop it fully but I liked designing it at least!

More info under the cut:

- Varian, the Coronan royal alchemist, tasks himself with deciphering an incantation capable of bringing the world back into tune. Times are tough, and the royal family + Quirin are doing their best to cope with the meagre crop yields and desolate weather (Corona not really being the sunshine kingdom - hasn't been for a while). He wants to help and do good and I think he'd be a good Orpheus.

- Hugo, having moved about from place to place, still has his interest in alchemy and does what he can to get by. He plans on temporarily staying in Corona before looting, but he encounters a certain like-minded scientist at the Snuggly Duckling. I think him being selfish works especially well in Eurydice's role, having a more pessimistic view of the world. It also works with how he gets drawn to Donella's offer of working for her later on, leading him to his death.

- Ulla as Persephone! I was initially stuck on whether to have Rapunzel (and either Eugene/Cass) as her (and Hades) but I was drawn to the connection that Hugo has to Donella and the Donella/Ulla relationship in vat7k just works too well. In this case, Ulla won't be Varian's mother. She's still gonna be somewhat of an inspiration to him though, being the previous Coronan royal alchemist and for her intelligence. For half the year, she'll return to Corona with food, drinks, and alchemical compounds/inventions, bringing Spring and Summer to the world, if only for a bit.

- Donella would be such an interesting Hades, losing sight of her love for Ulla, heart filled with fear and hurt, leading to bitterness and cruelty. Ingvarr being Hadestown and how by being the esteemed Ingvarrian engineer, she'd be in charge of major technological advances across the kingdoms and so would wield a significant amount of power (like how Hades is literally the ruler of the underworld). Ingvarr essentially being a near death sentence for its workers while also displaying its technological prowess, all still shrouded in mystery and corruption - a place so otherworldly compared to the rest of the kingdoms.

I didn't want to modify the outfits too much nor the personalities,, if anything I imagine the general plot beats being the same as the original musical/story but with slight differences that'd you get inherently as a result of these characters. I wouldn't want it to be the case where it's just the show but the names are changed. I'd want this to still make reasonable sense in this AU, with the actions being understandable for this particular cast of characters.

For Hermes, I ended up picking Xavier, as he's most knowledgeable of old legends and stories, which would work in reference to the Hades and Persephone myth (and so Donella and Ulla)! He'd act as a mentor figure for V, someone who can guide him in uncovering the forgotten incantation. Quirin would still be the good supportive dad he is (even if he doesn't fully understand his son's project).

Last but not least, the fates!! often lurking in the background, I'm still a bit stuck on who it could be? I'm tempted to have it be Raps, Cass, and Nuru as they've had celestial connections at some point (and ya know how stars can represent fate), but I also love the freckled siblings dynamic so much. Also Team Radical... Maybe Raps and Cass can be their normal selves but their Sundrop/Moonstone counterparts are the manifested physical forms of the fates? They wouldn't be visible to the characters though, just voices in the wind.

Anyways yeah!! Those are my thoughts. Do let me know if you've got any cool ideas or questions. I'm really combining my interests at full force and there's nothing anyone, not even myself, can do about it quite frankly. 😮‍💨

[novelconcepts]

I really think we as a society don't give enough credit to performers who thrive in an ensemble situation. It's always obvious when an actor is excellent front and center, and we're constantly rewarding that skill set with awards, but god, there's something to be said for the power of a true ensemble piece. People who are so good at reading one another and playing off what they're given, tossing the ball and knowing when to turn it into a grenade. As much fun as it is to watch a solid monologue or a solo show, I always find it so much more thrilling--and so much more authentically lived-in--when there's an ensemble just feeding one another in every single scene. Who do I look at? What is everyone else learning and deciding even from the background? This is what life looks like, and actors who really shine in that environment have really become my favorite to follow.

[braisedhoney]

time to try again.

[atmospheral]

post 3D2Y reunion

[flowerakatsuka]

おかえりなさい…

[hercarisntyours]

[transsimmonss]

"wait, i'm coming with you."

"so...just how far would you go for [him]?" "to the end of time. to the end of the earth."

wait for me, hadestown.

[miss-galaxy-turtle]

Sparrow Ben would absolutely be the type of person to say that Orpheus was an idiot for turning around and that he could've done it if it was him

Then he meets Jennifer

And he realizes that if she were his Euridyce, he'd look back, too

[catparty41]

Ctntduo hadestown au!!

Im sorry the quality is so shit 😭 its late and i literally shot out of bed to draw this hehe

Huuuuge thanks to @/flamedraco and @/l0ndonfrogg on ao3 for giving me the confidence to post this!

Kinda inspired by the fic “I had nowhere else to go” by flamedraco (go read it!!) solely because wilbur’s hero name in it is orpheus and that teally got the cogs tirning in my mind about this concept.

[ghostlypawn]

uk fates are polyamorous lesbians who go to the bar just to sit in the corner and judge people for fun

[you-will-never-be-satisfied]

Theatre nerds! The lot of you!

[lotrmusical]

HI! i saw u reblogged the West end hadestown and said you've seen it so i have to ask, thoughts on hades? the character switch when he goes very camp on chant (reprise) threw me for a fucking LOOP. i had been crying beforehand but I was just like desperately holding in my laughter after that. the "young man" up against the door frame? I almost pissed myself. and his legs....

OH MY GOD. OKAY. YES

i'm the wrong person to ask about this because whenever a stage performer turns up the camp to 100, worthwhile questions such as 'is this the best considered acting choice for the character' don't stand a chance. they are completely overshadowed by the gay part of my brain emitting whirring noises. i enjoy it too much to care

but anyway my actual thoughts on zachary's hades are as follows:

i like when hades sucks. i enjoy when he gets to be a melodramatic loser and a villain-y villain, because it makes orpheus managing to get through to him hit much harder for me. so zachary hades with his sleazy attitude and the kind of warped enjoyment he's getting out of playing at being powerful and manipulative fulfilled my every wish. tailored to me specifically

i especially enjoyed his acting when he starts to break down a bit for epic 3, his scared/angry/shaken/lashing out was all delicious

direct quote from the messages i was sending people about the show after i saw it: i will say that he was not very.. idk.. plausible?? in chant 2 convo with orpheus specifically bc he was having too much gay fun strutting around the revolve to sell the lines about keeping a woman lmaooo

also i'm extra sad that we don't have the 'now it thickens on my tongue / now it quickens in my lung / now i'm stricken now i'm stung / it's done already' lines in his kiss the riot any more because they're some of my favourites and i want his gay take on them

[allergic-to-four-leaf-clovers]

@finleyforevermore you do not understand how tempted I am to draw myself as Hermes when I saw that Moots In Hadestown™ thing you made earlier /pos

[spineless-lobster]

Y’all guess who just watched hadestown!!!!!!!!

[hercarisntyours]

The ones who load the dice, always say the toss is fair. (hadestown au)

Orion looked around, panic setting in. Is it true what they say? Is there truly no way to get his love back. That's he's too late? She's truly gone? He walked all this way, why? just to play the part of a pawn in the God's cruel game of chess?

He's out of his mind.

How did he so foolishly believe. Nothing changes and nothing will.

Orion understands now. They're all playing a fixed game. His role involves him getting beaten and betrayed.

He's blinded by guilt, regret and doubt.

And hope. A spark of hope still burns with-in him.

He sings his voice loud. He asks the walls. Is it true? what they say, is it true?

Pickaxes stop ringing. The ringing in his ears doesn't.

He turns to go, Ariel would be disappointed, he could never stand up right.

The answer to his question will never be heard. Not in this concrete jungle.

The workers hear his.

He realises the ones who deal the cards, are the ones who take the tricks.

He who says the words, is always the one to say they are the last.

The walls repeat his words. Standing up and listening.

He shouts his answer out. For he hears the workers now, no longer questioning them; but the wall they had been so desperately building. If they have the will, there's a way to break it down. He believes they are many, and those he questions are few. 

If it's true, he'll be on his way. After all, what can a few do against so many?