[music]
--The very first sort of inkling of this story in this show came out of nowhere. I
was driving in my car and these lyrics came into my head that went, Wait for Me.
I'm coming in my garters and pearls with what melody did you barter me from the
wicked underworld? And those lines never made it into any version of the show. But
the the melody is the melody of Wait for Me, which is obviously still in the show.
--[sings] Wait for me
I'm comin
Wait
I'm coming with you.
--We met, and it was like one of these very let's try to talk about collaboration in
abstract ways, which is totally impossible and absolutely unindicative
of what actual collaboration would be like cuz sort of until you're in the trenches, you
just don't know. Finally, I was like, Can I just tell you what I would do if I was
the director? And I remember you were like, Oh my god! Please do that! And we
just suddenly broke through all the niceties and got to work, and began
with that album and talking about what was happening in the songs, who the
characters were, what the images are. The first thing that it is ever said to me
in that like epic Skype was... epic Skype [laughs]
was, This is a poetry piece; not a prose
piece. And I think what maybe was initially meant by that is that it all
was gonna rhyme. But also, I think more than anything, a poem is like the most a
essentialized amount of language for the densest amount of meaning.
The song Wait for Me has this incredibly surging chorus. It's probably the first
song that most people fall in love with on the album, would be my guess.
There's like a forward and a back motion to the music. And that was the image of
the lamps coming forward and going back.
That's a song and a dramatic moment where
one of our heroes is changing the laws of the space-time continuum, not from a
place of like, you know, known political activism or anything. He wants his lover
back. And I think that's so fundamental. And so the surge felt really good for that.
["Wait for Me" from Hadestown]
--From very early on, the instrumentation had this this prominently featured
trombone and then these two sort of twins during counter-line parts, and then
just a really fatty rhythm section. And so, from early on, a lot of people were
identifying the music as sounding like it was big-band, New Orleans, jazz music.
--And so Louisiana became a really frequent touchstone for us in multiple
ways. On the set, there's the filigree of like wrought iron and age and
compression. Preservation Hall is a big source of research for us because we
talked about like, where do you want to hear this story?
So Rachel Hauck, our set designer, and I have talked a lot about Louisiana, both
the music aspect of it and of course New Orleans, but also the drilling and oil
industries that are all through that state. And so hopefully it feels like
this show kind of begins —you think that you're in Preservation Hall, and then
actually there's this you know quite extraordinary transformative moment,
scenically, where you realize oh my gosh I'm in an oil drum. And maybe I'm at like
the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Big part of the storytelling is this this
decaying marriage between Hades, the king of Industry, and his wife Persephone, the
queen of nature and the seasons, and there are a lot of themes of sort of
climate change based on industrial practices. And New Orleans has all of
that as well because of Katrina and the subsequent hurricanes that have happened
there. It feels like all of our themes can be found in that part of the country.
[guitar]
--I think Hadestown offers a really unique Broadway experience. A, I think
you're gonna hear music that is that is pretty much unlike anything you'll hear
past or present. It's actually like deeply warm and just beautiful in a way
that is quite literally spiritually moving.
I want everyone singing Hadestown. I mean, this is a show that like cracks my
rib cage open every time I see it, so like I want that in people's hearts.
--Hopefully, as Rachel is saying, there's sort
of multiple chakras getting engaged with
the show. You know, it hits you in the heart, but also it's very kinetic music.
You can feel it in your body. And, yeah. Something for everyone, I hope.
--[sings] Hound dog howl and a whistle blow.
Train come a rollin clickety clack.
Nobody knows where
that old train goes.
Those who go, they don't come back.
They're going way down, Hadestown,
way down under the ground.
[music]