Hadestown is effective climate storytelling at its finest
I finally went to see Hadestown on Broadway. I know, I know. What took me so long?! After seeing it, I truly have no idea because it’s a transformative theater experience. A huge thank you to my dear friend, Dan Fortune, for taking me.
This was a very special performance because all 5 of the leads are brand new to the show. Music legend Kurt Elling, Jack Wolfe, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Morgan Dudley, and Paulo Szot knocked it out of the park, and the audience literally shouted with delight.
Yes, it’s all the things you’ve heard. It’s beautiful in every way, heart-filled, and filled with fascinating twists and turns woven between mythology and present day.
It’s also an incredibly effective climate story — the call to protect nature to reverse the harmful impacts of the changing seasons on the food supply, mental and physical health, politics, and the economy.
It’s an immigration story, a migration story, a working class story about the power of generosity, community, and our own voices to lead change, to create a world where all beings are happy, healthy, and free. It’s a story of hope found in difficult, dark times and turning that hope into empowerment that leads to action. And art, specifically music, as a lever for all of that change.
Reminiscent of the call and response of spirituals with the essence of New Orleans, it’s a show that is of-the-moment even though it’s been on Broadway since 2019. Go see it. Cheer, clap, sing, get swept up in the beauty. And then carry all of it out into our world that is crying out for change. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.