Quick note, I am going to discuss the end of "Hadestown". If the end of the show (based on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth) is a surprise you wish to maintain unspoiled about, click away now.
Early on in the "Hadestown" run, I saw a prominent person post on social media that they were disappointed with the ending. A number of people replied, uh, but it's based on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. Now of course not everyone is or even should be conversant with every myth.
But in the opening song - which admittedly you hear after you have committed to the show - Hermes tells you this is a sad song, a tragedy. So, you are warned.
Of course the trick of many great stories is to tell you where you are going, and then distract you with the drama, the romance, the adventure, so that you forget what you were warned about.
Not all retellings need to use the ending from the original tale of course. The joy of retelling or remixing is figuring out what to keep and what to toss.
And in the final song, Hermes tells us that you have to sing the song as if you don't know how it ends. That you sing it again as if it could turn out differently.
I love a good happy ending. I really and truly do. But some stories don't have them. And that doesn't make the story wrong, necessarily. Sure some folks seem to think sad endings are harder to do, when often the opposite is true.
But in the case of "Hadestown", the story shows so many things. And yes, I am obsessed with the music. But it's a story about creatives. About people who lose themselves in their work. About people who are tired of struggle. And about people chafing against the deals they made, and folks tugging to take more. About working hard against a huge system to try and make change. And how sometimes the systems win. But you keep hoping, that the next time you sing the song, it turns out differently. Because one day it will. And that will be a new story.
