Hadestown – Lyric Theatre

Malinda Parris and Danielle de Niese in Hadestown at the Lyric Theatre, London. Picture: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg

Hadestown continues at the Lyric Theatre, London.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This musically immersive sung-through evergreen story offers a wonderful, tuneful night out with topnotch performances all round.

Originally conceived by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell 20 years ago, developed Off-Broadway a decade later, produced at London’s National Theatre for three months from 2018-19, then reopened after Covid on Broadway, this fabulous award-winning show started its current London run two and a half years ago. As this production passes its landmark 1,000th show, the fourth West End cast is now in residence.

The presentation of this story which intermixes various Greek myths positions two love stories between Orpheus and Eurydice and between Hades and Persephone, which both have a tragic identity, as universal to show they can speak to people from all walks of life across time.

The new principal players bring a range of experience from different artistic backgrounds to reignite this hit musical. Previous roles in opera, pop and television offer an intriguing combination of skills which will likely continue to widen the musical’s already well-established fan base. The cast members are also encouraged to use their natural regional accents, a feature that was established when the London staging opened in 2024.

Fayth Ifil brings a teenage Eurydice to the Lyric stage and adds a gritty adolescent and streetwise edge to this key role. The gorgeous sobbing, throaty inflection in Ifil’s voice conveys real-life challenge. She is overwhelmed by tragic heartbreak and her spirit breaks from poverty and hunger.

Nathan Sykes’ endearingly gawky Orpheus, gripped by obsessional creativity, utilises pure vocal tones rising to a falsetto head voice as he runs through a gamut of emotional states on his journey from carefree waiter, to absorbed lover, driven musician-poet to exhausted traveller.

This is a likeable pairing of lovers, but the expert physicalisation of these characters is not always fully matched by their singing which seems a little suppressed at times, only edging into deeper sonorities.

Shaun Dooley growls and threatens in an ageing gravelly tone in total contrast to Orpheus’ boyish vocality. Bringing a unique theatrical individuality from his screen career to this core role, he becomes sinister in extremis as he urges on the building of the wall protecting the Underworld.

His love interest is Persephone whose arrangement to live with him only part-time means she returns to the surface and into the glories of nature which is highly symbolic for the overall message of the show. It is in ‘Our Lady of the Underground’ which opens Act II that powerful soprano Danielle de Niese comes operatically into her own as a woman scorned really letting rip and demonstrating outstanding stage presence.

The show resonates with echoes from various pasts. At the start the set is quite literally assembled by the chorus, implying whatever will be presented is for us now and today. Referencing several scenarios familiar to contemporary audiences, it circles around 1920s and 1930s contexts, blending a sense of the American Great Depression complete with railroads and factories. Images from Fritz Lang’s German expressionist vision in Metropolis are crossed with Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, infusing this attractive cocktail with resonances of a New Orleans speakeasy.

Listen carefully and you may hear hints of current climate and refugee crises and the territorial war-mongering accompanying the building of divisive walls in this imagining of a hellish post-apocalyptic landscape.

Emotions are heightened by the superb ending of Act I with its inspiring and memorable song ‘Why We Build the Wall’. Fast track through the recruitment of Eurydice to Hades’ powerhouse and in wafts Orpheus’ “la-la-la-la-la” refrain, the humanity of which contrasts with this capitalist post-industrialism, making its failure seem imminent.

Potential for epic Brechtianism envelops the atmosphere but ultimately only hovers. And so arrives a dramatic turning point with room for a quick rebellion. Hades’ weighing up the price of freedom is prompted by the three fates, magically played by Melanie Bright, Spike Maxwell and Lauran Rae, who intervene and offer options. Hades’ indecision, conveyed through atonal dissonance, never quite resolves, and widespread revolt also dissipates. All of this adds to the unreality of the Underworld.

To assist us, action throughout is confidently guided by the steady hand of charismatic narrator Hermes, played with panache by Malinda Parris who conveys a timeless wisdom. In this highly-polished professional production, David Neumann’s choreography works dynamically like clockwork with the complexities of the dual revolving stage, forming the focal point of Rachel Hauck’s design. Femi Akinfolarin, Michelle Andrews, Gabriela Benedetti, Ollie Bingham and Sebastian Lim-Seet as the Workers never put a foot wrong.

The direction (Rachel Chavkin) and musicianship on display is equally first rate. With the onstage band encircling the action, it’s wonderful to witness the carefully considered connections between emotional moments in the story and the orchestration. Examples are the folksy duetting of Ros Stephen on violin and David Kadumukasa on cello for Ifil’s poignant delivery of Eurydice’s song ‘Flowers’, and the confident posturing of Daniel Higham on the trombone, supporting Orpheus’ journey, and then leading celebrations including accompanying the audience as we leave.

There is no fixed denouement of Orpheus’ ultimately ‘sad song’. Leaving it open whether love wins out or not, the mythic retelling which is the heartbeat of Hadestown pulses, beats and is ready to revolve again.

Charlotte Purkis