A Ray of Hope in ‘Hadestown’

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Hades. A name and a place. In classic Greek mythology, Hades is the god of the underworld, the king who ruled the dead in the darkness below. 

But in Hadestown, it’s been updated into a modern-day musical from the classic Greek myth to a place of hellish, never ending industrial labor. With music, lyrics and book by Anais Mitchell, Hadestown retells the classic love story of Orpheus and his beloved Eurydice, who now seeks to escape her life of poverty and ends up you-know-where only to find that there is indeed a hell on, or at least, beneath the earth. Orpheus sets out to save. Her. But there’s one condition. (No spoilers here). 

In the production at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, Matthew Quinn plays Hades and finds that the dark lord is not the stereotype he’s made out to be. 

“In modern retellings Hades is made to be plotting and mischievious. But in reality, he was very impartial and never attempted to usurp others’ power,” Quinn explains. “While various gods fight one another during the epic battle, the Trojan War, Hades doesn’t choose sides. He remains focused on his duty and maintains law and order fairly.”

In many ways, the story of the two lovers parallels today’s times of people simply trying to survive in a world that can be cold, unfriendly, unsupportive. 

As the actor points out, this Hades is a “heavy-handed businessman” who’s providing for his family—in this case his queen, Persephone—and is very much “human” in a number of ways. 

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Fear, Self-Doubt, Jealousy

“In our version of the myth Hades’ choices are made out of fear, self-doubt and jealousy. And although those choices are a means to an end, that end being to impress his wife and prove to her that Hadestown is a worthwhile place for her to spend her time and she need not abandon him for half of the year,” he points out. “It’s his blinding love for her that fuels his every action. He isn’t simply mean for the sake of being mean. He is a product of his experience. He is suffering from his own self-doubt and unfortunately, he does not realize that the use of the souls of the underworld to mine all the riches from the earth to impress his wife is doing more harm than good.”

While the thought of the underworld typically conjures up images of suffering, pain and literal darkness, Quinn Emphasizes that Hadestown does provide a ray of, at least, emotionally, on the Road to Hell. 

“The theme that I would want the audiences to leave remembering is one of hope,” he says. “In Hadestown, (the Greek god) Hermes says ‘It’s a sad song, but we sing it anyway. ‘Cause here’s the thing. To know how it ends and still begin to sing it again as if it might turn out this time.”

And those themes are in many ways all too human. As Quinn adds: “We can allow ourselves to give in and give up in the face of all the sadness that is occurring in our country and in the world today. But we must not. We must continue to strive to do better and be better against all odds.”

Hadestown runs May 2-7 in Uihlein Hall at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. Run time: two hours, 30 minutes with one intermission. Recommended for ages eight and older. For more information, call: 414-273-7121, or visit marcuscenter.org.