[MUSIC - "WAY DOWN HADESTOWN"]
[MUSIC - "CHANT"]
[MUSIC FROM "HADESTOWN"]
[MUSIC - "WAIT FOR ME"]
ANAIS MITCHELL: Hey, guys.
Thanks for being here with us.
It's fun to--
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
It's fun to see the
Google mothership.
[LAUGHTER]
So this is Liam.
I'm Anais.
We're going to play
a song from the show.
It's the encore song that we do.
It's called, "I Raise My Cup."
And a little insider info--
we cut this song from the show
multiple times
because we thought,
well, the show
already has an ending.
We don't need to do this.
And ultimately, we just
missed it every time.
So we're going to do it.
[ANAIS MITCHELL SINGING "I RAISE
 MY CUP"]
[APPLAUSE]
[EVA NOBLEZADA AND REEVE CARNEY
 SINGING "ALL I'VE EVER KNOWN"]
[APPLAUSE]
SPEAKER 1: So excited
to have you guys here.
So we're going to
go down the line.
If you wouldn't mind introducing
yourselves and saying
which character you play
or what you do in the show,
that would be lovely.
So starting here.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: Andre
De Shields is my name.
And I perform in "Hadestown" as
Hermes, messenger to the gods.
[LAUGHTER]
ANAIS MITCHELL: My
name's Anais Mitchell.
I'm the writer.
PATRICK PAGE: My
name is Patrick Page.
I play Hades, king
of the underworld.
EVA NOBLEZADA: My name's Eva
Noblezada, and I play Eurydice.
REEVE CARNEY: My name's Reeve
Carney, and I play Orpheus.
SPEAKER 1: Yay.
[APPLAUSE]
So to start off, you guys just
opened this past Wednesday.
Congratulations.
You're on Broadway!
[APPLAUSE]
Have you recovered
from the party yet?
PATRICK PAGE: No.
SPEAKER 1: No.
[LAUGHTER]
I didn't think so.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: It's
on a Friday, right?
[LAUGHTER]
SPEAKER 1: Is it?
ANDRE DE SHIELDS:
We're still partying.
SPEAKER 1: So I want to get to
know each of you a little bit
and just chat with each of you.
So Anais, we have to
start with you, my dear.
So you're actually traditionally
a recording artist.
You're a singer songwriter.
Why Broadway?
What brought you here?
ANAIS MITCHELL: Yeah, I never
expected to end up here.
I come from the music world.
I write regular old
songs and make records
and tour around sometimes.
And I've been doing
that for a long time.
But 12 years ago,
some lyrics came
into my head that seemed
to be about this story.
And I kind of followed
them into the labyrinth
and then just got really
excited about using songs
to tell a longer-form story.
And the show started out as a
DIY community theater project
in Vermont, where
I used to live.
Then I made a studio
record of some of the music
and toured with the music as
just a concert for a few years.
And then I started working
with Rachel Chavkin in 2012.
And we put on the
show off-Broadway,
at New York Theatre Workshop.
And then we went to Edmonton,
Canada, as all shows do.
[LAUGHTER]
And then we got to do the
National Theater in London.
And just never expected it to
keep going, but it has done.
And here we are.
SPEAKER 1: Were you a
Broadway fan to begin with,
or is it just something
that you fell into?
ANAIS MITCHELL: Having
met some Broadway fans,
I think I'm not quite
at that level of--
[LAUGHTER]
--intensity.
I don't identify with-- but
I love musical storytelling.
I've loved "Les Mis"
since I was young.
SPEAKER 1: That's my favorite.
ANAIS MITCHELL: Yeah.
It's so special.
Epic, romantic,
political-- all the things.
And I also love "Hamilton."
I love "Sweeney Todd."
I love "The Great
Comet of 1812."
And I think what
all those shows have
in common is that they're
sung through-- like,
they are operas, essentially.
And there's nothing to break
the spell of the music.
So that's what, hopefully, this
show is-- in those footsteps.
SPEAKER 1: Great.
Now, Andre, I want to
meet you, say hi to you.
You've been in the business
for a couple of years now.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: This is 2019?
SPEAKER 1: Mm-hmm.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: I'm
celebrating a half century
as a performing artist.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
SPEAKER 1: You look fantastic.
[LAUGHTER]
This guy moves.
If you haven't seen
the show yet, he moves.
[LAUGHTER]
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: Well,
I'm feeling fantastic.
SPEAKER 1: Good.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS:
And part of that
has to do with being
in "Hadestown."
SPEAKER 1: And I also have read
that besides being a performer,
you're also a choreographer,
a novelist, a director,
and a professor?
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: Yeah,
but those are all past.
SPEAKER 1: So you
prefer performing?
Or anything in particular
you like better?
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: I
prefer performing, yeah,
because it answers the three
major questions in my life,
which are, how can I satisfy
that chattering magpie
in my head that we call the
mind, but it's actually an ego?
How can I satisfy the
yearnings of my heart?
And how can I answer
to that quiet voice
that speaks to me
from my viscera
and tells only the truth?
And the only way to
do that is to perform.
And right now, the
best way of doing that
is to be Hermes in "Hadestown."
[LAUGHTER]
SPEAKER 1: I like it.
That seems reasonable.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Patrick
Page, Mr. Hades, here.
So correct me if I'm wrong,
but I believe out of everybody
on stage besides
Miss Anais here,
you have been with
"Hadestown" the longest?
PATRICK PAGE: Yeah, probably.
Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
SPEAKER 1: You and Amber, but
poor Amber can't be here today.
We miss her very much.
She plays Persephone, your wife.
PATRICK PAGE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: What kept you
coming back to the show?
You followed it through
New York Theatre Workshop
and been with it
for a long time now.
PATRICK PAGE: Yeah.
It's a beautiful
piece of theater.
And I fell in love with
the music initially
and with the lyrics,
which to me, are poetry.
I was getting all-- and now
I'm going to get tearful again.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: Oh.
PATRICK PAGE: I was getting
all tearful listening to Anais
sing the final song in our show.
And I hear it every night.
[LAUGHTER]
Every night, eight
times a week--
SPEAKER 1: Lucky.
PATRICK PAGE: --for three years.
But I still get choked up at
what was expressed in the song.
So when you get to be in a
piece like that, you grab on.
And they would have
to shake me off.
[LAUGHTER]
SPEAKER 1: All right.
And then you're singing some
pretty, pretty low notes.
How do you keep
your voice healthy?
Because you've got
quite the range on you.
PATRICK PAGE: Thanks.
[LAUGHTER]
I think I'm just very
lucky that it's--
you know, it's funny.
When I was a kid, I used to
get sore throats all the time.
And then that went away.
And now I very rarely-- knock--
[KNOCKS]
--plastic.
[LAUGHTER]
The healthy part of it
is it's not a huge amount
of maintenance for me.
I drink a lot of water.
SPEAKER 1: That's good.
[LAUGHTER]
Hydration is great.
PATRICK PAGE: Thanks.
SPEAKER 1: Miss Eva
here, our superstar.
So for anyone who doesn't
know Eva Noblezada,
she was chosen to play
Kim in both the West End
and the Broadway
run of "Miss Saigon"
and was nominated for a Tony.
You started at just 17
years old on that role?
EVA NOBLEZADA: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 1: You know, I
wasn't doing that much at 17.
[LAUGHTER]
But you're doing great.
In that case, you took on a
classical, well-known role,
whereas here, you're
originating and bringing
this new character to Broadway.
How has that experience
been different?
And how is that?
Do you have a preference
on taking something classic
and making it your
own or bringing
someone new to the stage?
EVA NOBLEZADA: I will say
my preference is always
to be in "Hadestown," because
I am obsessed with the show.
The second that the
material was brought to me,
I fall in love, like most people
who come across this piece.
But I will say, I was
lucky, in "Saigon,"
not to have a cookie
cutter thing waiting
for me in the rehearsal room.
I was very lucky to
have people who wanted
to help develop a new Kim.
And I didn't watch anything.
I didn't have the chance to
watch any of the original.
And same with this
beautiful piece.
There have been many
beautiful Eurydices incarnate
in the past.
But I never got the chance
to watch any of them live.
I did hear a few.
But this piece that Anais has
written, and with development
of Rachel Chavkin--
it allows so much
self-expression.
And it's almost encouraged
to be as human as possible.
So it's just been
an amazing ride.
I'm very, very lucky to
be part of this piece.
SPEAKER 1: Well,
you do it so well.
All of you are so great.
I'm sorry, I'm just
nerding out right now.
[LAUGHTER]
I'm not going to lie.
And then Reeve,
our Orpheus, here--
so during the show,
Orpheus is a lyre player.
He's a musician, a poet.
But you're actually
playing guitar in the show.
Was that something that
you were like, hey, I
know how to do this already?
Or was that something
that was already
written in the character?
Or how did that come about?
REEVE CARNEY: Well,
originally, Anais
had been presented with
this magical tenor guitar
from a fan that said,
I think you need this.
And ultimately, it worked
its way into "Hadestown"
over various incarnations.
And so originally, I was
playing a tenor guitar,
which I had never played.
My grandfather actually
played it back in the 1940s.
So I'd learned
that for the show.
But I think that
the guitar really
allows you to be more
expressive, playing the six
string, because there's a
lot of solo accompaniment
where Orpheus is just playing
and singing with no band
accompaniment whatsoever.
So having those two
extra low strings
is really helpful, especially
with all the singing being more
in the higher register
of the male voice.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah,
you're all the way--
REEVE CARNEY: It's nice
to have a little bit--
SPEAKER 1: Patrick's down here.
You're up here.
REEVE CARNEY: --of a contrast.
Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: That's great.
I was like, oh-- oh,
he's going to play.
Oh, that makes sense.
That's good.
And then there are
times in the show where
you carry the whole thing.
The band just kind of
sits and watches you.
And it's just super
well done and really
helps inform the
character, I think,
of being able to carry this
melody that ultimately changes
the world.
So good on you.
[LAUGHTER]
REEVE CARNEY: Thank you.
Thank you.
SPEAKER 1: So let's talk
a bit about this show.
Anais, you've been working
on this for a very long time,
as we said.
I remember hearing
some of these songs
off of your 2010 original album.
And we were saying, this
idea, where did it come from?
You said just, something
kind of fell into your head?
Was there some sort
of inspiration?
Or did it just kind
of pop up one day?
ANAIS MITCHELL: Yeah,
I think a lot of times
if I'm writing a song--
and I know Reeve's a songwriter.
We have multiple
songwriters on stage here--
Eva.
Just that usually, there's not
a grand plan at the beginning.
Something comes in
your head and it's
mysterious, sort of a gift.
And then to try to follow it.
And so I would say, that's where
this whole piece came from,
was just what felt sort of
like a mysterious inspiration.
But then, once I got into
it, I got really excited
about the story because
the hero is a songwriter.
So that's fun.
And the character of Orpheus
is this impossible optimist,
this dreamer who believes,
if he could write
a song beautiful enough,
he could change the way
that the world is-- change
the rules of the world.
And that world, in
"Hadestown," being
this land of wealth and
security and industry
presided over by
Hades, the king.
And the characters
kept unfolding
in these different ways.
There's just so much richness to
who the king of the underworld
is, who the queen of the
seasons and the natural world
is, his wife, and their
troubled marriage.
These young lovers, Eurydice--
and I think Eva's
portrayal of her
has gone into this whole
other stratosphere of who
that character can be and
what her backstory is,
and how Eurydice as
a sort of a runaway
and a tough person who's seen
the way that the world is.
And then Hermes,
of course, who has
become this incredible guide
and narrator of this story,
literally telling us things
we need to along the way.
So just all of those
mythic characters
have kept unfolding
in different ways that
has kept the wind in the
sails of the thing for as long
as it's been getting developed.
SPEAKER 1: Did you
all read the myths,
or did you just come
in and see the script?
Or what did you take for the
inspiration of the characters?
ANDRE DE SHIELDS:
I've been familiar
with the Greek mythology
since my days in college.
But I've never
had an opportunity
to make them manifest
in my life or my art
until Anais Mitchell came along.
And she does it so
beautifully, because it
doesn't feel like there
are cobwebs around them.
SPEAKER 1: Exactly.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS:
They absolutely
have ramifications for
our contemporary life.
And more important than that,
I think what Anais is doing--
perhaps not deliberately, but
it's part of the process--
she's blurring the lines
between politics and art.
And that's what keeps me
interested in this character
of Hermes who--
you tell me to shut up
if I'm talking too much.
SPEAKER 1: No.
You talk forever.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: --who
says, deep in the second act,
to the characters
Orpheus and Eurydice,
do you trust each other?
Do you trust yourselves?
Which I think is the most
important question in the show,
because everything in the
production is about metaphor,
is about allegory,
is about parables.
So that means, if you
understand it on one level,
there are other levels to go.
Everything is at least
a double entendre.
So through these two characters,
Hermes is asking the audience,
individually, are
you ready to be
responsible to be the change
in the world that you desire?
PATRICK PAGE: Yeah.
Very well said, yeah.
ANAIS MITCHELL: Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE]
SPEAKER 1: Anybody have
anything else to add?
We good?
I think he covered it.
[LAUGHTER]
We can go home now.
It's fine.
[LAUGHTER]
That's fantastic.
Great.
So for the rest
of you guys, when
you were developing this story,
what were you drawing on?
How do you take Hades,
this largest than life,
mythic character-- the
god of the underworld--
and how do you turn him
into a person onstage?
How do you make him
accessible, if you will?
PATRICK PAGE: You give away
your acting secrets, right?
[LAUGHTER]
And the secret that
all actors have is--
what defines a character
is what a character wants.
And if you would go down
the wrong road with Hades,
you might say, well, what
he wants most in the world
is he wants power, or what
he wants most in the world
is he wants money or influence.
And I think those would
all be the wrong way
to play the character.
What Hades wants is Persephone--
all of her, all the time.
He wants all of her love.
And the way the myth is
set up, if you don't know,
the relationship between
Hades and Persephone--
she is the goddess
of the seasons,
and she leaves the underworld
for six months every year.
So I have this
competition for her love.
She loves the upper
world as well.
And so it drives Hades mad--
power mad, mad for money, mad
for all of those things that
shore up his image of himself.
But it's all about Persephone.
It's all about
the fact that he's
so madly in love with his wife.
And so in terms of the
developing of the character,
it's about finding that,
following it, deepening it
with your acting
partner, and finding
how it manifests itself
through the lyrics,
through the melodies.
And then all those
other details,
like what the character
looks like-- we've
been working on what
the character looks
like, now, for three years.
And that's a
collaborative process
with a brilliant costume
designer, Michael, with Anais,
with Rachel.
And finding out, how do we
express who this man is just
in terms of what he looks like?
So that's been a great process.
And now we have a thing, right?
SPEAKER 1: You have a thing.
[LAUGHTER]
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: And
amazingly, the character
looks like Patrick.
[LAUGHTER]
SPEAKER 1: I know.
Yeah, that's something, as
you're watching the show
and you're learning
who everybody is,
there is no real bad
guy in this show.
Even Hades-- he's not a bad guy.
You just, you have to understand
why and the motivations they
do what they do.
And I think that's
something that we
could talk about Eurydice.
Eurydice makes a choice.
And in the original myth,
she doesn't make this choice
to go to the underworld,
whereas in this one, she does.
And Eva, I wanted to talk
to you a little bit about--
she makes this
difficult choice to go
because she is
impoverished and she
doesn't see another way out.
And Haiti has promised her--
I'm not spoiling this.
These stories are very old.
[LAUGHTER]
But promises her a life where
she will never be hungry again.
And so she decides to leave.
And the Fates, who
are these three--
goddesses?
What are the Fates, technically?
ANAIS MITCHELL: They're
divine, for sure.
Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: They're one of--
they are not of the men.
But they say, there's
no telling what
you're going to do when
the chips are down.
And she makes this choice.
And do you think this
is something that is
a universal human experience?
We talk about Maslow's
hierarchy of needs,
and you can't move
on to the next level
until your basic needs of
food and shelter are met.
And how did this come into
you building this character?
And how did that
inform your choices?
EVA NOBLIZADA: I will
say, in the original myth,
even if there was no
script, or the way
it was written had no open
dialogue between the characters
Orpheus and Eurydice,
it made it out to seem
like Eurydice had
nothing to say.
Like, she didn't have a choice.
She didn't have anything to say.
And she fell victim many a
time, in the original myth,
to the environment and also
at the hands of others.
And that's one
thing that I wanted
to make very apparent in
this, bringing in humanity,
but also bringing the bad
assery of making a decision--
a decision that,
even if it's not
the smartest from the
audience's point of view, who
have an omnipotent
kind of perspective
of watching everything unfold
on stage, she makes the choice.
Because in the
song "All I've Ever
Known" that you guys
have just listened to,
she explains to Orpheus, I've
only ever known how to survive.
Not to live or to
thrive, but to survive.
So I'm a little messed up.
And the choice she
makes-- hopefully,
people can relate
to that and not
see it as a stupid decision.
It should be out
of, I need to live.
I'm hungry, I'm
starving, and I'm cold.
And the love of my
life is not providing
my basic essential
needs as a human being.
So I hope that is
relatable, because I
think all the characters
make a huge choice,
or they make many choices
that unfold at the end.
But I hope they're
all relatable.
And I think--
I actually know for
a fact that they
are, because looking at
the faces of everyone
at the end of the show is kind
of wonderful and beautiful,
to see that everyone has
been on the journey with us
since we all step on stage.
SPEAKER 1: It's tough to watch,
but it's like they literally
say-- what would you do?
And you think, no, I would
never make that choice.
It's like, yes.
You would.
Yes, you would, if
you were starving
and this was your only option.
Andre started
talking about, a bit,
some of the political
side of "Hadestown."
There is a song in the
show called "The Wall."
I assume you didn't
know when you wrote it.
[LAUGHTER]
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: I
wrote the song in 2006.
SPEAKER 1: So we follow
this world of Hades,
and Hades has a lot of
followers and a lot of people
who are listening to him and
repeating what he's saying.
And "The Wall" is a song
that's a call and repeat song.
This may be a very big question,
but why does that work?
Why do people follow that?
Why do we think that it's
something that we know, maybe--
again, from an omnipresent
part, where the audience--
we know what's going on?
Why is it so easy for
people to fall in?
And how does this
relate to what we're
seeing now, in our
current political climate?
And I don't think they're wrong
in there, because what else are
they going to do?
And I don't know who would
want to speak to that--
any of you.
REEVE CARNEY: I think,
if we don't relate
to the struggle of
becoming a follower,
then we're not being
honest with ourselves.
And so I think if you
think, oh, those people
are doing this in
"Hadestown," and they're
making these choices, then
I think we're not really
being open enough to be
honest with ourselves
about these struggles.
And I think that's one
of the beautiful things
about each character in the show
and the ensemble-- everyone.
I find each character to be so
relatable in different ways,
at different stages of life,
and even simultaneously,
in the present time.
PATRICK PAGE: Hades understands
what a powerful motivator
fear is, and particularly
fear of scarcity--
that there won't be
enough of something.
And that someone from the
other side of the wall
will come and try to
take what you have.
And Anais has often said, the
coincidence is archetypal.
It's this archetype that
goes back for centuries--
millennia.
And people have always tried
to divide people and said,
we'll put a wall up.
And you'll be safe on our side.
And it was one of the first
things that attracted me
to the show-- was I listened to
the album and heard that song.
And I thought, the
song is unbelievably
simple in its circular logic.
It's perfect.
It's perfectly crafted.
I think it's one of the great
folk songs ever written.
I really do.
And I have to sing it
every night-- have to?
I get to.
[LAUGHTER]
But it's interesting because
I've sung it since before Trump
was a candidate.
And then he was a candidate.
Then he was a nominee.
Then I sang it in Canada--
completely different
vibe, coming--
[LAUGHTER]
--from Canadians.
Then I sang it in London,
completely different
vibe coming from them--
they're very aware they're
watching an American cast
telling this story--
and now to this audience.
And if you haven't been in the
Walter Kerr theater recently,
you may have forgotten how
intimate that space is.
It's like facing a wall of
human beings all stacked
on top of one another.
And that's been
really eye opening,
to sing it over time,
as the image of the wall
has been more and more ingrained
in public consciousness.
SPEAKER 1: How can
we use this art
and use these words as
a learning experience?
Because you're stepping
back and watching this
from an outside perspective,
what's happening.
But how can we take that and
bring that out into the world?
ANAIS MITCHELL:
Can I jump on this?
SPEAKER 1: Of course.
ANAIS MITCHELL: Just to
continue this conversation
about that song, I'm a
very, very slow songwriter.
It takes a ridiculous
amount of hours
to ever finish anything for me.
But that particular song--
I don't even feel like I can
take credit for it, because it
just happened so quickly.
And I almost didn't
know what it meant.
But at the time, I was
thinking about climate change
and migration of
people and trends
that, obviously, have been
around us for a long time
and are still intensifying.
And the thought
was, who among us
is not going to want
to be behind a wall
when the masses are
knocking at the door
and there's not
enough to go around?
And I love what you said,
Reeve, about that song
is not a statement, per se.
It's a series of questions.
And that's, I think, what
the show is meant to do
and what the song is meant to do
is really provoke the question,
what are you going to do
when the chips are down?
And all of the
characters in "Hadestown"
have a different
approach to that.
There's Hades and Eurydice are
the more practical and fearful
characters.
And then Orpheus and
Persephone have more faith
in the abundance of the world.
And they sort of believe
that the world will provide
and there's enough to go around.
And it's not that anyone is
more correct than anyone else.
It's more a question of, how do
we want to live in this world,
in these hard times?
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: The wall in
"Hadestown" is also emotional.
It isn't just brick and mortar.
The question is, why do
we build the walls that's
internal architecture?
Persephone asks Hades,
what are you afraid of?
Why do you put up these defenses
between yourself and one
other individual
or between yourself
and all other individuals?
What are you trying
to keep inside?
What are you trying to
keep on the outside?
That's what resonates for
me when that song happens,
because that's what's going
to liberate us if we can first
mend the problem that
we are suffering,
if we can heal the wound
that's festering in us.
Then, we can go about healing
the wound that's festering
in the rest of the world.
SPEAKER 1: I don't even
know what to say to that.
[LAUGHTER]
Right?
That's amazing.
REEVE CARNEY:
Because I do believe
that physical barriers--
they tend to be a
manifestation of these barriers
that Andre is speaking of.
And so I don't know that they
would exist without forming
on the inside first.
SPEAKER 1: I want to
shift a little bit over
to building the
world of "Hadestown"
and putting it on the stage.
So to start--
Andre, here-- you set
the tone for the show
the second you step on stage.
I'm not going to
tell you what he
does, because that is something
that you'll want to experience.
But you come out and
you bring us here.
How has the audience
reaction been to that?
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: The audience
reaction has ultimately
been squeals of joy.
[LAUGHTER]
However, and
without spoiling it,
it starts off as a
question of mystery,
because the figure you
meet at the top of the show
is monstrously slow,
stern, and shining.
SPEAKER 1: Very shiny.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: So the first
thought you might have is,
is this the man that my mother
has been warning me about?
Stay away from him?
That kind of thing?
And then, of course, the
first wall is broken down.
And the response to
the contract that we're
trying to make with the audience
is absolutely affirmative.
And the contract is this--
come with me on this journey.
You might be challenged.
You might be changed.
But you won't be harmed.
And that's when the people lean
forward and say, yeah, take me.
And we do.
SPEAKER 1: That is exactly it.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: We take them.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah.
I want to play a quick
clip of "Wait For Me,"
which is my favorite
scene in the show.
Like, I lost it.
So just play a
quick clip of Reeve,
here, singing "Wait For Me."
[REEVE CARNEY SINGING "WAIT FOR
 ME"]
[APPLAUSE]
So true life,
during this scene, I
forgot there were
other people there.
And then-- you have to see it.
It's absolutely incredible.
And then everyone
starts clapping.
I'm like, oh,
there's people here.
But I wanted to talk about
the logistics of that.
How did you combine the
lighting and the smoke and all
these different aspects?
Was it something that
the individual teams all
did together, as a group?
Or did they come with their
own different thoughts
of everything?
How do you how do you create
this world, especially
this beautiful scene with
the lighting and just the way
that they built it?
ANAIS MITCHELL: I wish we had
Rachel here to answer that.
SPEAKER 1: I know.
ANAIS MITCHELL: But I will say
that the very first meeting
I had with Rachel about this
show-- it was, like, 2012.
She had the studio
album, which had
a version of that song on it.
Not as expansive as it is now,
but a version of that song.
And she was like,
I don't know why,
but when I listen
to that chorus,
I just see these
swinging lanterns--
these lanterns that could swing
at the same tempo as the music.
And I was like, great.
[LAUGHTER]
And I want to say that
at the Walter Kerr,
something magically
came together
with the size of those lanterns,
the size of the space, the way
that they swing out over
the actual audience.
And if you're in
the first few rows,
it's like you're
going to get hit
in the-- you're not going
get hit in the head,
but it looks like you are.
[LAUGHTER]
It's very visceral.
And I feel like that vision
of hers from six years ago
is finally really hitting.
And there's so
much else going on.
I don't know-- is
it OK to give away--
AUDIENCE: No.
ANAIS MITCHELL: No?
[LAUGHTER]
But I'll just say,
there's some lights.
[LAUGHTER]
SPEAKER 1: There's some lights.
There's a couple lights.
ANAIS MITCHELL: Yeah.
There's some smoke.
SPEAKER 1: Guys,
go see this show.
You have to see it.
PATRICK PAGE: When
you were talking--
I'm so struck with how
many of the things--
it's a play, a piece about
trust, faith, doubt--
how doubt poisons the
belief in yourself--
in what you were talking
about, Andre-- that inner voice
that knows and knows.
And to me, the thing I
keep hearing is you saying,
I heard these lyrics,
this song, "Wait For Me."
They came to me and I followed.
And Rachel-- she says, I don't
know why, but I see an image.
And she followed it.
And what we're talking
about is the moment
in the show, frankly, that
seems to just knock people over.
And that it came from
these two women saying,
I'm going to follow this thing,
and I don't know what it is.
Instead of doubting
and saying, oh, no,
that doesn't make any
sense-- swinging lights?
There's no swinging light
imagery in the song.
There's nothing about
that in the song.
I should make it about an image
that's in the lyrics somehow.
But instead trusting just this
gut thing and just following.
And then coming up with
something so beautiful.
It's a real lesson
for me to just follow
those little things that make no
sense and see where they lead.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS:
And there's a moment
like that shared between
Orpheus and Eurydice
when he produces the
coronation for the first time
and she says, how
do you do that?
And he says, I don't know.
[LAUGHTER]
And then they follow it.
EVA NOBLEZADA: Yeah.
REEVE CARNEY: Yeah.
PATRICK PAGE: And
that's, frankly,
another little magical
thing, I think,
in the creation of this show,
is that Peter Nevins made
this wood cut--
was it a wood cut or a print?
ANAIS MITCHELL:
Yeah, it's linoleum.
It's this one.
PATRICK PAGE: Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
And there was this flower.
And when we first
did the show, there
was no flower in the show.
Lots of flower
imagery in the lyrics.
And then slowly, over time,
artwork began to emerge.
Flower emerged in the show.
And now it's the central
image in the show.
Just, again,
following something.
Who knows where it came from?
Was it you, the other
day, that was saying,
if you were to ask
any one person, who
had the idea for the
flower, nobody knows?
ANAIS MITCHELL: Yeah, yeah.
PATRICK PAGE: It just
appeared in the show.
ANAIS MITCHELL: Yeah.
It feels to me like a
collective unconscious thing.
The image was right,
and everyone knew it.
And at first, Orpheus
produced that flower.
And then I remember maybe
Bradley King, our lighting
designer, saying, hey,
maybe when Eurydice descends
to the underworld, instead
of dropping her scarf,
what if she drops the flower?
And then someone
else saying, oh,
hey, what about, in "His
Kiss, the Riot," what if Hades
contemplates this flower?
And it was many,
many different minds
grabbing onto this
image which felt
so right as an
expression of hope
and the potential for
change and transformation
and the springtime.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: I don't want
to hit the nail of politics
over the head too
much, but that image
relates to so many generations,
not the least of which,
Tiananmen Square, with the--
and I'm an
unreconstructed hippie.
And flowers-- if you
go to San Francisco,
wear flowers in your hair
and that sort of thing.
PATRICK PAGE: And
labor movements.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS:
And labor movements.
Yes, indeed.
So with that image,
you are speaking
to generations of
causes, which, I think,
is going to project this piece
of art way into the future,
just by looking at the audiences
who are coming to see it.
Not only are they
multicultural, not only
are they ethnically diverse,
they're intergenerational.
So we have all of these
intellects responding
to that image.
So if there are 900 people
who sit in the theater,
we have at least 900
ideas of what that means--
eight times a week for 52 weeks.
SPEAKER 1: We're going to take
an audience question right
over here.
AUDIENCE: I wanted to ask--
I know you guys
talked a little bit
about the very
low parts of Hades
and the very high
part of Orpheus.
But it's not just a little
low and a little high.
It's super, super high
and super, super low,
to the point where
you wonder, is there
a smaller amount of actors that
could even play those parts?
Or is the talent you had on
hand the reasons why you decided
to option up for
those and option
down for those kinds of things?
So I was curious about whether
or not that aspect of it
is essential to the characters
and central to the production,
or maybe just a consequence
of how things unfolded?
ANAIS MITCHELL: I should
maybe answer that.
Yeah, right.
It's so funny, because I
was hearing Amber Gray, who
plays Persephone, talk
about how oftentimes,
in music theater that's written
by men, the parts for women
are really tough to sing.
Like, they're a little
too high and it's
like, you'd have a very specific
voice to hit that stuff.
And I have to say,
me as a composer,
I'm just not trained
in music theater.
And the women's parts
I wrote in a place
where I could sing them.
And I felt like, great.
This will be easy.
And I just had no idea
with the men's parts.
[LAUGHTER]
I just had no idea.
[APPLAUSE]
So that's part of why they
ended up where they did.
And lucky enough to find
these two unicorns who
are able to sing them.
PATRICK PAGE: I wonder if
it has anything to do, also,
with the fact that you may
be unique among Broadway
composers in that you compose
on a guitar as opposed
to on a piano.
Whereas on a piano,
you visually see,
oh, no, that's a
ridiculous note.
[LAUGHTER]
I mustn't do that.
But on the guitar,
you're just, whatever.
ANAIS MITCHELL: Yeah,
you can't even see it.
I know.
But there is something poetic,
I think, about the fact
that the king of the underworld
has this subterranean singing
voice and that
Orpheus, who's really
this pure, ethereal
spirit, has a heavenly--
he's up in the
stratosphere, there.
But to what you're
saying, sure, if someone's
going to do this in
high school, we'll
put it in a different key.
No problem.
[LAUGHTER]
SPEAKER 1: Thank you.
And over here?
AUDIENCE: Great.
Thank you guys so much
for coming to Google.
First of all, I
had the privilege
of seeing the show on
Saturday, during the matinee,
with 26 friends, which
was pretty amazing.
Thank you, Kevin,
who got the tickets.
[LAUGHTER]
During the show, there was a
woman in the orchestra center
who was sobbing.
And actually, Andre, you say
this at one point in the show,
and that's when
it really hit me.
You say, it's a sad song,
but we sing it anyway.
But I was just hoping
you guys could tell me
what that means to you.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS:
I'll start, since I
get to sing that deliciously
layered and mysterious lyric
in this show.
It also gives me an
opportunity to say,
I think for the first
time in your presence,
Anais is an oracle.
SPEAKER 1: Yes.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: She's
a contemporary prophet.
[LAUGHTER]
SPEAKER 1: Mm-hmm.
Yes.
[APPLAUSE]
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: And
traditionally, oracles live
at the naval of the universe--
the naval.
So therefore, you
have to imagine
there's an umbilical cord
that's attached to Anais
and then goes to
the highest point--
Orpheus-- and the lowest point--
Hades.
That's where we get that
terminology, as above,
so below.
Hermes is the connection
between the two.
That's why it has
to be a sad song.
In "Hamlet," Shakespeare calls
us the paragon of animals.
But that's because
we are supposed
to connect heaven and hell.
And the connection
is the purpose
and the question
of our lives, which
is, why is it all miserable?
Why is life so hard,
and then we die?
I don't know if we answer
that question in "Hadestown."
But we certainly give you
many options to consider.
And ultimately,
our friend Orpheus
has to not succeed in his
effort so that each of you
out there gets an opportunity
to test it for yourselves--
to be Orpheus and
to be Eurydice.
Do you know anything about
"The Hero of a Thousand Faces,"
Joseph Campbell?
Get that book and put
it by your bed stand
and read it for the
rest of your life.
[LAUGHTER]
But what Joseph
Campbell says in this
is that your life is about
following your bliss.
And Orpheus' bliss in this
play is his love for Eurydice,
just as Hades'
bliss in this play,
as he so wonderfully explained,
is his love for Persephone.
Again, none of that is possible
if you don't first establish
the bliss in yourself.
Was that helpful at all?
[LAUGHTER]
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
ANDRE DE SHIELDS: Thank you.
SPEAKER 1: Great.
And right over here?
AUDIENCE: The whole
history of Greek myths
being adapted into the English
canon is totally fascinating.
And you can look towards the
middle of the 20th century
for O'Neillian kind
of inspiration,
and even up until
Ellen McLaughlin, who's
one of my favorite playwrights
in the '90s-- the way
that she adapted "Iphigenia and
Other Daughters" to "The Trojan
Women" around the story
of the Trojan War.
And so I wonder how, in the
development of this production,
you might have thought about
this play and this piece
of work's place in the canon
of adapting these very, very
old myths into something
that's very American?
And as a little sub
question under that,
I think when you were
previously answering questions,
you talked a little bit about
this, on the Eurydice. story.
But were there, as you were
developing the storyline,
any pain points around
elements of Greek myths
that have some difficulty
working their way
into a modern storytelling?
Mostly because there are lots
of war stories coming out
of the Greeks.
We don't really
tell those anymore.
The morals don't
quite translate.
So if there was anything
difficult there to work in.
ANAIS MITCHELL: Wow.
That was a very
intelligent question.
[LAUGHTER]
I don't know that
I've thought as deeply
in what seems like a sort
of academic way about what
this adaptation means in the
broader scheme of adaptation
of Greek stuff.
But I will say that I love
old songs and stories.
And in my songwriting
career, I also
have done a couple of projects
of adapting really old folk
ballads and stories, making them
accessible for the modern ear
and the American
ear-- stuff that comes
from England and whatever.
And in doing that, I
just keep discovering
how the same stories pop
up in different places
around the world.
And they may or may not be
traveling from one place
to another.
It's like they have staying
power and they resonate.
And they spontaneously
appear in different places.
Like, I did this one ballads--
this is kind of an aside.
But there's one epic folk
ballad about this couple.
There's an evil mother-in-law,
which is an archetype.
And the evil mother-in-law
doesn't like the new bride.
And she puts a curse on her
that she'll get pregnant.
And she just gets more
and more pregnant,
and she can never have the baby.
And this is a real--
it's an amazing song.
And ultimately, the
husband figures out
how to break the spell.
And this story has cropped
up all over the world.
It's like a universal
paranoia situation.
And I just love that
stories are like that
and songs are like that.
And I love that
this story, which
has existed for as far back
as any human can remember,
is still relevant today.
And I would say that, I guess,
as far as your second question
goes, one of the tough
things is certainly,
the female characters
in those stories often
really have no agency at all.
In the case of Eurydice,
there's just not
much you can find about,
what does she want?
What did she think
about the fact
that she just gets chased
around and ends up dead?
And even in the
case of Persephone,
I think the
traditional myth leans
into the sort of abduction
of Persephone in a way
that we haven't found useful
for our version of the story.
And then I think the other
thing that's interesting
is, this thing in the Greek
where people aren't actually
really making decisions, right?
Because the Fates are kind
of making them for them.
Everything is ordained.
And they're getting
pushed around.
And that exists in our show.
There are these three Fates.
And as far as the characters go,
they don't have an arc the way
that these guys do.
They're pretty constant
all the way through.
But they exist as the
voices in people's heads.
And they push people around.
And so that feels
like, in a way,
that was adhering to their role
in the ancient Greek stuff.
SPEAKER 1: Well, we are
just about out of time.
But before we go, I would be
remiss if I did not mention,
this is the only new
musical this season directed
by a woman.
Anais is also one of--
[CHEERING]
Yes.
Anais here is one
of the only women
ever to have written both
the book and music and lyrics
for a musical.
I believe you are one in five?
Something like that.
So--
[CHEERING]
Yeah.
But you can follow "Hadestown"
online, @Hadestown.
They are currently playing
at the Walter Kerr Theater.
Hadestown.com.
Please go see this show.
It's incredible.
And please give a hand to this
amazing cast of "Hadestown."
[APPLAUSE]
