SOUNDTRACK: HADESTOWN-Tiny Desk Concert #977 (June 1, 2020).
It’s unusual for a Tiny Desk blurb to tell us when the Tiny Desk happened. Sometimes there are clues, but this blurb tells us straight out it happened on March 2, in “the Before-Times.”
Which you can tell because there are “16 performers bunch[ed] up behind the desk, singing formidably in close proximity as a large crowd gathers just off camera.”
I’ve never heard of Hadestown, but it sounds pretty interesting. Evidently it is a Tony-nominated hit musical.
They’d wanted to get this Tiny Desk done, but kept running into delays until they finally managed to coordinate when “playwright Anaïs Mitchell–who wrote both the musical and the 2010 folk opera on which it’s based–was eight months pregnant.” She also plays guitar and sings.
This is a “five-song distillation of a robust and impeccably staged Broadway production.”
A raucous full-cast tone-setter, “Way Down Hadestown” lets Hermes the messenger (André De Shields, in a role that won him a Tony–he also plays the train whistle) and Persephone (Kimberly Marable, filling in for Amber Gray) set the scene. I love that Marable is acting (with her face) while listening to Hermes sing. The song is a kind of piano-based rag song (played by Liam Robinson who later plays accordion) until midway when the whole band kicks in with a muted trombone solo from Brian Drye (who also plays glockenspiel!).
The musical is really about two loves stories: Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone.
A medley of “Come Home With Me” and “Wedding Song” finds Orpheus (Reeve Carney) and Eurydice (Eva Noblezada) meeting and falling in love.
Gentle guitar from Ilusha Tsinadze opens as Orpheus sings his (comical) lyrics.
A singer , huh?
I also play the lyre.
Oh a liar and a player too.
As the song builds, strings are added from Megan Gould (violin) and Malcolm Parson (cello) and a pulsing upright bass from Chris Tordini.
“When the Chips Are Down” showcases the three Fates — spirits who often drive the characters’ motivations — as played by Jewelle Blackman (who also plays accordion), Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer (who also plays violin) and Kay Trinidad (who also plays percussion).
It opens with some interesting picked and harmonic’d guitar and a bouncy piano and a funky off kilter beat (and percussion) from Ben Perowsky. Liam Robinson also get s a fun piano solo.
In “Flowers,” Eurydice looks back with regret and resignation on her decision to leave Orpheus for the promise of Hadestown.
Mitchell herself plays guitar and sings the opening and then lets Eva take over vocals.
Finally, the set concludes with “Why We Build the Wall,” which quickly became Hadestown‘s most talked-about number. (Mitchell wrote it a full decade before the 2016 election, but you’d never know it.) Though the song includes the full cast, it’s also a show-stopping showcase for the sonorous thunder of Patrick Page, who performs with a gravity befitting the king of the underworld.
It opens with two acoustic guitars playing a slightly discordant melody. Page’s deep voice is incredible. It’s a call and response song that is remarkably prescient:
The enemy is poverty and the wall keeps out the enemny and we build the wall to keep us free.
I don’t know what will happen to Broadway after the virus is gone, but it would be a shame to lose a show like this.
[READ: June 4, 2020] “Still Life”
This is an excerpt from Oates’ new novel Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. The blurb tells what the story is about but this excerpt seems like the beginning of the story and context rather impacts the way you think about what you’re reading.
The story is about John Earle “Whitey” McClaren. He is sixty-seven and is in the hospital trying to piece together what happened. I feel like not knowing the reason he is in the hospital would make this story more compelling. But having just the except without context would make the excerpt far less interesting. So I won’t spoil.
He tries to explain what’s happening, but he can’t talk. He realizes he’s not even breathing on his own. Continue Reading »
I saw Tanya Tagaq back in 2017 and her show was mind blowing. I definitely want to see her again.
I’d never heard of The Fun and Games before looking up this bubblegum pop song.
SOUNDTRACK: LARA DOWNES-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #29 (May 30, 2020).
I don’t know Lara Downes, although from the picture you can see that she is a pianist, obviously. But she also works in communities with young people–something she has been unable to do since the coronavirus took over.
I Just Read About That... 