S2E1: On the Road to Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell | Second Stage Podcast

Hadestown is Anaïs Mitchell’s 2006 musical, and it has been stirring up fires onstage. The play revolves around the ancient Greek myths of two couples: Orpheus and Eurydice, and Hades and Persephone. It reimagines the ancient Greek myths of these two couples in a post-apocalyptic, Great Depression-inspired setting: a train station juke joint between the world above and the mining town below. Her composition for the show blends folk music, indie rock, and traditional New Orleans jazz. The musical arrived in 2006 as a DIY community theater project in Vermont. Ten years later, it debuted off-Broadway in 2016. It opened on Broadway in 2019, garnered eight Tony Awards, and was filmed for movie release.This week, we hear from a variety of my students and our school’s drama teacher about the merits of bringing Hadestown to the high school classroom.Second Stage is a Free Zone Radio production. You can find it and our other podcast, With Honors, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.Also, throw some love at our brotherly podcast with Coach Haston, A Deadman’s Books. He’s also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.This episode features “Caught in the Middle” by Amarent and “Flea Bop” by Mr. Smith, used under their respective Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial licenses. All rights remain with the original artists and copyright holders.This episode also includes brief excerpts from Hadestown, music, lyrics, and book by Anaïs Mitchell. These excerpts are included for purposes of discussion, commentary, criticism, and education. Hadestown and its music are the property of their respective copyright holders. No ownership of these materials is claimed or implied.All copyrighted works featured in this episode remain the property of their respective creators and rights holders. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit secondstagepodcast.substack.com