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'Hadestown' Music and Stagecraft | The BSB Podcast · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  joining us is Ryann Ferguson.
• 0:01
  Thank you so much for being back for the second episode, even though it's only been about five minutes.
• 0:09
  The magic of editing, as they would say.
• 0:11
  How's everybody doing?
• 0:14
  We still doing good?
• 0:16
  We're doing good.
• 0:18
  We're surviving over here.
• 0:19
  caffeine.
• 0:20
  Drinking all the caffeine.
• 0:21
  We're going to get through this.
• 0:23
  So before we get started, obviously, I didn't give this in the last episode, but spoiler warning, if you haven't seen Hadeastown on Broadway, West End on tour, we are talking
• 0:32
  about some of the performances, some of the staging, and our final thoughts on the episode.
• 0:38
  And just to give you the download of what happened in episode one, we talked about the story and the music.
• 0:44
  So this is the story of Eurydice and Orpheus.
• 0:48
  and their love story specifically in modern, a modern retelling of the tale, along with Persephone and Hades.
• 0:57
  And then we also have Hermes, who is narrating the entire show with the fates.
• 1:01
  So there's a lot going on, as we talked about in the last episode.
• 1:04
  We had a great breakdown of that.
• 1:07
  And I cannot wait to jump in to the performances.
• 1:11
  So, Ryann right, right off the bat, I want to get who was that one performance?
• 1:18
  that just captured you from Hadestown?
• 1:22
  It would have to be Hermes for me because from the first second he stepped out on the stage, I was like encapsulated with him.
• 1:33
  Like I was just like, yes, you are fabulous.
• 1:35
  I love everything about you.
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  And I would gladly sit here for three hours just listening to you.
• 1:41
  I think he had a presence on the stage that was very captivating.
• 1:47
  I am actually surprisingly going to agree with this because I think that this is probably the best updated casting from when I saw it on Broadway.
• 1:56
  Again, seeing it with the original Broadway cast, Hermes is much older and he has that soulful blue jazzy voice, but it does kind of take some of that like energeticness that we
• 2:10
  tend to assume with Hermes.
• 2:11
  Like Hermes is the messenger God.
• 2:13
  He tends to be kind of
• 2:14
  hyperactive or just kind of like carefree and loose.
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  And it turns them into this much older man who's like telling the story, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
• 2:22
  But when this, when this, you know, this younger individual walked out and I was like getting the vibes of the new doctor from Doctor Who.
• 2:32
  And I was like, this is great.
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  This is wonderful.
• 2:35
  It ticked all the boxes and I thought it changed the perspective of the story.
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  So I agree.
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  Hermes was just top notch.
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  RJ, whose performance grabbed you?
• 2:46
  Oh Can I have two?
• 2:49
  Um
• 2:50
  I mean, we're talking about all of them, so I absolutely take the floor.
• 2:53
  I mean, I agree with you about Hermes in regards to the casting and the-
• 3:03
  the changes that seemingly were made in that decision.
• 3:08
  And I don't know if that was, I mean, I feel like it has to be intentional, but maybe it wasn't.
• 3:15
  Obviously, the vocals were just insane on that too.
• 3:21
  But, Eurydice it was the best vocal performance I think I have heard in...
• 3:33
  a minute.
• 3:34
  It was just
• 3:35
  down to the tiniest trill, like so intricately well done, yeah, I just, I would struggle.
• 3:45
  Maybe acting-wise, like character-wise, Hermes, but vocally, Eurydice
• 3:52
  You know, the thing about Hermes, and I want to get to Eurydice in a second, but the thing about Hermes, I'm sorry, getting back on my cell box for a second, is that he did have
• 4:00
  that energy.
• 4:02
  He had this energy of somebody who, like I'm thinking of, again, we had a medical emergency, he left the stage, and when he came running back out, he had the energy of just
• 4:16
  like, this is the messenger God Do you know what moment I'm talking about?
• 4:18
  He like almost skidded to a stop in front of the microphone.
• 4:22
  Ryann's not you you saw that right?
• 4:24
  I'm not making this up
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  It was almost like a graceful little slide, like.
• 4:30
  Yes, like smooth and sophisticated, like just so suave, which is honestly what the Greek gods were.
• 4:39
  A lot of them were suave.
• 4:40
  were sleeping with everybody.
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  I mean, unfortunately, let's be honest here.
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  Like, and so there was this smoothness and you didn't, you really got that from this character.
• 4:52
  But when we go down to Orpheus and Eurydice,
• 4:58
  I agree with you, RJ.
• 4:59
  Eurydice's performance was probably the smoothest I've ever heard or seen.
• 5:04
  Granted, I've seen a lot of this on TikTok.
• 5:08
  But it almost seemed flawless, dare I say.
• 5:12
  Is that a good way to describe it?
• 5:13
  Yeah, and I think, like, as we talked about in the previous episode, this coming from being a original folk album or folk concept to musical theater, and her voice style seemed
• 5:31
  a little bit more belty and a little bit more pop-ish.
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  And I actually talked to multiple of my theater connections.
• 5:43
  about this because they also noticed like the different timbre made the character just a little bit bolder, I think.
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  Whereas she typically feels she's strong, but there is a sense of like, she's small and like timid.
• 6:03
  But this portrayal felt very like move out of my way type.
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  And I think a lot of that had to do with the timbre of her voice and the way that she sang.
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  I would echo that as well, just from her first real moment on the stage, where she kind of jumps into it.
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  It was very commanding.
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  So it's interesting not knowing the show before that.
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  If she typically is more timid, I would echo that 100%.
• 6:37
  She was very commanding on the stage.
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  Going back to that first time I saw it, I would agree that it was very trill-y.
• 6:46
  In fact, when we saw The Great Gatsby, which we'll be covering in a later podcast, when we saw Eva Nobledoza, I told you, I was like, I remember not liking that kind of voice in
• 6:55
  Hadestown because it didn't feel like there's something about it that didn't feel right.
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  And it didn't know that what it was until I saw this performance.
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  I got more of like that Janice from Mean Girls vibe of like, just like the
• 7:08
  very belty, powerful commanding.
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  And so when she made the decision to go to Hadestown, it didn't feel like she was giving up.
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  It felt like she saw an option and she took it, which I think changed that trajectory for me for that character.
• 7:23
  Yeah, again, having now heard both voices live, I think it really does make a difference in the characterization of, and that's not to diss anybody's acting or vocal performances.
• 7:40
  I think it just changes the narrative of this character can go either way.
• 7:46
  Like you can feel any which way about this character because all of those.
• 7:50
  characterizations are there, but what is being drawn out by the vocals is, I mean, previously, maybe timid it isn't even the right word, but just, she was a little bit
• 8:04
  softer, just a little bit, even though she was still kind of stubborn and the character from that perspective was the same.
• 8:12
  Yeah, you felt like she went to,
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  Hades because she had to, not because it was a choice that she intentionally made.
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  Whereas this portrayal felt like, I know what I'm doing.
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  At the end of the day, this is better for me.
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  And if he wants me, he'll find me.
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  And you know, when you look at her with this Orpheus, I liked that choice too, because it feels like this Orpheus specifically had a softer, more timid voice.
• 8:52
  Like he was much more like, like, lithy, I think is the word that's coming to mind.
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  Where like, it wasn't quite as demanding.
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  Like I, what I've heard Wait For Me before, and it feels like a gut punch.
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  And this one felt more like a, like a, like a ode to the love and getting it back.
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  And so I think it worked a little bit better because he seemed like the dreamer and she seemed more like the realist because of the way they were singing.
• 9:15
  Yeah, the roles feel reversed comparatively to what I've seen.
• 9:20
  And then when you mimic that with Hades and Persephone, which I think are the other main voices in this, it is the opposite, where Hades is the more demanding one and Persephone
• 9:30
  has a demanding voice, but it's more timid when Hades is around.
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  What did Ryann, what did you like about the Hades Persephone performances?
• 9:37
  Not the sunglasses.
• 9:39
  That's what I was coming to my mind and I was like don't bring up the sunglasses I have to say I was dying of laughter when he came out in those matrix Sunglasses with the black
• 9:55
  trench coat.
• 9:57
  I I was dying.
• 9:58
  I thought it was so funny I think
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  I think it was really interesting in the sense that he's a stoic...
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  and it's almost mirrored in the deepness of his voice.
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  Everything is very slowed down, very methodical in its sense, because it's heavily implied that she's drinking a lot throughout the whole thing, she's commanding, but she's also...
• 10:33
  Like he's steady and she's a bit all over the place.
• 10:37
  And I really like that dynamic.
• 10:38
  I never thought of it that way.
• 10:40
  I love that comparison between the flightiness of what is the changing of the seasons and the steadiness of what is the king of hell.
• 10:51
  Did that cross your mind, RJ, when you saw the show?
• 10:53
  I don't think I thought that much into it.
• 10:58
  Also probably because just generally don't like, mean, Hades is probably like my least favorite character in the show.
• 11:09
  No shade to those that play him.
• 11:11
  I just can't get behind it.
• 11:16
  What don't you like about him?
• 11:17
  I mean, it might also be the musicality.
• 11:20
  I just, and I know he's intentionally bassy.
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  I know it's, it's meant to be this menacingly low, slightly terrifying, but also like jokingly terrifying man.
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  Um, which also just like gross.
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  So maybe that's why I hate it.
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  I'm like, that's yay, toxic masculinity.
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  And I know it's intentionally there and I know it's
• 11:46
  an acting portrayal, but gross.
• 11:49
  I he, I guess, yes, I understand what you're saying.
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  You got caught me speechless there for a moment.
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  didn't know how to respond.
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  Cause I think the psychologist in me likes the growth that he has.
• 12:01
  Cause he has some of the most, the most growth in the show where a lot of people seem very stagnant in their characters, characterization.
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  And you see that foiled with Eurydice's growth, you know, but a lot of these other characters, they're very, they're very stagnant.
• 12:18
  which is interesting for a character, Persephone, who is the personification of a changing season.
• 12:23
  But if we're talking about chemistry between these actors and these characters, I think that I liked this time around seeing this performance.
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  I liked the chemistry between Persephone and Hades more than Orpheus and Eurydice.
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  And I could be completely like this.
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  This could be like a complete off the wall opinion here.
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  You know, a hot take, as they would say.
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  But looking at the two of them, which chemistry did you like better?
• 12:47
  Like which couple seemed to have more between them?
• 12:50
  I think I would echo your sentiments.
• 12:53
  did like Hades and Persephone's...
• 12:57
  their vibe was...
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  I think Eurydice and Orpheus' vibe was very...
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  it was very timid.
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  It was very...
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  that almost awkward first love where they are so different in their personalities that they love each other but they have problems...
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  like finding that common ground.
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  so it leads to that, like, that awkwardness that comes off stage, which is great acting on their parts, you know, like that it came through like that.
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  But yeah, I would I would echo your sentiments on on Hades and Persephone 100 percent.
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  Like the chemistry was was like poppable, you know, like.
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  What about for you,
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  I'm going to be the black sheep and be the opposite.
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  Yeah, I, once again, it could be because I have a bias against Hades.
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  And I'm looking at this from two different lenses, one of which I'm looking at the characterization of the relationships.
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  So like,
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  I mean, really neither of them are great, right?
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  But then I'm looking at like the actors' chemistry, seemingly.
• 14:23
  I think it makes, once again, my opinions, orpheus and eurydice We had the originals for both of those roles that night, and I thought their chemistry was stronger than...
• 14:41
  those that were playing Hades and Persephone who were both stand-ins.
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  Not to throw shade on them for being stand-ins, you just get less stage time with each other when that happens.
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  And I thought I could feel that a little bit.
• 15:00
  Once again.
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  And I'm a helpless romantic.
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  So I think that that
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  There's more of a romance to me to the young love than there is to the toxic, let me keep you here for six to nine months.
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  You know what I mean?
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  Like the balance doesn't feel balanced in this situation, but it does, even though it's not in the other.
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  I like, we don't have enough time to do a therapy session on you for picking that.
• 15:27
  But then I just realized that if we have more to talk about, Ryann and I, why we like the toxic relationship here.
• 15:35
  I mean, but they're both, they're both toxic, right?
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  Like, I mean, the youngins are like, chase me, chase me, because we're like young and in love and I just met you and marry me.
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  And then you have the ones who are eternally together, but are like locking each other in closets, basically.
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  it, you know, all toxic.
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  That's why it's a tragedy.
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  like about the myth in itself of like separate story completely about how Hades and Persephone actually like come to be.
• 16:09
  Cause I mean there's a couple different versions of it that you read but it like Hades is that 100 % toxic man of he sees this beautiful woman, he tricks her into eating the
• 16:22
  pomegranate.
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  and then traps her down in hell for all of eternity and it's later on that they come to this agreement of yeah you can go up for X amount of months.
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  So it is interesting, like I hadn't really thought about it before.
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  Now that you bring that up, I'm like yeah, I mean you are right.
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  So apparently I do have a lot to unpack in therapy.
• 16:47
  Oh no.
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  But you know, let's.
• 16:51
  I looked up the, just out of curiosity, the sunglasses, because I'm like, that is a choice.
• 16:57
  And that is a choice that they have not changed.
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  Especially for the era in which it's being portrayed, it's more modern, those glasses do not match that, the costuming, I feel like.
• 17:13
  Yes, yes, yes.
• 17:15
  It's intentionally.
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  Yeah, it is.
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  so, and all I can really find is just that, and maybe it's because they're so black and so dark and just sleek.
• 17:26
  And I guess his hair kind of is that way, but.
• 17:29
  I was gonna say, I think it might, that I think the actor from our performance might have played into that Matrix-esque look a little more too because I have seen pictures of the
• 17:42
  original cast and correct me if I'm wrong, the original Hades is much older.
• 17:47
  Very old, like he's in his 60s plus.
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  I think the slick back black hair definitely, like he walked out on that stage and I was like, this man literally looks like he's walking off the set of the Terminator or the
• 17:58
  Matrix.
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  Like he's ready to go.
• 18:01
  Sure.
• 18:03
  Fun fact, he is 62 now, so he would have been in his late 50s then.
• 18:09
  Also fun fact, he is married to Paige Davis from Trading Spaces and his name is Patrick Page.
• 18:13
  So technically her name is Paige Page.
• 18:15
  So leave that, do with that with what you will.
• 18:19
  Except your name is actually Mindy, but I digress.
• 18:23
  Too much information, I know.
• 18:25
  But...
• 18:26
  I there's one other relationship though that if we want to talk about maybe healthier relationships in this or healthier dynamics, the one that I picked up on this time that I
• 18:36
  didn't again pick up and I don't know if it's because they were closer in age and there was different dynamics or like RJ you said that there was the dynamics because they had
• 18:43
  been maybe touring a little bit more.
• 18:44
  But I liked the relationship between Hermes and Eurydice.
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  Like this like almost fatherly relationship kind of like the like the guide where
• 18:56
  The original Hermes almost seemed very aloof in his relationship with her.
• 19:03
  He almost saw Hermes caring that Orpheus was going to get her and wanting to see her back and hurt that she was lost to the underworld.
• 19:12
  And again, I don't know if I'm picking up on something that wasn't there, but I just saw this dynamic between the two of them that just felt very genuine and I liked that
• 19:18
  chemistry between the actors.
• 19:20
  Did either one of you pick up on it?
• 19:21
  I mean, I don't know if I picked up on that specifically.
• 19:24
  It did feel different.
• 19:25
  Like it did feel...
• 19:27
  Like there was actually, like it wasn't just a retelling, but that it was actively like that they were in the same time.
• 19:35
  Like I think when I've seen it previously, it felt like Hermes was just almost stepping in and out of the story and not actually a part of it because of the like age variation.
• 19:49
  Cause in my head, I'm just thinking like, you're not, you're not friends or you're not like associated with that person.
• 19:56
  Whereas this, was very easy for me to be like, yeah, like you're gonna go one so-and-so, or you're gonna go talk to or take care of so-and-so.
• 20:07
  And that makes sense.
• 20:08
  Like that relationship feels natural.
• 20:10
  How about for you, Ryann?
• 20:12
  did pick up on it but I didn't know that that was not something because I had not seen the show before so I I thought that was how it was.
• 20:25
  You know, I had once seen this theory years ago that part of the story, like the story itself was actually told at the end of time.
• 20:33
  And because Hermes had aged and the idea is that God's age, they don't, but they age slower in some, in some aspects, depending on what myths you listen to.
• 20:43
  And that that's why he was an old man and he had told this story so many times that he was a little more detached from it, which makes sense for that original cast.
• 20:52
  I liked that it felt like this was.
• 20:54
  a that was actively happening and Hermes was actively a part of it because they were more of the same age and like there was there was like a different chemistry that I definitely
• 21:04
  loved between the two.
• 21:05
  Um, before we run out of time, I do think we need to switch to staging and design because I think there was a lot happening.
• 21:11
  Um, and let's talk about the lighting of Hadestown specifically in, oh, wait for me, Ryann, you, you definitely did not like that lighting in wait for me.
• 21:25
  Listen, it hit my eyes like 10 times, which is fine like once or twice when you're in a show.
• 21:33
  Like I've been at shows where the lights pan out to the crowd.
• 21:35
  They, you know, they hit your eyes and you're like, ooh.
• 21:39
  But it was like every couple of beats, it was waving out into the crowd.
• 21:44
  And I think it was just where we were sitting in all honesty.
• 21:48
  the second time, I mean, this was the song where our medical emergency was.
• 21:54
  And so.
• 21:55
  not only did we have to do it the first time, but then they restarted and I found myself sitting with my program like kind of propped up the second time just through that first
• 22:06
  half while they were panning the lights out to the crowd.
• 22:11
  Because it was so blinding.
• 22:13
  I don't know about you, RJ, if it was better more in the middle of the row, but...
• 22:18
  brutal enough that it was kind of a joke because Emily next to me like noticed that I was visibly like, I must have been flinching or something because she literally put her hand
• 22:34
  in front of my eyes.
• 22:37
  so yeah, I mean, and I've seen it before and I don't remember that granted I was further up.
• 22:43
  So maybe it's just an issue, but.
• 22:46
  I don't remember that much lighting.
• 22:51
  Like in that scene, lighting is important.
• 22:54
  However, do I think that you can get the same idea across without blinding 60 % of your audience?
• 23:03
  Yes, I do.
• 23:03
  Because then I just missed what was happening on stage.
• 23:06
  Like I totally, I think I did at one point close my eyes.
• 23:10
  Cause I was like, I can't see anything anyway.
• 23:12
  Yeah.
• 23:14
  I want to say that I do not think that it was like that the last time I saw it.
• 23:18
  I feel like it swung out, but it swung out enough that it never met the crowd, swept the stage, and it stopped.
• 23:26
  And the only lights that ever came at us were the swinging ones from the ceiling, like the Edison bulb ones.
• 23:33
  Because I feel like I would have remembered being blinded off my ass by those lights the first time I saw it.
• 23:39
  There's no way I would not have remembered that and been like,
• 23:42
  Ryann, close your eyes.
• 23:43
  You're about to get your retinas burned.
• 23:47
  Yeah, and I don't remember seeing warning signs.
• 23:53
  There was one, and I will say this, I shouldn't, it was by the sign of the picture I took with the names of the cast, there was a warning there are strobe lights.
• 24:02
  Yeah, I don't even know if you can call those stro- that means that it's like warning we have 2000 amp lights coming your way like, um...
• 24:12
  it would have awakened the dead, literally.
• 24:15
  Yeah, if you were sleeping, you were no longer sleeping.
• 24:18
  No, and the fact that we had to do that twice, again, medical emergency, I'm really glad that we were able to take care of that.
• 24:24
  The Fisher Theater and the ushers there did a fantastic job of handling it.
• 24:28
  The crew did a great job of getting off that stage and coming back.
• 24:32
  Living through that twice was difficult.
• 24:36
  was almost comical the second time though because like you went through it the first time and you were just like come on and then the second time came up and you were just like
• 24:44
  Jesus.
• 24:46
  Yeah.
• 24:46
  yeah.
• 24:48
  And you start, mean, honestly, we just started with it.
• 24:50
  We were like, oh, sit back down.
• 24:53
  Start with applause.
• 24:54
  Blind you.
• 24:55
  Blind you.
• 24:57
  Like, you're so welcome.
• 24:59
  You're so welcome.
• 25:01
  You're like, take me out to dinner first, please, because before you just assault me with whatever that was.
• 25:07
  I'm just, I'm genuinely curious what like even just literally the degree of brightness you could change, you know, like that is a choice that is, and I'm sure that they hear about
• 25:20
  it every single show.
• 25:22
  Like there is no way.
• 25:24
  And we've, mean, how many shows have we seen in a lifetime?
• 25:27
  Like I, I've never experienced anything like that.
• 25:30
  I mean, we just did Sunset Boulevard, which was nothing but lights.
• 25:36
  And that once, granted we were pretty high up, not once did I feel blinded by whatever Bruce Springsteen lights they had shining on us.
• 25:44
  Like it was absolutely, and again, this cannot be just us because we did have the medical emergency.
• 25:51
  I had friends that were sitting 10 rows back to us.
• 25:54
  And when I saw them on Sunday, they were just like.
• 25:57
  Dude, how are those lights up there?
• 25:58
  And I said they were brutal.
• 25:59
  they were like, I saw spots for the entirety of the rest of that intermission.
• 26:05
  even the medical emergency happened in like the balcony.
• 26:08
  it, and we're obviously that's making assumptions that I had anything to do with the show, but.
• 26:15
  Listen, Ryann and I know we had good intel from a person behind us who had a friend up there that it was a seizure, then they're pretty sure it was from the lights.
• 26:23
  But besides the lights, let's talk about that stage.
• 26:27
  So I know in the first episode, I don't think we mentioned this episode, but with this being a second round tour, an equity tour, the stage got a lot different and a lot
• 26:35
  structured differently.
• 26:36
  RJ, I'm going to start with you because you've ushered this, you and I have both seen it.
• 26:40
  What was your thoughts on the stage changes?
• 26:45
  It was a surprise.
• 26:47
  I thought that they could have continued to do what they were doing before.
• 26:50
  I don't know why it would have cost them more or less.
• 26:56
  I guess maybe the size of the set stage.
• 27:00
  I preferred the previous version.
• 27:05
  I thought it was more dramatic.
• 27:07
  I thought it was more, it played to the story more.
• 27:10
  Otherwise, it kind of just felt like we were in a theater in the round and nobody went anywhere or did anything.
• 27:20
  Which is very dramatic for me to say, because obviously they were doing things, but comparatively to those who have seen the previous rendition and the Broadway version,
• 27:30
  there's just like no, almost no room for them to move.
• 27:34
  And so they really didn't do a lot of moving.
• 27:37
  You know, in the show, I, having seen this, and then Ryann, I'm gonna get your opinion with a fresh pair of eyes, so having seen the Broadway stage, and I actually looked it up
• 27:45
  to see it was still the same or they changed the Broadway stage at all, and they haven't.
• 27:48
  I mean, obviously, I didn't expect the turntable.
• 27:51
  I kind of wanted the turntable, but part of me was like, okay, they're not gonna have the turntable, which is fine.
• 27:56
  But the idea that the platform that Hades and Persephone sit on was so low, instead of feeling like it was like lording over people, like,
• 28:06
  Like that gives them that like godlike status of like, you know, being above them all and stuff like that.
• 28:10
  And it was just right there.
• 28:12
  Like they could reach out and touch them.
• 28:14
  There was, in fact, I think there was one point where Persephone even reached over with her cup and somebody filled it while she was playing chess.
• 28:23
  It just, that one did baffle me a little bit because I felt like there's, it's too claustrophobic.
• 28:28
  It's like the story means it's more expansive than this.
• 28:31
  And there's like not enough room.
• 28:32
  I did not know how they were going to.
• 28:33
  how they were going to do the underworld at all because I was like, do you need twice as much room than what the stage is giving you?
• 28:41
  Yeah, it just, for the underworld it felt.
• 28:43
  less dramatic.
• 28:45
  I mean, like you just, you know, you saw the set go up and that was it.
• 28:51
  And then behind it, was just another...
• 28:55
  which of course it was, but I think that's maybe why the lights were the way they were, is it was like so dramatically lit to kind of replace the drama from the set that they didn't
• 29:09
  have.
• 29:11
  I would agree with that.
• 29:13
  All right, Ryann, give me your opinion with your fresh pair of eyes having never seen this show before.
• 29:18
  What was that set like for you?
• 29:20
  Did it work?
• 29:20
  I for a smaller set that it worked.
• 29:24
  Thinking back to earlier conversations that we had specifically about how much was going on on the stage, that it was almost a little easier to kind of keep up with what was
• 29:33
  happening because the staging was smaller.
• 29:37
  Now granted, I have not seen the original set, so I'm sure that you guys are 100 % accurate on that.
• 29:45
  of the fact that it feels less dramatic.
• 29:47
  Like I can see how a set would feel more dramatic and stuff like that.
• 29:53
  But as far as like keeping up with the storyline and what was happening, like as all of these pieces are moving, I did kind of like the pared down version.
• 30:05
  That being said, I did know about the turntable beforehand and I was very much missing that.
• 30:11
  Because there's, you know, they did a great job in acting like they were moving in place, but there's almost this like difference of physically moving against something that is
• 30:28
  pulling you this way and the physicality of it.
• 30:32
  And then just like pretending to walk in.
• 30:36
  spot you know and I think it kind of almost took away just a little bit but no I mean not much that it was no you know too noticeable but having that be the only thing that I had
• 30:47
  seen I was like that was the one part where I was like hmm like it doesn't hit exactly the same
• 30:56
  It did make the going to hell and coming back from hell feel less significant.
• 31:03
  I think it's a good way to put it.
• 31:06
  Like it, like it.
• 31:07
  even when she, the most dramatic part, right, when he turns around.
• 31:12
  It was just like, we've been in this room the entire time.
• 31:17
  Like we've gone nowhere, which like with the old set, they still didn't really go anywhere.
• 31:23
  Um, but just the, even the literal entrance and exit to and from hell made a difference because it was a different placement and you didn't feel like they were just walking off
• 31:41
  stage.
• 31:42
  Like it felt different.
• 31:44
  sure.
• 31:45
  I think that's a great way to put it.
• 31:47
  So before we wrap up, then let's get the final verdicts.
• 31:50
  And I'm gonna let Ryann I'm gonna let you go after RJ because I want to get our day's opinion of comparatively for this production.
• 31:59
  How would you rate this you can give me a one to 10 you can give me a letter score.
• 32:03
  You can pass or fail this bitch.
• 32:05
  don't care.
• 32:07
  Are we comparing it to the previous one or just stand alone?
• 32:10
  I mean you could do both if you wanted to.
• 32:12
  I mean, do you want me to go first with that one?
• 32:13
  I mean, yeah, what's your rating, Brian?
• 32:16
  So my rating for it in Broadway, Broadway proper, it wasn't F.
• 32:21
  I hated it.
• 32:22
  I thought it was the worst show ever.
• 32:23
  I was never going to see this again.
• 32:26
  It was right up there with Les Mis and you know how much I dislike Les Mis.
• 32:30
  And I was not looking forward to going to the show.
• 32:33
  And only reason I was excited to see it was that Ryann was going with us and I love Ryann and Ryann was getting to experience this for the first time.
• 32:40
  I did not have a lot of hope for this.
• 32:42
  So I don't know if this is skewing my results, but I would 100 % give this like an A minus B plus.
• 32:49
  Like this was, to me, was a better version than what I saw on Broadway, with the exception of the set and the blinding lights that just, they need to do something about them.
• 33:00
  So I think that's why I'm leaning probably towards a B plus.
• 33:04
  But I thoroughly enjoyed this show and I would 100 % go and see this again.
• 33:09
  Now how about for you?
• 33:11
  Well, I just had a revelation as you said, beaming lights again.
• 33:16
  The only person comfortable on that stage with those lights was Hades with his damn sunglasses.
• 33:23
  So maybe we all need to get a pair of those next time we see this.
• 33:30
  They should.
• 33:30
  They should sell them.
• 33:33
  Tour manager, if you're listening to this, you better hop on that marketing.
• 33:38
  I would say probably similarly I would
• 33:41
  B plus, A minus.
• 33:45
  Okay, same difference.
• 33:48
  you know?
• 33:50
  Would you see it again?
• 33:51
  I would see it again.
• 33:54
  While the story is not my go-to, there are certain songs that I appreciate and just the era in which the costuming and everything take place.
• 34:06
  give me some New Orleans jazz.
• 34:11
  All right, Ryann, with your fresh eyes, fresh take, your love for the show without even knowing it, give me your answer.
• 34:20
  I'm a little more of a one through ten girl.
• 34:22
  So I think I think I would I would go like seven out of ten And I would be really interested to see it again just so that I had like I mean you guys have both seen this
• 34:35
  show previously and Have that comparison.
• 34:38
  I think I would like to see it To be able to see some of those differences To really like
• 34:47
  grasped some of what you guys are like, you know, hinting at with the different staging and stuff like that.
• 34:54
  But as far as this version goes, would, minus the blinding lights, I will be investing in a pair of those sunglasses.
• 35:02
  I would see it again, yeah.
• 35:05
  Well, with that, we are done with our Hades town discussion.
• 35:08
  So look forward for more episodes featuring some exciting shows from both Broadway and here in Detroit.
• 35:15
  Look out for some merch maybe we're going to be making of Hades glasses so that everybody around the world or those on stopping for a North American tour won't be blinded.
• 35:24
  So that might be in our future.
• 35:27
  But thank you again, RJ Ryann and all of our listeners for joining us today in our box seats.
• 35:33
  Till next curtain call.