Honest Hadestown Review: Touring Cast

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If you’re looking for an Honest Hadestown Review of the 2022 Touring Cast, this is it.

I recently saw the Hadestown touring company at TPAC in Nashville during its November 2022 run. I’ve never seen Hadestown the Musical before, so I can honestly say I had no expectations walking into the performance.

But from the moment the lights went down, the energy went up!

Hadestown Touring Company Cast

There was inexplicable energy in the room before the first note was ever sung. That only intensified as Nathan Lee Graham took the stage as Hermes.

If you don’t recognize Nathan’s voice, believe me, you will recognize his talent. He’s a prolific performer, but I immediately recognized him from his role as Reese Witherspoon’s mentor, Frederick Montana, in “Sweet Home Alabama“. I’m going to be REAL honest and admit we went to the stage door after the show hoping I could get to hear him say, “Do we know…Bo?” (#IYKYK)

Chibueze Ihuoma as Orpheus had a brilliantly light voice and equally stunning falsetto that complemented his character perfectly.

Contrast that to Matthew Patrick Quinn’s deep bass as Hades. The differences in the characters’ tones were unmistakable and palpable when they sang together. If that doesn’t paint an accurate enough picture of Matthew’s vocal range, just know that he originated the roles of some iconic Disney villains for Disney Cruise Line, including Jafar and Scar.

Notable Song Quotes from Hadestown

“If no one takes too much, there will always be enough.”

“To the world we dream of, and the world we’re living in.”

“Orpheus could make you see how the world could be, in spite of the way it is.”

The History of Hadestown

Hadestown was developed by Anaïs Mitchell in 2006 as a concept album. But it wasn’t until 2019 that it debuted on Broadway.

Hadestown received 14 nominations and won 8 awards at the 73rd Tony Awards (the most of any show that year), including Best Musical and Best Original Score.

Even though this musical came about almost two decades ago, the song “Why We Build the Wall” has such a parallel to today’s issues, it couldn’t be ignored.

Hadestown Musical Comparisons

Hadewtown had the cult feel of “Rent”. It had a rawness and realness to the production and you could tell many members of the audience had seen the show several times and had high expectations. Also similar to that classic musical, the performers musical talent was second to none.

The music had a definite New Orleans jazz feel too it with a mix of swing. That being said, I’m not a huge fan of jazz, but I thoroughly enjoyed the music from this show.

More than the style, the songs were so well written and performed that they transcended any genre.

Hadestown Band

We saw the Hadestown band on stage the entire show (with the exception of the percussionist). Made up of six performers, a cellist, violinist and trombone player sat on stage right. The keys player/band leader, guitarist and bass player were situated on stage left.

Some of the cast picked up instruments along the way like a tambourine, fiddle and even an accordion.

We ran into the musical director after the show and when we asked about the drummer, we learned that he remained backstage for much of the touring production. Contrast this to the Broadway version where the drummer was visible when the front of the train would open up on stage.