Latest news with #Orpheus
New York Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Review: Dudamel Unveils a Love Letter to the Philharmonic
'Is there anything like that first strike of the bow?' Kate Soper asks at the start of her new piece for the New York Philharmonic. 'A hundred players moving as one! All that splendor, all that might!' She is describing the wonders of an orchestra, and you don't have to take her word for it. In Soper's sweet, clever 'Orpheus Orchestra Opus Onus,' which had its premiere at David Geffen Hall on Thursday under Gustavo Dudamel's baton, the ensemble illustrates her words as she says them, 'Peter and the Wolf' style. 'The highs got higher, the lows got lower,' she says, explaining the development of instruments, and we hear ethereal pitches, then loud rumbles. 'Wood was lacquered,' she goes on, to delight in the oboe and clarinet. 'Metal bent' elicits a horn fanfare and trombone slide. Soper soon proclaims, with disarming plainness, 'That's right everyone: I'm Orpheus!' In this half-hour monodrama for a mostly speaking, sometimes singing soprano, she offers a tender retelling of the legend of the great musician of Greek mythology. Her story blends into a poetic reflection on music's meaning, what it can do (offer glimpses of the sublime) and what it can't (most anything else). Soper does all this in quirkily postmodern style. Her eclectic, quick-shifting sounds, including touches of memorably ancient-feeling bass flute, are woven into a quilt of quotations from famous settings of the Orpheus myth by Monteverdi and Gluck, as well as lesser-heard ones by Sartorio, Landi, Campra and others. There are also flashes of Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Mozart and Grieg in the mix, and the text, mostly original, interpolates passages from Rilke's 'Sonnets to Orpheus.' Modern music lovers may be reminded of Luciano Berio's more chaotic collage 'Sinfonia.' For fans of Soper, especially in her composer-performer mode, 'Orpheus Orchestra Opus Onus' will recall brainy, winsome works like 'Ipsa Dixit' (2016), which she began by posing the spoken question, 'What is art?' and attempted to answer through snippets of writers like Aristotle, Lydia Davis and Freud. Creating her first big orchestral piece, Soper has clearly understood she's writing for a broader audience; 'Orpheus Orchestra Opus Onus' is more immediately accessible than the fascinating but abstruse 'Ipsa Dixit.' Philharmonic programs don't tend to feature a lot of humor — certainly not of Soper's winking mash-up variety — and her voice is a whimsical change of pace as the season draws to an end. Dudamel, who becomes the Philharmonic's music director designate later this year before fully taking the reins in fall 2026, preceded the orchestra's latest commission with its first: Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements, conducted by its composer at its 1946 premiere. It's better known at Lincoln Center these days as the score for one of George Balanchine's classic leotard works, regularly danced by New York City Ballet. Played by the Philharmonic on Thursday with confident panache, it, like the Soper piece, offered a love letter to the orchestra's range, from burly power to graceful delicacy: 'All that splendor, all that might!' Too bad those qualities were missing from the program's closer, Philip Glass's dreary 11th Symphony (2017). Glass's listlessly chugging symphonies are nowhere near his greatest achievements, but the 40-minute 11th is finding its way to major orchestras; Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony did it a few years ago. A grumbling beginning yields to characteristically swirling Glassian figurations in the strings — well played by the Philharmonic, the arpeggios precise yet warm. After mild lyricism in the second movement, the third unleashes a battery of percussion. In Glass's 1984 opera 'Akhnaten,' that kind of raucous drumming is an arresting evocation of antiquity. Here, it's busy bombast, without real thrill or power.
Sydney Morning Herald
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Robber barons and moonshine: This show about the road to Hades is a hell of a good time
MUSICAL THEATRE Hadestown ★★★★ Her Majesty's Theatre, until July 6 Ancient Greek and Roman myths involving the underworld tend to agree on the ease with which mortals can find the road to hell. In Anais Mitchell's folk-musical Hadestown – a retelling of the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, draped in a distinctly American mythos and musicality – the road becomes a railway line, and Hades a pinstripe-suited robber baron, whose train ferries denizens of jazz-age speakeasies to 'eternal overtime' in a factory at the end of the line. The other point on which the myths agree is how difficult the underworld is to escape. As Dryden put it in his translation of Virgil's Aeneid: The gates of hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way: But to return, and view the cheerful skies, In this the task and mighty labour lies. We know that Orpheus will fail, that a fatal glance backward will condemn Eurydice to the underworld forever, but the tragic love story swells with every repetition and Christine Anu's Hermes – glam emcee in this steampunk adaptation – is determined they're going to tell it anyway. If Hadestown is too schematic to provide much emotional depth or tragic catharsis, it is musically superior to most Broadway blockbusters. This production delivers Mitchell's score (which started as a concept album and bloomed into a stage show) with propulsive catchiness and assurance. It's usually billed as a folk-musical, though the range of popular music referenced is much wider than that term suggests. Anu unleashes brassiness for the opening scene-setter, Road to Hell. Adrian Tamburini's Hades has a gravelly, embittered bass with dark country vibes going on – infernal shades of Johnny Cash or Nick Cave or even Tom Waits lurking in the low notes.
The Age
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Robber barons and moonshine: This show about the road to Hades is a hell of a good time
MUSICAL THEATRE Hadestown ★★★★ Her Majesty's Theatre, until July 6 Ancient Greek and Roman myths involving the underworld tend to agree on the ease with which mortals can find the road to hell. In Anais Mitchell's folk-musical Hadestown – a retelling of the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, draped in a distinctly American mythos and musicality – the road becomes a railway line, and Hades a pinstripe-suited robber baron, whose train ferries denizens of jazz-age speakeasies to 'eternal overtime' in a factory at the end of the line. The other point on which the myths agree is how difficult the underworld is to escape. As Dryden put it in his translation of Virgil's Aeneid: The gates of hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way: But to return, and view the cheerful skies, In this the task and mighty labour lies. We know that Orpheus will fail, that a fatal glance backward will condemn Eurydice to the underworld forever, but the tragic love story swells with every repetition and Christine Anu's Hermes – glam emcee in this steampunk adaptation – is determined they're going to tell it anyway. If Hadestown is too schematic to provide much emotional depth or tragic catharsis, it is musically superior to most Broadway blockbusters. This production delivers Mitchell's score (which started as a concept album and bloomed into a stage show) with propulsive catchiness and assurance. It's usually billed as a folk-musical, though the range of popular music referenced is much wider than that term suggests. Anu unleashes brassiness for the opening scene-setter, Road to Hell. Adrian Tamburini's Hades has a gravelly, embittered bass with dark country vibes going on – infernal shades of Johnny Cash or Nick Cave or even Tom Waits lurking in the low notes.
Chicago Tribune
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Talking about mythology in the musical ‘Hadestown': ‘It's a sad song / But we sing it anyway'
With the national tour of 'Hadestown' currently back in Chicago for a two-week run, theater presenter Broadway in Chicago partnered with the National Hellenic Museum to host a panel discussion on Thursday about the Greek mythology behind the Tony Award-winning musical. Moderated by museum publicist Elizabeth Niarchos Neukirch, the event featured three cast members from the touring production in conversation with Krishni Burns, a classics and senior Mediterranean studies lecturer at the University of Illinois Chicago. Located in Chicago's Greektown neighborhood, the National Hellenic Museum has a mission to share Greek history, art, culture and the Greek American story. Greek mythology is at the heart of 'Hadestown,' Anaïs Mitchell's folk-inspired reimagining of two classic tales: the ill-fated journey of young dreamer Orpheus to the Underworld to rescue his beloved Eurydice, and the complicated romance between Hades and Persephone, which has turbulent effects on the natural world. As Burns noted, these myths have been around for about 3,000 years and have continued to 'accrue meaning' through countless retellings. 'We keep on telling these stories because they remain relevant,' she said. 'They help us explore ideas, express emotions and really delve into a depth of experience that we otherwise have a hard time accessing until we're in the midst of it and don't know how to deal with it. So, this is a place to grow as human beings through these stories.' Although the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice is famously tragic, 'Hadestown' tells it with a sense of bittersweet hope. Near the end of the show, Hermes — the messenger god who acts as narrator — sings, 'It's a sad song / But we sing it anyway.' In spoken verse, Hermes adds, ''Cause here's the thing: To know how it ends / And still begin to sing it again / As if it might turn out this time.' Jaylon C. Crump, who plays Hermes in the touring cast, finds a lot of meaning in this outlook. 'I think that it is just like a 'life imitates art' moment with me, personally, about how I view the world,' they said. 'I feel like I wake up with (renewed) hope every single day, and I think that the show has really taught me that.' Crump also believes that audiences resonate with this message. 'With how the world is right now, the story of Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone is so much more relevant now than it's ever been. And I think that a lot of people leave the show with a newfound resilience and hope that they may have lost or may be trying to find again.' As a swing who covers eight of the show's 13 roles, Julia Schick experiences the story of 'Hadestown' from a different perspective nearly every time she performs. 'I think for me, the core of the show is about love and the different ways that people show their love and the lengths that you will go to for love — not just love for others, but love for your work and love for yourself,' said Schick. 'And as someone who is pursuing my passion, while it can be difficult traveling all over the country, it is not something I want to give up. I get to wake up every day and do what I love, and the lengths I would go for this love are astronomical.' Katelyn Crall plays one of the Fates, the three female figures from Greek mythology who represent the role of destiny in the individual lives of mortals. In her view, the fallibility of the show's characters makes the story feel true-to-life. 'I don't think there really is a good guy in 'Hadestown.' Every one of the characters has intrinsic faults and makes almost fatal mistakes,' she said. 'Why do we still root for them? It's a very, very interesting thing,' Crall continued. 'It also plays (on) the fact that all humans are intrinsically flawed and we're always fighting our own demons, and to mistake, to err, is human. And I think that's what makes 'Hadestown' so relatable, and that's why we keep on getting drawn to it, because everyone sees themselves in these characters even though they make really bad choices a lot of the time.' The humanity of these characters, even those who are technically gods, also comes through in the personalized way that actors approach their roles. 'The good thing about 'Hadestown' is that they really want you to bring yourself to the character,' said Crump, who is the youngest and first nonbinary actor to play Hermes. Their version of Hermes is 'completely genderless,' which is communicated through minor changes in the text, and has more of a peer-to-peer than parental relationship with Orpheus since they are similar ages. As a self-described 'dark-skinned Black queer person,' Crump also spoke to the importance of representation and bringing their authentic self to the stage. 'I'm giving the audience a piece of myself, and sometimes that audience doesn't want it — we're in different states, different political climates — but I'm giving it to you, and whether you receive it or not is on you.' Crump added that they have received a warm reception 'from so many people, especially members of the LGBTQ community. I've gotten so many messages from teenagers, from kids, from adults, from so many people of color, who have told me, 'I'm so glad that I was able to see somebody that looked like me on stage, and it's so inspiring.'' The current touring cast recently gave its 200th performance, but Crall, Crump and Schick show no signs of waning enthusiasm for this story. The tour will go on hiatus after the Chicago run, but 'Hadestown' will return to cities across the U.S. this fall. To echo Hermes, it's an old tale from way back when, and they're gonna sing it again and again.
The Advertiser
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Advertiser
Audition for fun swings scientist into hot musical role
Joshua Kobeck was working in a "hectic" hospital emergency room when he found out he'd been cast in the musical Hadestown. "I got the call from the producers and they asked 'is this a good time to chat?' I was like 'honestly, it's not'," said Kobeck. The 24-year-old cancer scientist works with patients across various NSW hospitals, conducting clinical trials of experimental drugs for those who have not responded to regular treatments. To lighten the mental load of his job, he meets with friends each month to try out fun activities such as pottery classes and ice skating. In March 2024, they tried a dance class. It was part of an open audition call for the musical Hadestown. Other hopefuls came with years of training, sheet music and professional headshots. Kobeck had been in amateur shows near his home in Camden, in western Sydney, and showed up with a printout of his Facebook profile picture. But he made it through the session, staying back to perform some extra songs, which he says were "nothing fancy", and was asked to return for several more auditions. "The amount of people in the room just kept getting smaller and smaller, and it was almost a bit laughable. I was like, this is surely not a situation, I'm just coming here after work," he said. Hadestown has won eight Tony awards and a Grammy, attracting an audience of three million people on Broadway and the West End since it began as a small-scale theatre project in Vermont in 2006. Created by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and directed by Rachel Chavkin, the musical weaves the ancient stories of Orpheus and Eurydice, and King Hades and his wife Persephone. In the Australian production, Christine Anu plays Hermes alongside Abigail Adriano as Eurydice, with Noah Mullins as Orpheus, and Elenoa Rokobaro as Persephone. Kobeck didn't just win a part in Hadestown, he was cast as a swing performer, which meant learning half a dozen roles and being ready to step into them at the last minute. He admits to being a little intimidated by other performers who have been doing musical theatre all their lives. Having studied medical science instead of acting, Kobeck concentrates on simply having a human response to the action onstage. He's been called up to play one part or another in about half the musical's Sydney shows, with Hadestown set to premiere in Melbourne at Her Majesty's Theatre on Saturday. Since starting the show, Kobeck realised that working in health care is not the only way he can help others: performing can also help people heal in a profound way. "It's doing just as much good - we've had so many people saying, this show has really helped me through some dark times," he said. Stepping away from clinical trials to perform in a touring show was a risk, says Kobeck, but the experiences of his patients helped him take it. "Some of them are here and some not unfortunately, but they taught me that sometimes you can never be guaranteed tomorrow. So take every day and really grab it, and do something with it," he said. "It's because of that work and those people I'll never forget, that I'm doing something I absolutely love, in a way that's so special and not everybody gets the chance to do." Joshua Kobeck was working in a "hectic" hospital emergency room when he found out he'd been cast in the musical Hadestown. "I got the call from the producers and they asked 'is this a good time to chat?' I was like 'honestly, it's not'," said Kobeck. The 24-year-old cancer scientist works with patients across various NSW hospitals, conducting clinical trials of experimental drugs for those who have not responded to regular treatments. To lighten the mental load of his job, he meets with friends each month to try out fun activities such as pottery classes and ice skating. In March 2024, they tried a dance class. It was part of an open audition call for the musical Hadestown. Other hopefuls came with years of training, sheet music and professional headshots. Kobeck had been in amateur shows near his home in Camden, in western Sydney, and showed up with a printout of his Facebook profile picture. But he made it through the session, staying back to perform some extra songs, which he says were "nothing fancy", and was asked to return for several more auditions. "The amount of people in the room just kept getting smaller and smaller, and it was almost a bit laughable. I was like, this is surely not a situation, I'm just coming here after work," he said. Hadestown has won eight Tony awards and a Grammy, attracting an audience of three million people on Broadway and the West End since it began as a small-scale theatre project in Vermont in 2006. Created by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and directed by Rachel Chavkin, the musical weaves the ancient stories of Orpheus and Eurydice, and King Hades and his wife Persephone. In the Australian production, Christine Anu plays Hermes alongside Abigail Adriano as Eurydice, with Noah Mullins as Orpheus, and Elenoa Rokobaro as Persephone. Kobeck didn't just win a part in Hadestown, he was cast as a swing performer, which meant learning half a dozen roles and being ready to step into them at the last minute. He admits to being a little intimidated by other performers who have been doing musical theatre all their lives. Having studied medical science instead of acting, Kobeck concentrates on simply having a human response to the action onstage. He's been called up to play one part or another in about half the musical's Sydney shows, with Hadestown set to premiere in Melbourne at Her Majesty's Theatre on Saturday. Since starting the show, Kobeck realised that working in health care is not the only way he can help others: performing can also help people heal in a profound way. "It's doing just as much good - we've had so many people saying, this show has really helped me through some dark times," he said. Stepping away from clinical trials to perform in a touring show was a risk, says Kobeck, but the experiences of his patients helped him take it. "Some of them are here and some not unfortunately, but they taught me that sometimes you can never be guaranteed tomorrow. So take every day and really grab it, and do something with it," he said. "It's because of that work and those people I'll never forget, that I'm doing something I absolutely love, in a way that's so special and not everybody gets the chance to do." Joshua Kobeck was working in a "hectic" hospital emergency room when he found out he'd been cast in the musical Hadestown. "I got the call from the producers and they asked 'is this a good time to chat?' I was like 'honestly, it's not'," said Kobeck. The 24-year-old cancer scientist works with patients across various NSW hospitals, conducting clinical trials of experimental drugs for those who have not responded to regular treatments. To lighten the mental load of his job, he meets with friends each month to try out fun activities such as pottery classes and ice skating. In March 2024, they tried a dance class. It was part of an open audition call for the musical Hadestown. Other hopefuls came with years of training, sheet music and professional headshots. Kobeck had been in amateur shows near his home in Camden, in western Sydney, and showed up with a printout of his Facebook profile picture. But he made it through the session, staying back to perform some extra songs, which he says were "nothing fancy", and was asked to return for several more auditions. "The amount of people in the room just kept getting smaller and smaller, and it was almost a bit laughable. I was like, this is surely not a situation, I'm just coming here after work," he said. Hadestown has won eight Tony awards and a Grammy, attracting an audience of three million people on Broadway and the West End since it began as a small-scale theatre project in Vermont in 2006. Created by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and directed by Rachel Chavkin, the musical weaves the ancient stories of Orpheus and Eurydice, and King Hades and his wife Persephone. In the Australian production, Christine Anu plays Hermes alongside Abigail Adriano as Eurydice, with Noah Mullins as Orpheus, and Elenoa Rokobaro as Persephone. Kobeck didn't just win a part in Hadestown, he was cast as a swing performer, which meant learning half a dozen roles and being ready to step into them at the last minute. He admits to being a little intimidated by other performers who have been doing musical theatre all their lives. Having studied medical science instead of acting, Kobeck concentrates on simply having a human response to the action onstage. He's been called up to play one part or another in about half the musical's Sydney shows, with Hadestown set to premiere in Melbourne at Her Majesty's Theatre on Saturday. Since starting the show, Kobeck realised that working in health care is not the only way he can help others: performing can also help people heal in a profound way. "It's doing just as much good - we've had so many people saying, this show has really helped me through some dark times," he said. Stepping away from clinical trials to perform in a touring show was a risk, says Kobeck, but the experiences of his patients helped him take it. "Some of them are here and some not unfortunately, but they taught me that sometimes you can never be guaranteed tomorrow. So take every day and really grab it, and do something with it," he said. "It's because of that work and those people I'll never forget, that I'm doing something I absolutely love, in a way that's so special and not everybody gets the chance to do." Joshua Kobeck was working in a "hectic" hospital emergency room when he found out he'd been cast in the musical Hadestown. "I got the call from the producers and they asked 'is this a good time to chat?' I was like 'honestly, it's not'," said Kobeck. The 24-year-old cancer scientist works with patients across various NSW hospitals, conducting clinical trials of experimental drugs for those who have not responded to regular treatments. To lighten the mental load of his job, he meets with friends each month to try out fun activities such as pottery classes and ice skating. In March 2024, they tried a dance class. It was part of an open audition call for the musical Hadestown. Other hopefuls came with years of training, sheet music and professional headshots. Kobeck had been in amateur shows near his home in Camden, in western Sydney, and showed up with a printout of his Facebook profile picture. But he made it through the session, staying back to perform some extra songs, which he says were "nothing fancy", and was asked to return for several more auditions. "The amount of people in the room just kept getting smaller and smaller, and it was almost a bit laughable. I was like, this is surely not a situation, I'm just coming here after work," he said. Hadestown has won eight Tony awards and a Grammy, attracting an audience of three million people on Broadway and the West End since it began as a small-scale theatre project in Vermont in 2006. Created by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and directed by Rachel Chavkin, the musical weaves the ancient stories of Orpheus and Eurydice, and King Hades and his wife Persephone. In the Australian production, Christine Anu plays Hermes alongside Abigail Adriano as Eurydice, with Noah Mullins as Orpheus, and Elenoa Rokobaro as Persephone. Kobeck didn't just win a part in Hadestown, he was cast as a swing performer, which meant learning half a dozen roles and being ready to step into them at the last minute. He admits to being a little intimidated by other performers who have been doing musical theatre all their lives. Having studied medical science instead of acting, Kobeck concentrates on simply having a human response to the action onstage. He's been called up to play one part or another in about half the musical's Sydney shows, with Hadestown set to premiere in Melbourne at Her Majesty's Theatre on Saturday. Since starting the show, Kobeck realised that working in health care is not the only way he can help others: performing can also help people heal in a profound way. "It's doing just as much good - we've had so many people saying, this show has really helped me through some dark times," he said. Stepping away from clinical trials to perform in a touring show was a risk, says Kobeck, but the experiences of his patients helped him take it. "Some of them are here and some not unfortunately, but they taught me that sometimes you can never be guaranteed tomorrow. So take every day and really grab it, and do something with it," he said. "It's because of that work and those people I'll never forget, that I'm doing something I absolutely love, in a way that's so special and not everybody gets the chance to do."
