What sheer joy! The people who put together the pro-shot of Hadestown got pretty much everything right. They captured the full experience of Hadestown, of course with the usual video vs live differences.
Video Pros
- It exists!
- Fabulous close-ups
- Vibrant sense of immediacy
Video Cons
- You're not there
- You don't get to choose what to look at
- Many videos use thousands of edits and don't allow the audience to settle in to watch. Ultimately, this approach disrespects the show and the performers, because it interrupts everything. The audience doesn't want arty editing. We want clarity.
Hadestown maximizes the pros and minimizes the cons. The editing is smart and not frenetic. Perhaps because director Brett Sullivan worked with the original theatre director Rachel Chavkin, the pro-shot is always in the service of the show. Hadestown is not only respected--it is loved. This is the best performance capture I've ever seen. (And it wasn't too loud!)
I'm thrilled that this pro-shot includes five original performers from the American premiere, but I'm sad that it was shot in London. Whatever problems with rights and unions and other obstacles to recording shows on Broadway, everyone involved has to get over it! On BroadwayHD, there are a ton of American musicals, but mostly with English casts, video-ed on the West End. It's as though they have more respect for our work than we do. It's fabulous that the Library of the Performing Arts has a huge library of recorded shows, but not everyone lives in New York.
At the showing I attended, the audience was fabulous. Engaged, responsive, happy to be there. No cell phones, no noise except the chomping of popcorn. One person applauded after every number, and we all applauded at the end.
Hadestown has been extended. Do see it if you can. And stay through the credits. There's some fun stuff at the end.
