Author: Anaïs Mitchell
# of Pages: 257 (paperback)
Genre: Nonfiction, Plays
Rating: ★★★★★
Synopsis: In this book, Anais Mitchell takes readers inside her more than decade's-long process of building the musical from the ground up--detailing her inspiration, breaking down the lyrics, and offering thoughtful annotations of Hadestown. Fans of the musical will love this deeply thoughtful, revealing, and open look at how the songs from "the underground" evolved and became what they are today.
Review: I love the musical Hadestown, so of course I love the book that describes the process of it becoming what it is today!
*Disclaimer: I don't consider there to be spoilers in talking about the contents of this book since it is nonfiction. A lot of the points I am talking about here have already been discussed online. I'm also not considering any Hadestown spoilers to be spoilers in this review.
Hadestown is by no means a new musical - it's been put on as an album and as a production many times before it ever reach broadway. When I was becoming obsessed with the Broadway album, I was surprised to find another album of songs that were similar, but with slightly different lyrics. Turns out some records of other versions of this musical exists out there, and that there is a lot more to the story that what is presented in the Broadway production.
In Working on a Song, Mitchell goes song by song and describes how each on evolved from Off-Broadway (NYTW) -> Citadel Theater in Edmonton -> London's National Theater -> Broadway. The Broadway production is already an amazing masterpiece, but this book shows that even a masterpiece has imperfections. Some decisions Mitchell didn't seem happy about, but cuts and edits had to be made in for the sake not letting any given act run too long or to make it more palatable to a Broadway audience (e.g. cutting out some of the more obviously lines alluding to sexual abuse between Hades and Eurydice).
It was also cool to hear how the perception of the musical changed from 2006 to now and how different parts of the musical stood out to people depending on the sociopolitical climate (e.g. sexual undertones between Hades and Eurydice's contract during the surge of the #MeToo movement, Hades capitalistic wall during Trump's campaign + presidency).
The part that stood out the most to me was actually the note on "We Raise Our Cups." Before reading this book, I would almost always listen to the soundtrack all the way through (rather than skipping around to my favorite songs). However, whenever I would get to the final song, I was always pretty disinterested. I wasn't a fan of the song, and the story at that point is over (it felt more like a farewell for the live performance that I didn't feel was necessary when only listening to the soundtrack). I was happy to hear that Mitchell's feelings weren't dissimilar - "I tried to cut 'We Raise Our Cups' from Hadestown in every single production we did post-NYTW" (254). But I was really touched to hear what the song was meant to be saying particularly about the following lines:
Some birds sing when the sun shines bright
Our praise is not for them
But the ones who sing in the dead of night
We raise our cups to them
... Some flowers bloom
Where the green grass grows
Our praise is not for them
But the ones who bloom in the bitter snow
We raise our cups to them
I never closely examined these lyrics until this book when Mitchell explains this is meant to be praise for Orpheus "not because he succeeds, but because he tries" (255). The idea that it's not about merely being praised for weathering challenges but also trying for things that might even be doomed to failed (as Orpheus was doomed to fail in this old tragedy). Mitchell relates these experiences to a flower - the flower is the beautiful success that most people see and recognize, but all of the experiences and failures are the seeds and the roots that made the success possible. It really supports the idea that all experiences help build character and make you the person you are today, whether they are good and bad. Just like Mitchell's writing process, even experience that might not seem relevant can result in some sort of success later down the line.
The meaning of this song is actually very inspiring, especially for those who suffer from imposter syndrome that otherwise might hold them back from certain experiences and opportunities. The worst you can do is fail - and that failure can help bring you one step closer to success somewhere else.
For fans of Hadestown - I would HIGHLY recommend this book. If you haven't seen the musical yet - I think it is a must watch (regardless if you want to read the book or not) and definitely required content to fully appreciate Working on a Song.
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