Hadestown premiered on Broadway in 2019 and won eight Tony Awards. The musical is now showing in Carré for ten weeks with a completely Dutch cast. Reviewers are very enthusiastic about the Dutch version.
AD- 5 stars
“Hermes (Claudia de Breij) tells about the Greek myth of Orpheus (Jeangu Macrooy) and Eurydice (Sara Afiba), a love story intertwined with that of the god of the underworld Hades (Edwin Jonker) and his wife Persephone (Joy Wielkens). Hades seduces the young Eurydice to go to his city in the underworld, Hadestown, where he promises her a good life.”
“Jeangu Macrooy, who most people know from his participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, takes all those obstacles as if it were nothing. The singer Macrooy dances over the hellish notes, the dancer Macrooy moves as freely as a bird, and the actor Macrooy speaks with all his heart. Most of the opponents are not inferior to him: Edwin Jonker impresses with his warm bass sound and, like Trump, builds a wall with verve. Sara Afiba sings clearly like a nightingale and brings a layered, contemporary young lady to the stage.”
Telegraaf – 5 stars
“With his deep, dark, and sometimes wonderfully rough voice, Jonker is one of the standouts. Although actually the entire cast consists of musical high-fliers. Theater actress and maker Joy Wielkens can lose her versatility in Persephone. Whether she plays drunk, exuberant or hurt, sings jazz, folk, blues or gospel, she succeeds in everything. In the guise of Orpheus, Macrooy shows vulnerability and his enormous range, although you have to like his falsetto. The polyphonic Muse trio, which symbolizes fate, gives you goosebumps.”
Het Parool – gives no stars
“Applause for Carré director Madeleine van der Zwaan, who for the Broadway in Carré series did not wait for an English touring version of Hadestown, but took the production into her own hands with the original creators.”
“The role of the narrator Hermes was for Claudia de Breij at the premiere, who pushed the story up with verve and a lot of soul in her acting and singing. She shares the role until the end of August with Maarten Heijmans, which is an extra reason to go to Carré twice.”
de Volkskrant – 4 stars
“Gospel, blues, spirituals, jazz and folk, worksongs: it’s all in there. Swinging, but also melancholic and painful at times, with beautiful solos and duets and rousing group numbers. The great strength of this production is the close collaboration between the soloists, the ensemble and the musicians. A turntable in which the characters can descend to the underworld and a motley collection of cafe furniture, that’s all it takes to make Hadestown an impressive musical.”