Through the first week of March, Creek’s theater program held its annual spring musical, performing “Hadestown: Teen Edition.” The musical follows the Greek myth of Orpheus, a heart-on-his-sleeve musician who tries to bring Eurydice, his wife, back from ‘Hadestown,’ which is a depiction of hell.
In Creek’s performance, the musical was a jazz-inspired, haunting, and prophetic display of student acting, tech skill, and more.
“To me, this show is both a warning against the thrill of love, and a celebration of the journey love takes one down,” senior and associate director Kate Dann said. “This show is important to tell because it shows both the perspective of an individual who’s seen the dark side of the world, and one who chooses to see the light even in dark times.”
This balance between light and dark was key throughout the play, and many students believe that telling the story of love, specifically to highschoolers, is important.
“The show is all about love and what people do for it,” senior Elliot Moxcey, who plays Orpheus for the main cast, said. “Orpheus travels down into hell because he loves Eurydice so much, Hades builds an underworld, albeit a corrupt one, because he thinks it will impress his love, Persephone.”
Rehearsals for the musical began just after Winter break, and student tech crews worked to build the set, map out lighting cues, create costumes and props, and more.
“To work with tech in this show we had crew heads watching the initial rehearsals to start developing and creating their different projects like the lighting or costumes,” Dann said. “Directors give the tech people the overall vision for the show so that all aspects are on the same vibe.”
Actors began the process with auditions, which erred on the side of a professional theater, not just a student performance. “We start right at 3:45, stay focused and off phones while [our directors] teach blocking and choreography,” Moxcey said. “We finished blocking after 3-4 weeks and after that spent the time cleaning and making everything sharp and audience ready.”
Directors and students also worked to add some specific details into the show, like the use of ASL during some songs. The idea, originally thought up by director Alex Burkart, aimed to increase accessibility awareness during the show.
“I am hard of hearing, so ASL is very important to me. I worked closely with the ASL teacher, Anne Zurcher, to make sure my interpretations were as good as they could be,” Moxcey said. “It means a lot to have ASL in the show because representation for disabled people is very hard to find, especially in theater.”
For many seniors, this production is their last. Each year, the spring musical is a final performance for seniors, and then the program’s April show is mainly for juniors and underclassmen, a technique used to prepare younger students to ‘take over’ the theater.
Because of this, emotions run high in the theater. “I am very emotional about this being my final show at Creek,” Moxcey said. “But I’m super grateful for it being ‘Hadestown’ because ending my run of shows at Creek as a main character with such an important story to tell is really meaningful to me.”
Overall, most students involved with the show believe that the production had a successful impact, primarily due to the show’s messaging.
“The pure love that this show is all about is really important because people don’t have love and empathy nearly as often as they should,” Moxcey said.
See moments from the musical below.
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Senior Rory Summit performs as Hermes, singing “Road to Hell,” the opening song of the musical.
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Senior Brooke Sax, who plays Eurydice, sings “Any Way The Wind Blows” at the beginning of the show. She is described as a “poor and hungry girl,” something that comes back to haunt her later in the musical.
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Senior Elliot Moxcey as Orpheus (right) sings “Come Home With Me,” professing his love for Eurydice and asking her to “come home with him.”
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Senior Cassidy Bax as Persephone, the queen of the Underworld, sings “Livin’ It Up On Top.” Persephone, who is married to Hades, played by senior River Sailers, is only allowed to return to the overworld for half the year. Her departure brings bad weather and harvests to the overworld, leading the people in the overworld to suffer while she’s gone.
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Senior Brooke Sax as Eurydice sings “All I’ve Ever Known” while Orpheus watches from behind. In the beginning of the musical, Eurydice doubts her ability to depend on another person after all she’s been through.
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The fates, who are played by senior Cate Preece, junior Meg Taylor, and senior Sam Preece, are interspersed throughout the play to represent the thoughts of the characters.
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Hades, played by senior River Sailers, leads a frowning Persephone away as she’s taken back to the underworld.
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Senior Elliot Moxcey performs Orpheus’ most famous song, “Wait For Me.”
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The Fates lean over senior Eurydice, played by Sax, as she’s about to give in to the underworld after being swept up in a storm.
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Moxcey, as Orpheus, and the ensemble, perform a second rendition of “Wait For Me” with ASL incorporated into it as he plans to head to Hadestown to rescue Eurydice.
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Bax, as Persephone begins to encourage the Hadestown workers to rebel.
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Moxcey, as Orpheus, clasps his hands over his mouth after being told that Eurydice has signed her life away to Hades, and will be trapped in the underworld forever.
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Orpheus, alongside the ensemble, speaks out against the oppression in Hadestown, encouraging the workers to try to leave the underworld.
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Members of the ensemble sing “Promises.”
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Moxcey, as Orpheus, sings “Doubt Comes In” while he’s walking blindfolded towards the overworld. Hades allowed him to return to the surface, but on the condition he couldn’t look back to see if Eurydice was following him. In the end, he looks back, and Eurydice is cursed to the underworld forever.
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Sax, as Eurydice, holds the same candle she lit in the beginning of the musical while the cast sings “Road To Hell,” signifying they’ll continue to tell the story of Eurydice and Orpheus even though it ends sadly.
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