The gods themselves get mostly shoved out of the picture in “The Odyssey,” as has been noted by some filmgoers who wished Zeus or Poseidon got in on the action instead of just being talked about. But Hades, at least, has his day in another movie currently in theaters, which offers some serious interplay between men and immortals. It’s “Hadestown: The Musical,” the filming of one of the most acclaimed and successful Broadway musicals of the last decade. The hit show’s cinematic translation is predicted to make around $9 million at the U.S. box office this weekend, which would put it behind only the theatrical opening of the “Hamilton” film among grosses for a direct capture of a stage production. As it turns out, musical tragedy makes for perfectly fine summer counterprogramming after all, when the gods get to have their way.
“Hadestown” is not typical Broadway fare, of course: André Robin De Shields, who won a Tony in 2020 for playing the god Hermes, says he considers it a “folk opera.” Nearly any description of the plot, which reenacts the ancient story of Orpheus and Eurydice, is going to make it sound a bit esoteric by modern tuner standards, even before tacking on Americana musician Anaïs Mitchell‘s unusually flavored, sung-through score. And yet the show has a massive cult, especially but not entirely among young people, that is at least as feverish in adoring intensity as “Hamilton’s.” It can only grow with the introduction into theaters of director Brett Sullivan’s brilliantly filmed adaptation, which is bound to draw untold numbers of newbies into its underworld, even as hardcore fans are bound to sign up for multiple trips before the movie’s scheduled one week in theaters is over.
