Hadestown film?

[Globefan]

Posted: 8/11/20 at 11:51am

Do you think Hadestown would make a good film? 

[Justin D]

Posted: 8/12/20 at 1:04pm

I think it would be be best filmed onstage than done as a full blown onset movie

[Jmuep2]

Posted: 8/12/20 at 8:59pm

Justin D said: "I think it would be be best filmed onstage than done as a full blown onset movie"

Agreed -- unless somebody comes up with a very unique take to translate it to film.

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 8/12/20 at 9:21pm

It’s pretty similar in look to Hamilton. Just using the turn table over and over again. So I think it could totally work.

[willep]

Posted: 8/12/20 at 9:43pm

Yeah, I think a filmed version of the stage show could be gorgeous, I’m not convinced that a straight up film adaptation would work so well.

[Globefan]

Posted: 8/12/20 at 10:10pm

With the right director, it could work. 

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 8/12/20 at 11:27pm

I dream about a proper cinematic film for HADESTOWN every time I hear the score. Set it in a 1930’s New Orleans— blues musicians share the streets with the homeless. See train cars with hoboes hurtling down the tracks past farms cursed with the dust bowl. Picture Persephone or Hades descending down their Pullman car steps to the station platform and start to sing.

I feel the show Is eminently translatable to proper film terms with a Damien Chazele or Julie Taylor at the helm.

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/13/20 at 12:02am

Animation could be a good medium for it in the hands of an auteur or someone with a more experimental approach. I can see someone who straddles pop and avant-garden making a gorgeous Hadestown... maybe Nina Paley of “Seder-Masochism?”

[bear88]

Posted: 8/13/20 at 1:35am

In some ways, it might work better as a film because while I really liked the stage show, it drags a bit during the second act. Animation or a highly stylized approach could work.

What the stage show does very well is immerse the audience in the world of the musical. That's why it almost always seems like a shadow of itself on television, with the odd exception being the performance on the CBS Sunday morning show of "Wait for Me II" thanks in large part to Eva Noblezada.

So the challenge of filming the stage production would be to capture it in compelling fashion. One reason I'm definitely in favor is to preserve the performances of the wonderful cast. Andre De Shields probably wouldn't be quite as compelling onscreen as he was in the theater, where he captures the audience with the slightest movement, but I'd love to see it preserved in all its glory.  

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 8/13/20 at 10:17am

Globefan said: "Do you think Hadestown would make a good film?"

No.

Hadestown works exclusively because of what Rachel Chavkin brought to the Broadway production with her direction. The book is not good, though much of the score is. And for those of us who saw it downtown, the Broadway production is leaps and bounds better than the chaotic mess that was at NYTW.

Film it live on stage or don't do it at all.