A Tony-winning Best Musical that continues as a long-running Broadway hit, “Hadestown” transforms a pair of ancient Greek tragedies into a dazzling mix of American folk and New Orleans-inspired jazz to tell the timeless saga of the lovers Orpheus and Eurydice as they dive into the underworld.
Beginning Friday for five days, “Hadestown: The Musical” is in movie theaters in an imaginative, live theater capture. It reunites the original stars from the London and Broadway runs: Reeve Carney (Orpheus), Eva Noblezada (Eurydice), Andre De Shields, who won the Tony, as Hermes, Patrick Page (Hades) and Amber Gray (Persephone).
For Carney, who starred as Spider-Man for three years on Broadway, “Hadestown” works because, “deep down, people understand,” he said in a Zoom interview, “that it is worth having faith and hoping for a better future.
“If the story is optimistic, obviously it’s still a Greek tragedy. But I don’t really see it that way. I like the optimism.”
Carney, 43, has reason to be upbeat. He and Noblezada, 28, met on “Hadestown,” fell in love and married last year. They have since co-starred in London’s revival of “Cabaret” and just ended their Broadway run in another long-running hit, “Gatsby.”
Many might fantasize about being on Broadway but the discipline — eight shows a week — is unforgiving.
“It’s a grind like no other,” Carney acknowledged. “But it’s something that I love. I love the challenge. I mean, there are days you go ‘Ooh, can I do this today?’ You can either decide to back out or go, ‘Let’s see what I’m capable of!’
“For me, that’s the approach I tend to take. It’s exciting, even if it is your whole life revolving around it.
“I spent so many years on the road in rock and roll bands before I got to Broadway that I always tell people: Learn what works for your body.”
Carney discovered, thanks to his voice coach, his dazzling, lyrical high notes.
“Honestly, I just can’t say enough about vocal training for people. Because you need it. My vocal teacher the past 20 years prepped me before I even knew I would be on Broadway, building stamina.”
Is he a tenor?
“I would say I’m a bari-tenor. Like a tenor. My teacher, she doesn’t want to limit her students. So she never really said what voice part I am. But I’d guess, she’d say I probably am a tenor 2, which is technically a lower tenor, but with access to make it falsetto.
“A lot of what I use in ‘Hadestown’ is mixed and connected to a head voice. But some falsetto is in there too.”
Crosswalk and LD Entertainment release “Hadestown: The Musical” in theaters July 24 for five nights only
