Watch Director Rachel Chavkin Go Behind the Scenes of Hadestown’s Live Recording

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Cast Recordings & Albums Watch Director Rachel Chavkin Go Behind the Scenes of Hadestown’s Live Recording Hear a clip of “Livin’ It Up on Top” from the hit Off-Broadway production.

By Ruthie Fierberg

October 18, 2017

Last season, New York Theatre Workshop’s production of Hadestown took Off-Broadway by storm.

Directed by Tony nominee Rachel Chavkin (The Great Comet) with music, lyrics, and book by Anaïs Mitchell, Hadestown explores the myths of Orpheus and Eurydice and Persephone and Hades in a musical cornucopia of folk, rock, jazz, and more. The gritty, yet-stylized musical starred Damon Daunno as Orpheus, Nabiyah Be as Eurydice, Amber Gray (The Great Comet) as Persephone, Patrick Page (Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark) as Hades, Chris Sullivan (TV’s This Is Us) as Hermes, with Lulu Fall, Jessie Shelton, and Shaina Taub as The Fates.

In anticipation of its Canadian premiere—a pre-Broadway engagement—the live recording of Hadestown was released October 6.

In the video above, Chavkin and Mitchell talk about the decision to make a live recording rather than a studio album. “There’s something about getting your grubby hands on the record of a night that has only existed once in exactly that way. That is the magic of live performance,” says Chavkin.

“I just think the way people perform when they’re in front of an audience is hard to achieve when you’re behind a pane of glass,” adds Mitchell.

Calling it the “official bootleg” (albeit a high quality one), Chavkin puts it best: “To me a live recording is a tangible record of an ephemeral moment.”

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