Tony-winning ‘Hadestown’ brings classic myths to vibrant musical life in Sarasota

If Greek myths were taught in school with the kind of emotion, vibrant musicality, heart and gut-wrenching soul that Anaïs Mitchell has put into her Tony Award-winning musical “Hadestown” they might have been more fun to read and less of chore to study.

Mitchell has crafted a moving and exuberant version of the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, the love-struck youngsters torn apart by the controlling Hades, king of the underworld. The tale is familiar from dozens of variations, but as the narrator Hermes tells us, we need to keep telling them over and over to make sure we learn the lessons they have to share about patience, trust and true understanding. As soon as the cast finishes this musical version, the performers are ready to start all over again.

The musical, which opened Tuesday and runs through Sunday at Sarasota’s Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, is imaginatively staged by Rachel Chavkin as though a group of friends is gathering in a bar to tell a favorite story. Rachel Hauck's multi-level set suggests a well-loved and used New Orleans jazz club, where the onstage band revs up the storytellers and the audience, with the distinct help of trombonist Emily Fredrickson.

Mitchell’s lively score sounds like it was born in one of those clubs, drifting outside for the feel of a Crescent City funeral procession, mixed in with the throbbing beat of work songs, and feathery-light ballads that captivate your spirit.

As Hermes, Will Mann serves as a narrator, introducing the tale and the characters, including the hard-working ensemble of five singer/dancers who make you feel the stress of their exertions to choreographer David Neumann’s drone-like factory movements. Even as they move with energy they play lifeless figures under Hades’ control.

Everyone is waiting for Orpheus (J. Antonio Rodriguez) to finish the song he’s writing that he promises will make spring come again and allow him to be with his beloved Eurydice (Amaya Braganza). But before that happens, the hungry and cold young woman is recruited by Hades to the underworld. Orpheus finds a way to go after her (uninvited) and stands up to Hades to seek her release and bring her back home. Hades has stringent conditions, and even if you know the story, the inevitable conclusion still elicits gasps in the way it is staged and lit by Bradley King.

Rodriguez and Braganza have a nice chemistry. Her voice sometimes sounds strident, but there is an evident chemistry, and there is a plaintive quality to Rodriguez's singing.

Mann leads what often seems like a party (at least until the story ventures into the underworld), as he shimmies and oozes fleetly across the stage while speaking poetry with a musical motif or leading full-fledged dance numbers.

But no one moves with more free spirit than Lana Gordon as Persephone, Hades’ wife, who is allowed to return to the world above six months a year (marking the arrival of spring). Like the outfits she wears by Michael Krass, Persephone brings color to the otherwise drab world depicted on stage.

Matthew Patrick Quinn portrays Hades with a soulful sense of power and authority, along with a deep voice that commands your attention. He is methodical and plotting, making sure he maintains control. He defends his methods in the powerful “Why We Build the Wall,” his way of protecting his world from outside enemies, like Orpheus. And he gets a delightful chance to recall the romantic he may have once been during a tender moment with Persephone.

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The seven-member band plays from two platforms on either side of the playing space, weeping and wailing with gusto throughout.

Though it touches on the need for love and romance, “Hadestown” is naturally a dark story that may not appeal to those looking for a more rousing musical comedy. But this first-class touring production of the still-running Broadway show reminds you of the power of the material and how many different ways musicals work to reel you in.

‘Hadestown’

By Anais Mitchell. Directed by Rachel Chavkin. Reviewed Jan. 30. Through Feb. 4, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $45-$125. 941-263-6799; vanwezel.org

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Touring ‘Hadestown’ offers musical twists on classic myths