Hadestown: The Musical Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.5

Hadestown: The Musical Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 10, 2026

One of the most encouraging things about Hadestown: The Musical really has nothing to do with the show per se, but instead the fact that this filmed version from London's West End features an incredibly enthusiastic audience of quite young (like maybe teens to twenties) audience members, many of whom are seen in an establishing shot in a virtual horde outside of the theater before the performance begins (there's quite a bit of "backstage" material in this filmed version, for better or worse). "Elder" Timothée Chalamet, all of 30, caught some flack for his now infamous statements that ballet and opera are dead art forms, and some might argue that musical theater should be lumped into that aggregation as well, though you'd be hard pressed to make that point based on the audience reactions on tap here. And in that regard, it may be salient to harken back to the Dark Ages of the late sixties, when musical theater, or at least Broadway, was experiencing some pretty desperate financial straits, with the 1967-68 season in particular having no big hit musicals. Other, that is, than a "little" show younger types found incredibly appealing that began Off Broadway before matriculating to the "official" Great White Way, where it revolutionized at least what people thought should comprise a musical, introducing a whole new vernacular into both music and lyrics. That show was Hair, of course, and in a way Hadestown revisited that legend's path to stage success, beginning more or less as a "private project" before its subsequent mainstream success, though in this case having early performances in Vermont (!) and Massachusetts (!) before a concept album was produced (in this regard, Hair skipped that particular element, releasing an Off Broadway cast album, which is a bit of a collector's item, before the well remembered Broadway cast album took the world by storm).

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice has been virtual catnip to composers literally for centuries, including (ignore the following, Mr. Chalamet) what some consider to be the first operatic masterpiece, L'Orféo by Claudio Monteverdi. L'Orfeo attained its status not merely because of its inherent quality, but also at least in part because its score survived the intervening years, something it rather ironically shares with Euridice, composed by Jacopo Peri, and which premiered just a few years before L'Orfeo and is considered the oldest extant operatic score (though it's only very rarely performed, which may please Mr. Chalamet's thesis). There are any number of famous pieces in both the operatic and musical genres that have utilized the myth, some overtly as in Gluck's Orphée & Eurydice and the stunning 1959 Camus film Black Orpheus (which bears some significant tethers to the piece currently under discussion). Other efforts like Baz Luhrmann's hyperbolic Moulin Rouge! may at least allude to the myth subliminally. Hadestown's most distinctive contribution to this subgenre may be the fact that it melds the story of Orpheus (Reeve Carney) and Eurydice (Eva Noblezada) with that of Hades (Patrick Page) and Persephone (Amber Gray).

The musical unfolds on what is basically a unit set that frankly may recall the Bureau of Missing Persons in Black Orpheus, and it may be salient to note that at least in some press material the pre-hell (or at least "above ground") setting of the musical has been placed in a Depression Era New Orleans. That is a regional creative decision that perhaps subliminally echoes the fact that many slaves who were imported into the area brought vestiges of Yoruba, seen so evocatively in the Camus film, where it morphed into Voodoo. It may also be salient to point out that this version's roots inflected folk and blues adjacent score may be a good ol' American version of Black Orpheus' rejiggering of Brasilian musical motifs (which famously refashioned samba elements into Bossa Nova).

The musical provides showcases for several of its performers, probably most notably Tony winner André De Shields as "tourguide" Hermes. De Shields' long theatrical career includes a number of beloved works, including The Wiz, but rather interestingly also an early Chicago mounting of Hair. The score is intentionally not "traditional" Broadway, which some may find appealing, others maybe appalling (to paraphrase a certain Sondheim lyric), but one way or the other, it's certainly distinctive.

Hadestown: The Musical Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hadestown: The Musical is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Bleecker Street Media with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1 in a live performance captured in London's West End in 2025 (it's kind of interesting how many of these filmed ostensible "Broadway" offerings have actually been culled from London stagings, and I'm passingly curious if maybe union rules come into play in that regard). The stage is often very evocatively lit, and one of this presentation's strengths is its reproduction of sometimes quite nuanced lighting regimens. A surplus of mist or smoke effects at various points can lead to intermittent murkiness, especially in some darker moments, but on the whole detail levels are consistently appealing throughout, especially in close-ups. Coverage is excellent for the most part, though it occasionally draws attention to itself, as in several shots either from above or from upstage looking out at the audience. As mentioned above, there's some occasional "backstage" or extracurricular activity documented, as seen in screenshots 18 and 19.

Hadestown: The Musical Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Hadestown: The Musical features an energetic DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that capably supports both the musical and spoken aspects of the performance. The band, which is both onstage and evidently somewhere else with a supposed video feed is really full bodied sounding, and the on stage trombone player in particular is smokin'. Singing is uniformly excellent, and the mix nicely prioritizes vocals so that everything is easily heard. There's not a ton of directionality that I could discern, but there is still good engagement of the side and rear channels for both music and (maybe a bit annoyingly) rapturous audience reactions. Optional English subtitles are available.

Hadestown: The Musical Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements on this disc. Packaging features a slipcover.

Hadestown: The Musical Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hadestown has achieved a record of sorts by becoming the longest running show at the Walter Kerr Theater in New York, where it's still attracting audiences. For those unable to travel to anywhere the show is being performed (there's also been a tour), this video version should suffice quite handily. Technical merits are solid and for those unwilling to abide by a pronouncement by Mr. Chalamet, Hadestown: The Musical comes Highly recommended.