Eurydice
No—
Orpheus
You called my name
Eurydice
You came
But how’d you get here? On the train?
Orpheus
No, I walked! A long way . . .
Eurydice
And how’d you get beyond the wall?
Orpheus
I sang a song so beautiful
The stones wept and they let me in
And I can sing us home again
Eurydice
No, you can’t
Orpheus
Yes, I can
Eurydice
No—you don’t understand
Notes on “Come Home with Me Reprise”
Off-Broadway
“Come Home with Me Reprise” was, for me, always part and parcel of the “Come Home with Me” idea. I loved that Orpheus’s old come-on line could be repurposed in the underworld, this time as a lifeline for Eurydice. Even the most awkward version of this scene made me want to laugh and cry at once. The NYTW reprise included a lot of repeat language from that era of “Come Home with Me,” like:
Eurydice: Are you always this confident?
Orpheus: When I look at you, I am
Eurydice: When you look at me, what do you see?
Orpheus: I see someone stronger than me / I see somebody who survives / I see my wife
I hated I see someone stronger than me / I see somebody who survives in the reprise as much as I did in the original. But those last four words: I see my wife were unbearably emotional to me. The scene continued with this very literal second marriage proposal, which hearkened back to the young man down on bended knee:
Eurydice: Why are you getting on your knees?
Orpheus: I’m asking you to marry me / Marry me / Say “I do” / I came all this way to ask you to
Eurydice: Orpheus
Orpheus: Eurydice
Eurydice: The two of us / That is how it would have been / If the world was different / But have you seen the world? / It isn’t beautiful! / It doesn’t change for me and you / No matter how much we want it to . . .
This was followed by an exchange with the Fates that resembled “Gone, I’m Gone,” “Everything Written Reprise,” and “No One Now”:
Fates: Can’t you see she made a deal? / Gave her word? / Took a vow? / See, it’s all been signed and sealed / She belongs to Hades now / She belongs to him
Orpheus: It isn’t true
Fates: She belongs to him
Orpheus: It isn’t true
Fates: She belongs to him
Orpheus (to Eurydice): Say it isn’t true
Fates: She belongs to him
Eurydice: I do
In my mind, there was tragic irony in Eurydice’s final “I do,” because of the marriage proposal, but I don’t think the audience actually clocked it. I later decided it would be more powerful to have this informational blow to Orpheus come all at once, in “Papers Intro,” from the mouth of Hades himself.
Edmonton, London, & Broadway
The elements of “Come Home with Me Reprise” that survived in all four productions were the cosmic “naming” at the beginning and the How’d you get here? On the train? section, culminating in Orpheus’s vow to sing them home, and Eurydice’s You don’t understand. What happened between the naming and the train changed every time, and the reason was this: it was the lovers’ first encounter after a rift that could be seen as a result of Orpheus’s neglect of Eurydice, Eurydice’s abandonment of Orpheus, or both. Did we need to hear an explicit apology, on the part of one or both of them? I tried various times to work in a literal I’m sorry but it always felt awkwardly on the nose. Was there a more subtle way for them to address what had happened?
The Citadel version of this moment was very brief:
Eurydice: Orpheus!
Orpheus: Eurydice / Did you think I would just let you go?
Eurydice: I couldn’t stay
Orpheus: I know
Eurydice: But how’d you get here? On the train . . . ?
It was beautifully open-ended, but ultimately didn’t say enough. At the National, there was an equally brief exchange:
Eurydice: Orpheus!
Orpheus: Eurydice / It’s you and me—it’s alright now
Eurydice: Alright . . . how? / How’d you get here? On the train . . . ?
The line It’s alright now felt sentimental, and again, the exchange seemed to gloss over the depth of the conflict. I tried again for Broadway, and this time, Orpheus’s Whatever happened, I’m to blame and Eurydice’s No—seemed to tick the subtle apology box. What I didn’t expect was that Orpheus’s admission that he hadn’t even heard Eurydice call his name (Eurydice: You heard? Orpheus: No—Mister Hermes told me so) would be funny. I was surprised, in Broadway previews, to hear a hearty laugh every time.
PAPERS INTRO & PAPERS
Hades
Young man!
I don’t think we’ve met before
You’re not from around here, son
I don’t know who the hell you are
But I can tell you don’t belong
These are working people, son
Law-abiding citizens
Go back to where you came from
You’re on the wrong side of the fence
Persephone
Hades, I know this boy
Hades
One of the unemployed
Persephone
His name is Orpheus
Hades
You stay out of this
Hermes
Orpheus was a poor boy . . .
Hades
Did ya hear me, son?
Hermes
You might say he was naive
Hades
You better run!
Hermes
But this poor boy raised up his voice
With his heart out on his sleeve
Eurydice
No!
Orpheus, you should go
Orpheus (to Hades)
I’m not going back alone
I came to take her home
Hades
Who the hell you think you are?
Who the hell you think you’re talking to?
She couldn’t go anywhere
Even if she wanted to
You’re not from around here, son
If you were, then you would know
That everything and everyone
In Hadestown, I own!
But I
Only buy
What others choose to sell
Oh
You didn’t know?
She signed the deal herself
And now she—
Orpheus
It isn’t true
Hades
Belongs to me
Orpheus
It isn’t true
What he said
Eurydice—
Eurydice
—I did
I do
Hades
As for you . . .
Everybody gather round!
Everybody look and see!
What becomes of trespassers
With no respect for property!
Notes on “Papers Intro” & “Papers”
The instrumental fight scene “Papers” has existed since the earliest days in Vermont. The music was composed by Michael Chorney with a nod to “His Kiss, the Riot.” We called it “Papers” because it accompanied something
like an immigration raid; if anyone had spoken, they might have demanded Papers! and Orpheus, as a living soul in the land of the dead, had none. In advance of NYTW I began working on an intro for the scene. At one point I even wrote these lines:
Hades: Let me see your papers, son / Let me see your documents / Or could it be that you have none? / You’re on the wrong side of the fence . . .
Team Dramaturgy found that concept confusing; we’d gone to all the trouble of making the “ticket” explicit, and this seemed to be another “rule” regarding How to get to Hadestown. The concern was that it would raise unnecessary questions for the audience. But the old title “Papers” remained.
“Papers Intro” evolved in Edmonton and London as I tasked Hades with delivering the bad news—She signed the deal herself . . . —to Orpheus point-blank. For Broadway, Rachel begged me to add some verbal interjections for Persephone and Eurydice. She felt strongly that we should hear from both women, that they not be relegated to mute-bystander status. This was also a chance to depict, again, New Orpheus’s innocence and naivety. In all previous versions of the scene, Hermes’s narration section looked like this:
Hermes: Now, Orpheus was a poor boy
Hades: Did ya hear me, son?
Hermes: And Hades was a mighty king
Hades: You better run!
Hermes: But this poor boy raised up his voice / Even though it was trembling
That painted a picture of a brave young man, but now we were dealing with a boy who didn’t know any better. It felt right that both Persephone and Eurydice would try to protect him, each in her own way, so I tried to invoke that protectiveness in their text.
NOTHING CHANGES
Fates
Why the struggle, why the strain?
Why make trouble, why make scenes?
Why go against the grain?
Why swim upstream?
It ain’t, it ain’t, it ain’t no use
You’re bound, you’re bound, you’re bound to lose
What’s done, what’s done, what’s done is done
That’s the way the river runs
So why get wet? Why break a sweat?
Why waste your precious breath?
Why beat your handsome brow?
Nothing changes
Nothing changes
Nothing changes anyhow
Notes on “Nothing Changes”
I wrote “Nothing Changes” for the studio album, for two reasons. First, I wanted to give the Fates another song of their own (at the time, their only number was “When the Chips Are Down”). Second, I wanted to give Orpheus an explicit statement to push back against in “If It’s True.” During many long years of development, “Nothing Changes” never changed.
IF IT’S TRUE
Orpheus
If it’s true what they say
If there’s nothing to be done
If it’s true that it’s too late
And the girl I love is gone
If it’s true what they say
Is this how the world is?
To be beaten and betrayed
And then be told that nothing changes
It’ll always be like this
If it’s true what they say
I’ll be on my way
Workers
Huh!
Hermes
And the boy turned to go
Workers
Huh!
Hermes
Cos he thought no one could hear
Workers
Huh!
Hermes
But everybody knows
That walls have ears
Workers
Huh!
Hermes
And the workers heard him
Workers
Kkh!
If it’s true what they say
Huh!
Hermes
With their hammers swingin’
Workers
Kkh!
What’s the purpose of a man?
Huh!
Hermes
And they quit their workin’
Workers
Kkh!
Just to turn his eyes away?
Huh!
Hermes
When they heard him singin’
Workers
Kkh!
Just to throw up both his hands?
Hermes
No hammers swingin’
Workers
What’s the use of his backbone?
Hermes
No pick-axe ring
Workers
If he never stands upright
Hermes
And they stood and listened
Workers
If he turns his back on everyone
Hermes
To the poor boy sing
Workers
That he could have stood beside
Orpheus
If it’s true what they say
I’ll be on my way
But who are they to say
What the truth is anyway?
Cos the ones who tell the lies
Are the solemnest to swear
And the ones who load the dice
Always say the toss is fair
And the ones who deal the cards
Are the ones who take the tricks
With their hands over their hearts
While we play the game they fix
And the ones who speak the word
Always say it is the last
And no answer will be heard
To the question no one asks
So I’m asking if it’s true
I’m asking me and you, and you, and you
I believe our answer matters
More than anything they say
Workers
We stand and listen, listen
Orpheus
I believe if there is still a will then there is still a way
Workers
We’re standin’ with him
Orpheus
I believe there is a way
I believe in us together
More than anyone alone
Workers
We’re standin’ near him, near him
Orpheus
I believe that with each other we are stronger than we know
Workers
We hear him
Orpheus
I believe we’re stronger than they know
I believe that we are many
I believe that they are few
Workers
We’re standin’, standin’, standin’
Orpheus
And it isn’t for the few to tell the many what is true
Workers
We understand him
Orpheus
So I ask you
If it’s true what they say
I’ll be on my way
Tell me what to do
Is it true?
Is it true what they say?
Notes on “If It’s True”
Vermont
“If It’s True” dates back to the Vermont days, when it was an Orpheus solo. It begins as a lamentation for Eurydice and the world, and the fact that it straddles both heartbreak and politics made rewriting it something of a balancing act. It ends with righteous railing against the powers that be, and those verses (But the ones who tell the lies
. . . ) have remained intact for many years.
The earliest version of the song began like this:
Orpheus: If it’s true what they say / If there’s nothing to be done / If there’s no part left to play / If there’s no song to be sung / If it’s true what they say / If there’s no stone left to turn / If there’s no prayer left to pray / If there’s no bridge left to burn / If it’s true what they say / I’ll be on my way / If it’s true what they say / Then I have lived a lie / They can take the sky away / Take the stars out of my eyes / And my face will be a mask / And my heart will be a stone / And I’ll throw away the past / And I’ll go away alone . . .
Off-Broadway
The imagery in those early lines felt generic to me, and not romantic enough for the lover Orpheus. For the studio record, I wanted more intimacy, and I remember scrambling to finish this more intimate version en route to the studio:
Orpheus: If it’s true what they say / If my love is gone for good / They can take this heart away / They can take this flesh and blood / Take my mouth that kissed her mouth / Take my tongue that sung her praise / Take my arms that used to reach out / In the dark where she lay / If it’s true what they say / I’ll be on my way / If it’s true what they say / If there’s nothing to be done / If there’s no part to be played / If there’s no song to be sung / Take this voice, take these hands / I can’t use them anyway / Take this music and the memory of / The muse from which it came
Working on a Song Page 12
