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Hadestown

 I think this will be my last post about "Hadestown." My admiration is really centered on Eurydice's "I Want" solo:


I was alone so long--
I didn't even know that I was lonely.
Out in the cold so long--
I didn't even know that I was cold.
Turned my collar to the wind--
This is how it's always been.
All I've ever known is how to hold my own--
But now I want to hold you, too.

Is it possible to invent new twists in a love song? Here, the writers push us "on to" an exciting bridge by dropping the last syllable in the refrain: "Now I want to hold you, too."

Now I want to hold you--NOW.
I want to hold you--hold you CLOSE.
I don't wanna ever let you go.
Now I wanna hold you--hold you TIGHT.
I don't wanna go back to the lonely life.

The other part I admire is the odd discordant passage at the end. Eurydice demands that Orpheus make several promises. O immediately complies; he is naive, and he believes that the promises are "speech acts," articulations of a dream that can be realized. But note that Eurydice promises nothing in return, and she never says, "I believe you."

Smart ending.

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