I'm delighted that "Hadestown" is having so much success this week. The proshot knocked me over. First, there is the witty costume design: the Earth tones of the laborers, the black/silvery style for the Fates, the seasonal shift in Persephone's "look." Second: the ending. The Pulitzer winner Wesley Morris--focusing on "Ragtime" and "Giant"--recently argued that new Broadway productions refuse to challenge or disturb a ticket-buyer. By contrast, "Hadestown" doesn't let us comfortably despise any of the characters. And it has a brutal ending--a courageous choice for the writers. Third: Patrick Page. I was not alone in watching the proshot and thinking Patrick Page deserved the Tony Award. Andre De Shields was excellent, AND Page still deserved the Tony win. My old writing teacher likes to say that she writes about "the space between the sidewalk and the curb." The liminal space. When you're neither here nor the...