Hadestown the Musical (the movie) was a hit. Other Broadway shows are taking notes : NPR

Hadestown the Musical has been a sleeper hit this summer at the movie theatres. It’s a recorded version of the live performance, and the surprise success might mean more pro-shots of Broadway plays and musicals are coming.

Transcript

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

There’s a sleeper hit at the summer box office, “Hadestown: The Musical.”

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WAY DOWN HADESTOWN”)

ANDRE DE SHIELDS: (As Hermes) A one. A two. A one, two, three, four.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, singing) Way down Hadestown. Way down under the ground. Way down…

RASCOE: The movie is called a proshot, a professionally recorded version of a play with a live clapping audience. The success of “Hadestown” has caught the attention of Broadway and Hollywood. NPR’s Danny Hensel reports.

DANNY HENSEL, BYLINE: “Hadestown” transports the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice to a folk opera set in a world inspired by the Great Depression.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ROAD TO HELL”)

DE SHIELDS: (As Hermes, singing) Once upon a time there was a railroad line. Don’t ask where, brother. Don’t ask when.

HENSEL: When director Brett Sullivan saw the show, he knew he wanted to film it.

BRETT SULLIVAN: I want to see the eyes of the actors. I want to get closer to the emotion, which is what theater can’t give you. It’s a different thing.

HENSEL: At the center of the stage, a descending platform that transports our characters to and from the underworld, called “Hadestown.”

SULLIVAN: I got to have a camera at the bottom, and I got to have a camera at the top.

HENSEL: “Hadestown: The Musical” was only supposed to be in movie theaters for five days. But after its opening weekend brought in $10 million and the No. 3 slot at the box office, the theatrical run was extended indefinitely.

SULLIVAN: Everyone hoped (laughter) that it would go well, but I honestly don’t think anyone expected that it was going this well.

HENSEL: Sullivan’s been directing proshots for more than a decade of musicals like “Billy Elliot,” “Newsies” and “Waitress.” And other hit musicals have gotten the proshot treatment too, like “Hamilton” on Disney+. But none of those had the box office success of “Hadestown,” $19 million and counting. It’s now the highest grossing proshot in U.S. box office history. Jane Glickman saw the movie in Silver Spring, Maryland.

JANE GLICKMAN: As much as I absolutely adore live theater – I usher at two theaters in the area – there’s something to be said, even when you get good seats, you still can’t get the close-ups quite like you can in a theater. It was amazing.

HENSEL: McClain Leong saw the movie with a friend.

MCCLAIN LEONG: I specifically have seen “Hadestown” before, and I want to support proshots because I think it makes theater more accessible. So I wanted to make sure to come and support this.

HENSEL: Leong came with Ace Gray, who is deaf and wears a cochlear implant. Gray said the film’s open-caption screening brought the show’s accessibility to a new level.

ACE GRAY: I just think it really brings the experience to life in a way that you don’t really get in Broadway, where you have, like, little caption devices in front of you. You have to, like, kind of adjust as you go. But here, you don’t have to do that.

HENSEL: Gray hadn’t seen “Hadestown” on stage but is more likely to go after seeing the movie.

GRAY: I think, especially seeing the effects that they do, all the practical effects – like the walls breaking down, lights, all that – I literally turned to Mac (ph), and I was like, I have to see this. Like, this is so cool.

HENSEL: A review like that is good news for producers. It’s long been a concern that the proshot would cannibalize live theater sales.

HOWARD SHERMAN: But, in fact, it’s been borne out that, in many cases, the film version actually lifts interest in the show.

HENSEL: Howard Sherman is an arts advocate who writes a Substack about theater.

SHERMAN: What often happens with a film release of a show that’s still running is the marketing and attention that they generate becomes of benefit to the still running live show as well.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WEDDING SONG”)

EVA NOBLEZADA: (As Eurydice, singing) Lover, tell me if you can, who’s gonna buy the wedding bands? Times being what they are, hard and getting harder all the time.

HENSEL: Sherman warns that “Hadestown’s” success may not be easy to replicate. It’s a Tony Award-winner. It’s a long-running production. It has a small cast and a big fan base. It was also filmed in London, where labor costs are far cheaper than on Broadway. But Brett Sullivan, the director, said the appetite for proshots is growing.

SULLIVAN: We’ve got a few more lined up, but they were only literally greenlit in the last week, so you could probably say they were watching “Hadestown” carefully.

HENSEL: The pop musical about the six wives of King Henry VIII called “Six” will be another test.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “EX-WIVES”)

JARNEIA RICHARD-NOEL: (As Catherine of Aragon, singing) Listen up, let me tell you a story.

MILLIE O’CONNELL: (As Anne Boleyn, singing) A story that you think you’ve heard before.

NATALIE PARIS: (As Jane Seymour, singing) We know you know our names and our fame and our faces.

HENSEL: That proshot will be in theaters next weekend.

Danny Hensel, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “EX-WIVES”)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS #2: (As characters, singing) History’s about to get overthrown.

RICHARD-NOEL: (As Catherine of Aragon, singing) Divorced.

O’CONNELL: (As Anne Boleyn, singing) Beheaded.

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