* Despite being a figure of tragedy, Orpheus is a walking moment of awesome:
** He tells a girl he just met, "Come home with me." She's so amused by his boldness that she laughs on learning he's "always like this" and tests him by asking to hear his song. Orpheus then proceeds to summon a flower out of thin air with nothing but his music, impressing Eurydice.
** When Hades first arrives to the surface, everyone backs off in fear, but when Hades lowers his sunglasses to look at Eurydice, Orpheus ''leaps in front of her'' to protect her.
** During "Wait For Me," he hears Hermes' warning that Hadestown is dangerous, and people don't return from there. Orpheus goes anyway using the back way that his uncle maps out, with only the slightest trembling of fear and the Fates asking, "Who are you? Why are you all alone?" Then he breaks open the wall to Hadestown just by singing, and the staging has the walls of the set open up, filled with light, to frame his accomplishment in reality.
** "If It's True" and "Chant (Reprise)": The guy has just been beaten up, learned his wife sold herself into slavery, and taunted by the Fates that he's never going to win in a town not built for men like him. After a BSODSong, he realizes the same workers that beat him up are repeating his words, and gets an idea. He starts to sing, even as Hades hears the workers on the verge of rioting and questioning their actions under the death god's orders. The staging has him circle the beleaguered group while asking (in the preview version) "Can I change his ways," referring to Hades, and giving the man a DeathGlare as they spin away from each other. By this point Orpheus's face is covered in (fake) blood, and Hades makes it clear he could kill the "young man" any time he likes. Orpheus doesn't have NervesOfSteel, he has nerves of titanium!
** "Epic III": Orpheus sings about Hades, amusing the death god. He reminds Hades and Persephone of their courtship, and the song they sang during it. Hades is stunned and asks, "Where did you get that melody?" By the end, Hades and his wife are dancing like newlyweds. This restores Eurydice's hope, who says that Hades will surely let them both go. If he had succeeded in walking out of Hadestown without turning around too early, all of the workers would have followed him to their freedom.
** The curtain call song implies that Orpheus is WalkingTheEarth but still alive. Despite his great failure, Orpheus refuses to die and let the elements take him, while his Greek counterpart attempted SuicideByCop with the Maenads. As Persephone sings, he's like a flower that blooms in the worst of conditions, and he won't give up.
* While it's not long before Hades takes her away again, seeing Persephone lighten up the world with summertime in "Living It Up On Top" counts, and Eurydice and the chorus get to show off amazing dance moves during the break.
* Hades' introduction to the surface is a fitting EstablishingCharacterMoment for our main villain: Not only does he arrive by rising from below to take Persephone back with nothing anyone can do about it, his mere ''appearance'' sends the people of the surface into shock and leads to them backing off. To cap it off, he manages to intimidate Orpheus into leaping in front of Eurydice defensively by merely ''lowering his sunglasses'' to look at her.
* It's quite despicable, but the way Hades [[ManipulativeBastard effortlessly manipulates Eurydice into leaving for Hadestown]] is quite impressive.
* Hermes defies Hades' orders to get Orpheus to Hadestown, telling him where to go and what to do to keep out of trouble.
* Hades gets a villainous awesome moment when Orpheus comes to rescue Eurydice. After telling him point-blank that he "only buy[s] what others choose to sell," revealing that Eurydice sold her soul willingly, he sets his workers to beat Orpheus up as a warning to trespassers. Orpheus is left so despondent he almost gives up and goes home before he realizes the workers are listening to him.
* Persephone, on seeing Orpheus in Hadestown, does his best to keep her husband from hurting him. Then she pinpoints that Hades is afraid of the boy, and ''refuses to drink'' for the only time in the play when he offers her a glass. Persephone then sings about the love they once had, and begs for Eurydice's life. It's clear she would do anything to make sure her friend is happy with his wife.
* Hades gets quite the BadassBoast in "Chant Reprise" as he dares Orpheus to sing for him while taunting him that his life's in Hades' hands.
-->''You hear that heavy metal sound?''\\
''The symphony of Hadestown''\\
''And in this symphony of mine''\\
''Are power chords and power lines''\\
''Young man, you can strum your lyre''\\
''I have strung the world in wire''\\
''Young man, you can sing your ditty''\\
''I CONDUCT THE ELECTRIC CITY!''
* During "Chant Reprise," the workers stand up and question Hades's orders and logic. Eurydice remains standing and vows to raise her head and change her fate, and in earlier versions Persephone got a verse where she reflected on her love for Hades and was confident that Orpheus's song could still move him.
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