Tear Jerker / Hadestown

• Orpheus's Heroic BSoD when Persephone has to leave for Hadestown early in "A Gathering Storm." He keeps talking about how unfair it is for the people above.
  He came too soon
  He came for her too soon
  It's not supposed to be like this
• In "Chant," Hades and Persephone's argument creates a fierce storm that Eurydice is caught in while Orpheus is occupied with his song. Hermes breaks character as narrator and tries to get his attention several times, to no avail, with his final plea being a simple "Look up!" while Orpheus doesn't hear him at all.
• Eurydice leaving for Hadestown. She is really only doing it out of practicality and is torn up about leaving Orpheus for it, but can't ignore that she's starving to death while Orpheus can't provide. Her line, almost more of a whimper, of "Orpheus, I'm hungry," is heart-breaking.
• When Orpheus and Eurydice reunite, he says, "I'm to blame" for not hearing Eurydice calling after him before Hades took her away. Eurydice says he isn't, and tells him to run when Hades appears.
• Hades and Persephone's deteriorating marriage. They both still love each other, but their different desires are tearing them apart. Hades is focused on solely materialistic items and drives his slaves to constantly build impressive machinery hoping that it will win Persephone over. Persephone meanwhile is horrified at the slave labor and the dying upper world under her husband's hand and just wants them to go back to older times when they were happy.
  • The reason why Hades keeps coming for Persephone sooner and sooner every spring: he's terrified that one day she won't come back.
• The pre-London versions of "Wait for Me," especially the 2010 concept album, were sadder than later entries for lacking the uplifting bridge and ending, as Orpheus quietly disappeared into the darkness of Hadestown while pleading for Eurydice to wait.
• The look on Persephone's face during "Why We Build the Wall" as she sees Eurydice enter Hadestown and realizes just how much she's stood by and let Hades do.
• Eurydice's solo, "Flowers," is all about her regretting leaving Orpheus behind as her memories of him and the world above slowly fade as she's resigned to her fate as a worker for eternity.
  Is anybody listening?
  I open my mouth and nothing comes out
  Nothing, nothing gonna wake me now...
• "If It's True" is Orpheus's BSoD Song after the Hadestown workers beat him up on Hades's orders. He lays on the ground, asking if this is how the world really is. Just as he's about to leave, the workers start echoing his song, giving him the resolve to stay and fight for Eurydice, with the power of his music.
  • The 2010 concept album version has Orpheus almost completely shut down, saying if there was nothing to be done they could take his hands, his voice, his music, and the memory of the muse from which it came, only regaining hope in the last stanza.
• "How Long" starts with Persephone pleading with Hades for Orpheus's sake, comparing his love for Eurydice to the love they once had, and turns into a sad, bitter discussion of their failing marriage and their respective jobs that keep them apart from one another. The last stanza is particularly powerful as they sing together, feeling overwhelmed by the size of the Earth, the Underworld, and the sun that sustains both as they wonder how long it will take to go back to how things were.
• "Epic III" has heartbreaking lyrics as Orpheus wonders what's become of Hades and the love he and Persephone shared, and it ends with Hades singing the old song as he and Persephone dance. With all the buildup and vulnerability, it makes it twice as heartwrenching when Hades still isn't sure he can let them go afterward.
  And what has become of the heart of that man
  Now that the man is king?
  What has become of the heart of that man
  Now that he has everything?
  • Hades's voice when he sings his song is breathy and weak. You can tell that he's not just overcome with his love for Persephone, he's now realizing that despite how head-over-heels he was the very moment he laid eyes on her—so infatuated he couldn't even speak, and could only sing—he's allowed their marriage to be years and years and years of misery.
  • In the final repetition of the chorus, Persephone reaches out for Hades to take her hands. He does...and right as their hands touch, the signature red carnation blooms in his fingers. Hades has fallen head-over-heels in love with Persephone all over again, and the realization makes Persephone weep.
• Hades' challenge to Orpheus is essentially to see if he's a better man than Hades and has enough trust in his and Eurydice's love to not doubt her. Patrick Page has said that because Hades himself doubts Persephone's love he feels there's no way Orpheus can make it, but if he can he deserves to.
• Wait For Me II, as Orpheus and Eurydice leave Hadestown, Hermes cautions Orpheus to be careful despite knowing how the tale will end, and Persephone and Hades look upon them from afar, clearly recognizing some of themselves in the young couple.
  Persephone: Hades, you let them go.
  Hades: I let them try.
  Persephone: And how about you and I? Are we going to try again?
  Hades: It's time for spring. We'll try again next fall.
  Persephone: Wait for me?
  Hades: I will.
  • Pre-London versions of the song were more melancholy and felt like they were mourning in anticipation of the tragedy, with the Edmonton version having a unique acoustic guitar intro that underscored the sorrow.
• The Edmonton version of "Doubt Comes In" had lyrics not seen anywhere else as Orpheus tries to reassure himself by seeing Eurydice in the sun amid fields of flowers, home and safe, with the laughter of their children on the wind, only for the Fates to remind him the wind took her away before and can do so again.
• Even if we do know how the myth ends, it's still heartbreaking knowing that Orpheus looks back at Eurydice and loses her to Hadestown again, especially in the Broadway version where he doubts himself, Eurydice, and Hades' promise more and more as the walk continues and can't hear her reassurances. In the staging, it is particularly wrenching; he turns around and she gasps loudly. They say each other's name, knowing it's the last time they'll talk. Then the stage platform lowers her out of his sight, where he loses her to the underground. Orpheus falls on his knees with a My God, What Have I Done? expression and stays there, staring into the world below as Hermes launches into a Dark Reprise of "Road To Hell". Orpheus doesn't stand until Hermes restarts the tale and resumes where he was at the beginning of the play.
  It's a sad song.
  It's a sad tale...
  From way back when.
  It's a sad song...
  And that is how it ends.
  That's how it goes.
  Don't ask me why, brother.
  Don't ask how...
  He could have come so close.
  The song was written...
  Long ago...
  • At the start of "Road to Hell (Reprise)," Hermes is quiet, breathing raggedly before weakly muttering, "A'ight..." and launching into his narration. The poor man sounds like he's about to break down sobbing.
  • The beginning of the penultimate number starts off with light, slightly discordant piano notes before nothing at all. There's no sound but Hermes' broken voice once again reminding us, "It's a sad song, it's a sad tale..."
  • In the stage version, after Eurydice is taken down to Hadestown forever, Hermes steps back onto the stage. For a minute, he just stares down into the hole where Eurydice has sunk, with a broken, hopeless look on his face. Then he raises his eyes, looking at nothing in particular before letting out the first "A'ight..." All of his body language, such as gesturing weakly to the hole to Hadestown as he says "And that is how it ends," just screams of a poor god so tired of seeing the story end so tragically every time.
  • While Eurydice returns to take her original place at the beginning of the play, the last real time the audience sees her is when she's taken to Hadestown again. We see Orpheus in his stunned state after the fact, but Eurydice just...disappears. It really hammers in the fact that Orpheus technically killed her.
• The post-curtain call song, "We Raise Our Cups," has the dead mourning the living as Persephone, Eurydice, and the company toast Orpheus, wherever he is, and hope their music gives him comfort. Even Hades joins in. As heartwarming as it is, it's also a reminder that somewhere in the world, Orpheus is wandering the Earth, alone, eternally bearing the guilt of condemning his lover to Hell.
• There are many hints that Hermes is telling the tale over and over, trying various combinations and variations to save Orpheus and Eurydice. Nothing works; each time, Orpheus turns around too early and loses his wife. Worse, all of the characters are put through the same motions and suffering. Persephone and Hades are doomed to never reconcile and Eurydice is fighting against the cold and hunger. Hermes means well but not even a Great Depression incarnation of a Greek god can do good.

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