Is Hadestown the newest and most intelligent musical on Broadway?

One could decorate multiple urns with all the Greek gods currently occupying the stage of the Walter Kerr Theater, Anais Mitchell's early theater on Broadway. Hadestown. Soaked in ancient mythology and brilliantly staged, Hadestown seems to be the most intelligent new Broadway musical – but does that automatically make it a great show? The timeless history on which it is based certainly has potential.

Son of a muse, Orpheus (Reeve Carney) is a man endowed with a supernatural gift for the song, and he wants to share this with Eurydice (Eva Noblezada). She falls in love with him in the summer, but the winter comes quickly when Persephone (Amber Gray, thief of spectacles) leaves the surface of the Earth to go down with her husband Hades (Patrick Page) – the rocky marriage between the deities of vegetation and death explain the recent end of time. As the days get colder and food is scarce, Orpheus continues to scratch his guitar. Eurydice, whose chances of survival are disappearing, does what she can do: she works in the Hades mine. It's a post with eternal job security, provided that Orpheus can not find a way to save her.

Composer and writer Anaïs Mitchell created in the beginning Hadestown concept album in 2010. Director Rachel Chavkin helped make it a musical at the New York Theater Workshop in 2016 and has since evolved through her productions in Edmonton and London. The incredible score of Mitchell, fusion of New Orleans jazz and American folk music, remains the heart of the show, all magnificently interpreted by this agile and talented cast.

Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer and Kay Trinidad are particularly impressive: they sing in a complex harmony while playing instruments and dancing in a storm. Playing the god Hermes, André De Shields conveys an authority that feels as old as the Earth, keeping the story with his simple but powerful story. Feeling a lot bigger than it actually is, the chorus of "workers" of five people completes Chavkin's elegant and inventive staging.

This staging maintains the ingenuity of downtown production while maximizing the potential of a Broadway budget. Repeating the example of the score, Rachel Hauck's multi-level ensemble evokes the French Quarter. In a breathtaking stage transition, his stucco walls collapse to reveal the enormity of the Hadestown mine, which seems to endure forever in Bradley King's industrial lighting. King collaborates with costume designer Michael Krass to place lights in the helmets of miners and with choreographer David Neumann for the "Wait for Me" issue, which features scoop lights swinging gracefully onto the stage and the audience. Neumann uses Hauck's rotation phase well to suggest the desolate mechanical disengagement of Hadestown. Krass's working overalls, a little erotic, complete the effect.

Sound designers Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz contribute to the mythical and mysterious world of Hadestownwhile ensuring that each of Mitchell's words is audible. Music Director Liam Robinson is a talented leader in the field of the most challenging vocal music on Broadway, from the heights of Orpheus 'falsetto to Hades' cavernous bass. Hadestown is visually and audibly breathtaking – that's why I was disappointed not to have an emotional impact on me.

My inability to invest in the central love story, in particular, could have something to do with the strength of his foil. Despite their difficult situation, the relations between Hades and Persephone seem valid – their coupling makes them better individuals and better gods (Gray and Page have been present since the world premiere of the series and offer performances with emotional resonance).

Not so with young lovers. The program tells us about the immortal line of Orpheus and its boundless charm. Carney plays in the first quality with its scholarly interpretation, representing a man singularly focused on his song. But that's not charming, especially in Carney's voluminous and capricious portrait. It's easier to feel something for Noblezada's nice Eurydice, even if it's a shame. As she was surrounded by the diligent and hardworking Hadestown locals, she seemed to be able to do much better than Orpheus, a guy with no guitar mismatch and few marketable talents.

As I left this musical tragedy with dry eyes, I wondered if it was not the intention of Hadestown. Admittedly, his epic staging and brutal politics evoke Brecht, who was much more interested in teaching his audience than in catharsis. But even intellectually, Hadestown is not as satisfying as one might expect.

Much has been made of Mitchell's presumptuous vision of Hades as a wall-building mogul who exploits the fear of strangers to get his workers to obey. The song "Why do we build the wall" always produces chills (especially from the beautifully malicious page), but two years of living in Trumptown have made it feel less insightful than before. Mitchell's position on nativist politics is not as demanding as on the nose. Similarly, would not it be nice to think about climate change until the 7,000 year old itch of an old married couple? With the emphasis on heavy industry and the even stronger feeling of teenagers, Hadestown to say less about America today than one might think. This is especially evident after attending the Broadway revival Oklahoma!, a musical that strikes at the heart of American mythology without appealing to a single representative of the pantheon.

Nevertheless, if you are looking for a magnificent, formally stimulating and finely interpreted show, wrapped in the comforting blanket of classics, you can not do better than Hadestown, a music destined to be the posh hit of this Broadway season.