Starting in ancient Greece and traveling through time in many different adaptations, the story of Orpheus and Eurydice comes to LASA through “Hadestown: Teen Edition” for the Alley Cat Player’s fall production. The Alley Cat Players are one of the first school production groups in Central Texas to perform the newly adapted teen version of Hadestown since the licensing for the teen edition was released.
Senior Piper Chen, president of the Alley Cat Players, is a part of the ensemble and is an understudy for one of the Fates in “Hadestown”. She organizes official events the Alley Cat Players put on as well as unofficial events to gather the theater community outside of preparing for their shows.
“‘Hadestown’ is a musical about the mythological legend of Orpheus and Eurydice and how Eurydice goes to the underworld,” Chen said. “Orpheus, who’s a muse, sings songs, and he goes down into the underworld to get her back.”
After their production of “Clue” in the 2023-2024 school year finished, the Alley Cat Players began work on “Hadestown” as it would be their first show of the school and one of the larger ones. Junior Audrey Murdock, who has previously played Fantine in Les Misérables, plays the leading role of Eurydice in the show.
“They announced what the musical was going to be at the theater banquet in March or May of last school year,” Murdock said. “You could either audition on one of the last days of finals or send in a video audition over the summer.”
The Alley Cat Players coordinate with many different departments that collaborate to put their productions together. According to junior Juliet Auby, the assistant stage manager, each department deals with a different and important aspect of the musical’s performance.
“We have the costume crew, and they end up working the hardest,” Auby said. “They deal with both the before scene of picking out costumes for everyone to wear, and then they also deal with the quick changes and changing into costumes the day of.”
Auby explained that the crews all have their parts, and the management team helps join them together before and during the production. According to Auby, the job of the management team is to provide the entire team with a wide variety of support.
“I help out the actors try to figure out where they’re supposed to be and to keep track of things,” Auby said. “I just kind of hop from room to room being like, ‘What do you guys need?’”
According to Chen, the build crew has been working hard since summer break for Hadestown, and hours have been put into putting set pieces together which resulted in a larger build crew than usual. One of the most major pieces is present in all Hadestown adaptations, and they have been working on it for months.
“We’re building two turntables for Hadestown, which is a very impressive feat from a technical perspective,” Auby said. “You have to make all these gears work in the line and all the casters. It’s been about a two-month process to make these things work.”
One special part of Hadestown is that many different groups, like actors and build crew, are working together in different ways. For example, junior Morgan Flickinger, a trombone player in the orchestra, explained the music is being done jointly by the sound crew and the live orchestra.
“So far it’s been pretty fun,” Flickinger said. “It’s kind of stressful though. The music is pretty tough. All of us are putting in the work.”
“Hadestown” is unique as the orchestra plays on stage, so they’re also an intricate and necessary part of the musical’s setting and atmosphere. The ensemble also adds to the setting by filling up the space to feel more natural.
“I just have to learn all of the songs that the ensemble is a part of,” Chen said. “So for all of the songs, I have to learn my specific part, which is the soprano part. And if I’m on the stage, then any choreography that we have to do.”
Chen explained that the ensemble has worked hard and quickly to get all their various performances practiced and ready for opening night. To her, the production’s fast timeline has been a large difference which has affected how they prepare.
“We are performing the show at the beginning of October, but usually the show is in February,” Chen said, “So we’ve had to kind of accelerate rehearsal speed and time.”
According to Murdock, the ensemble for Hadestown is a key part of bringing the musical together and understanding the different parts of it makes it a very powerful aspect. She explained how the leading actors have a similar rehearsal process of going through their songs and choreography.
“There’s been a learning curve, but it’s been really fun overall, and I feel so lucky that I’ve gotten to be a part of it,” Murdock said. “We start with show circle and then warm-ups, and then we break off into different groups to rehearse whatever we’re working on that day.”
Even with the chaos and fast-paced production, all of the reviews from students who are a part of the production have been positive. According to Murdock, it is a very close and supportive community that all work together to put together amazing performances for the school.
“It’s a cool environment,” Murdock said, “and I’m really lucky to get to be part of it.”
Hadestown was performed from October 3, 2024, through October 6, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. every night, with an additional understudy show at 2:00 p.m. on October 6, 2024.
Information as of October 1, 2024.
