Abstract
The paper examines two myth-inspired musicals—The Frogs by Burt Shevelove and Stephen Sondheim and Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell—concerning journeys to the underworld that benefit society. Both musicals undergo adaptation and revision processes that reflect the political and social concerns of the day. The Frogs depicts Dionysus’ journey to Hades to bring back a poet (originally Euripides, now George Bernard Shaw). However, it was not until the 2004 Broadway adaptation that overtly anti-authoritarian messages were added, aimed at the Bush administration. As a “folk opera,” Hadestown retells Orpheus’ descent to the Underworld to rescue Euridice as a commentary on economic disparity and exploitation: the central couple’s poverty justifies Euridice’s attraction to the industrial productivity of Hell. As a full Broadway musical production, their dilemma is given a counterpoint in the decaying marriage of Hades and Persephone, which reflects ongoing climate change. While the former is a comedy and the latter a tragedy, both musicals arrive at the same message of using art to endorse political change and herald endurance in the face of societal complacency and despair.
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