HADESTOWN ARTICLE

For Immediate Release December 5, 2006
Anais Mitchell signs to Righteous Babe Records. The much awaited new album: The Brightness out Tuesday February 13th, 2007. Lots more info coming soon. To Pre-order the album or find out more go to:

The Brightness

For Immediate Release October 20, 2006

ANAIS MITCHELL, MICHAEL CHORNEY, MAGIC CITY AND BEN T. MATCHSTICK TEAM UP TO PRESENT NEW FOLK OPERA HADESTOWN, BASED ON
THE TRAGIC GREEK MYTH OF ORPHEUS & EURYDICE

HADESTOWN TO DEBUT IN VERMONT THIS DECEMBER

THE PERSONNEL:
written and produced by Anais Mitchell (Hymns for the Exiled, The Brightness)
arranged by Michael Chorney (viperHouse, Orchid, Seven Deadly Sins) for Magic City
directed by Ben T. Matchstick (Bread & Puppet Theatre, Insurrection Landscapers, Cardboard Teck Instantute)


THE PERFORMANCES:

Old Labor Hall in Barre, VT
Friday, December 8th at 8pm
Saturday, December 9th at 2pm & 8pm
tickets $10 in advance / $15 at the door
available from the Barre Opera House box office- 802-476-8188- www.barreoperahouse.org
and the Langdon St. Café in Montpelier

Vergennes Opera House in Vergennes, VT
Friday, December 15th at 8pm
Saturday, December 16th at 2pm & 8pm
tickets $10 in advance / $15 at the door
available from the Vergennes Opera House box office- 802-877-6737- www.vergennesoperahouse.org


THE PRODUCTION:

For centuries, the tragic Greek myth of Orpheus & Eurydice, in which the lyre-playing Orpheus descends into the underworld and attempts to win back his fallen bride Eurydice through the power of music, has been mined by artists from all corners of the world – a testament to its depth and universal appeal. Anais Mitchell’s Hadestown, created in collaboration with composer Michael Chorney and director Ben T. Matchstick and supported by the Vermont Community Foundation, brings this timeless story into a contemporary context that is poetically, musically and visually fresh. Debuting in Mitchell’s native Vermont, the folk opera takes its inspiration from Depression-era America: the underworld is not the land of the dead but an exploitative company town; Hades is a sadistic wall-building boss-king whose wife Persephone moonlights as the proprietress of a speakeasy; and Orpheus wields not a lyre but a banjo. But the opera is not so much a history lesson as it is a rich patchwork of artistic vision, social commentary and raw human emotion. Old-fashioned symbols of poverty and exploitation are fused with a kind of futurism — albeit a clunky, analog, “vintage” futurism (think post-apocalyptic Jeunet/Caro films City of the Lost Children and Delicatessen) — which prompts reflection on just how much we’ve evolved (or devolved) as a society since the 1930s. Above all, Hadestown is a love story – a love story exploring what becomes of the human condition under the most tragic and trying of circumstances.


HADESTOWN – short biographies

Anais Mitchell is a Vermont-based, nationally touring singer-songwriter whose “fearlessly emotive,” lyric-driven songs have garnered praise from critics and fellow songwriters alike. Anais has recently been opening shows for such songwriters as Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Jonathan Edwards, Jane Siberry, Josh Ritter, Erin McKeown, Richard Shindell, and Dar Williams. Anais’ recorded work includes 2004’s Hymns for the Exiled (Waterbug Records) and an upcoming release in early 2007, The Brightness (Righteous Babe Records).

Michael Chorney is a much-revered figure in the Vermont jazz community, having led such ensembles as viperHouse, Orchid, Seven Deadly Sins, and his current band, Magic City. Michael has also acted as musical director for Middlebury College’s Dance Program, produced two of Anais Mitchell’s albums – Hymns for the Exiled (2004) and The Brightness (2007) – and released ten recordings of his own, including this year’s critically-acclaimed solo album Mother Tongue (2006).

Magic City consists of some of Vermont’s most virtuosic musicians: Michael Chorney (guitar), Rob Morse (bass), Geza Carr (drums), Andrew Moroz (trombone), Caleb Elder (viola), & Miriam Bernardo (voice). Magic City was conceived of as a tribute to the music of Sun Ra and has since evolved into one of Vermont’s most original, proficient, and spontaneously delightful performing bands. They have released two recordings: June Book (2005) and Alive At Nectars (2006).

Ben T. Matchstick is a five-year veteran of the Northeast Kingdom’s Bread & Puppet Circus who has gone on to spearhead various radical, long-lived, often improvisational theater projects and companies including The Insurrection Landscapers, Cardboard Teck Instantute, Mystery Fun Night, and the Last Lunar Vaudevillians. He is a deeply gifted actor and director whose fortes include puppetry, cantestoria, street theater and long-form improvisation.