Show the Way the World Could Be - Hadestown and the World We Live In
On the day Charlie Kirk was shot, I was seeing Hadestown on Broadway.
It's my favorite musical at the moment for the times we're living in. The musical retells the story of Orpheus and Euridece in more modern times. Hades is an industrialist dictator, bent on war and control. He owns all that resides under the ground, oil, coal, gems, gold, and all the souls of the city, Hadestown. All the souls work to build the wall surrounding the town, forgetting who they are in the process.
If you hear only one song from the entire show, you should listen to "Why We Build the Wall," essentially the closing of the first act, where Hades declares the philosophy which rules Hadestown.
"What do we have that they should want?
We have a wall to work upon
We have work and they have none
And our work is never done!
And the war is never won!
The enemy is poverty
And the wall keeps out the enemy
And we build the wall to keep us free
That's why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free."
This sounds so reminicent of Trump's initial campaign, but it has been part of the show since it's first tour in Vermont in 2006.
After I got out of the show, I checked social media to see Charlie Kirk rhetoric all over my timeline. It felt like I had never left the theater in a sense. The day after the shooting while the memes, and vitriol were circulating, I posted again for Yazan, a friend in Gaza who is trying to help save his family (link at the end of this). I didn't want to be another person posting about who Kirk was, there's enough of that. I want to give my attention and time to the people who want better for the world, instead of fostering hate for profit and power.
A lot of my attention has been given to my friends doing the real work these days. I feel like the emotional buildup of the entire album is worth it and you should listen to the whole thing, but if you were going to listen to just one more song, you should listen to the number at the height of the second act: "If it’s true?"
Hades has just told Orpheus that Eurydice can't leave with him. Orpheus laments, questioning if the world really can be so callous. "To be beaten and betrayed and then be told that nothing changes. It will always be like this?"
The worker's lines in this song as they listen to Orpheus:
"If it's true what they say
What's the purpose of a man
Just to turn his back on everyone
And throw up both his hands?
What's he use of his backbone
If he never stands upright?
If he turns his hands on everyone
That he could have stood beside?"
As he sings and the workers join him, his cry of anguish turns into a soapbox speech:
"I believe that we are many
I believe that they are few
And it isn't for the few to tell the many what is true!"
I get chills and cry at this song no matter how many times I hear it (and I listen to the soundtrack a lot).
How Charlie Kirk died could be forshadowing for our future, and it is a future that he helped create. Charlie Kirk did unfathomable damage to young minds, the collective psyche, the long-term stability, and safety in this country.
It's easier to assume we're all doomed to walk this dark road we appear to be on, because the walls seem to high, the tyrants to powerful, the beautiful world we want to live in too far away. The hard road is one of hope. But, like Orpheus, I believe if there is a will, then there is still a way.
I want to create a different future. I want to make a world where assassinations are not a regular occurace because we all value human life. It takes imagination to make that happen.
The musical, following the Greek myth, ends tragically. Hades sets terms to test Orpheus. Orpheus and Eurydice can leave, but Orpheus must walk in front, and Eurydice behind, and if Orpheus looks behind to make sure she's there, Euryice will be sent back to Hadestown.
“Show the way the world can be.
If you can do it, so can she.
If she can do it, so can we.”
I have the official sticker from the show on my mandolin case, currently. Show the way the world can be. People listen to people who show courage. Most of the people I know doing the most good right now are acting because people before them taught them and inspired them to be better. While Orpheus himself failed in his final mission, he proved that it was possible to crack the wall, soften the iron heart of a tyrant, and make steps to put the world back into tune.
None of us are different than that. We all have the potential to be eachother's heroes and saviors. Each bit of strength and courage that you display, even if it's small, will be magnified by the people around you who see.
In the end, the doubt in his head is too much, and he looks behind to see Eurydice, dooming her for life to work in Hadestown forever.
This feels like a common theme in the world of activism. Protests that end in arrests, trees clearcut, Cop Cities built. But studies* have shown that the environmental protests of the past few decades have increased public awarwness on environmental issues.
The show ends with a reprisal of the opening number, the chorus declaring they'll keep singing it again and again. Those that are fighting for good can't fail because in the end, everyone wants a world where themselves and their loved ones can live in peace, and there will be people who fight for good in a hard world.
Sure, there will be failures. It's a sad song. It's an old tale. It's a tragedy. Even still though, it's worth it to keep singing these songs of hope again and again and again.
Maybe it will turn out this time.
Yazan has fled to south Gaza with his family. Conditions are harsh, and they need help with supplies.
My friend set up a fundraiser here:
https://chuffed.org/project/help-provide-necessities-for-yazan-and-his-family
She talks to him daily and gets updates for him. This fundraiser is making a difference.
* https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-024-01444-1