Hadestown is heading to Melbourne in May after a smash hit premiere run in Sydney. The Scoop sat down with Australian performing legend Christine Anu, who is playing Hermes. Christine talks all things Hadestown including preparing for the role and the show’s emotional impact. Read the full interview below.
First of all, I just want to say thank you so much. I saw Hadestown on opening night in Sydney, and I was unbelievably moved by it and by your performance. It’s such a demanding show and requires everyone on stage to be so raw, so vulnerable. That must cost you something every night, so thank you so much for sharing that with us.
Oh, wow. Thank you. And the fact that you recognise that and acknowledge that, I am so yours. I’m all yours. Thank you, Caitlin.
I wanted to talk about the first moment in the show. The cast assembles on stage, and then you walk out and command that room. I swear everyone in the audience held their breath, waiting for you to sing. Could you tell me what that feeling is like, the moment before you just throw yourself over the edge of the show?
The tension in the silence is palpable, and all eyes are on me, and I’m just hoping that I don’t fart at the most inappropriate moment.
(We both laugh).
No, I’m joking. No, seriously, it’s that real. It’s like the calm before the storm, and in a good way. The sense of like I’m about to tell you this story, and once it’s out of the gate, it’s running, and it’s running with emotion and excitement and anticipation and all of those things all bundled together.
I’ve got this honour and privilege to be cast in a role, to tell it, I know I’ve got this amazing responsibility. It just feels amazing because it’s at the top of the show, and the end of the show that makes you realise, oh my God, now I understand what happens. The storylines are just so beautifully tied up. There are no loose ends. Every moment and everything that happens is so well-rounded. And you’re not left asking the question of why. Everything is delivered and solved in that moment, and then you move on.
Hermes in a word, without making it sound pessimistic, is in this perpetuity, in this moment of forever hope. And that hope is a symbol, you know, always hoping that he will never turn around. It’s hinged on that. Hermes is in this purgatory there, just waiting for that one time Orpheus doesn’t turn around.
I’m so glad you brought this up because I wanted to ask you about Hermes. What was your way into the role? When was the moment that you started to crack who your version of Hermes was going to be?
Probably at the audition when I just went, oh my God, I have to get this role. I have to get it. In fact, you know, I knew how I wanted to do Hermes from the moment I got to sing ‘Road to Hell.’ The first thing I asked was, am I speaking as me, in my Australian accent? And I got neither a yes nor a no.
So I’ve got a sheet of music that I can’t read, a bit of track that I’ve never heard before, of a well-versed soundtrack that’s won a Grammy Award, as my reference. My references were all the American accents at this point. So, although I asked that question, I sort of still did perform in the American accent. But it was just asking for something different.
I kept on saying, we’re in Australia, and all the Hermes have been who they are in their home. I can’t not do Christine, you know? And honour our Australian version with that Hermes sound. The same way that Hermes, we thought, was masculine. I know Hermes from mythology to be male. And then all of a sudden I’m asking, so are you guys just poking fun at me today? Is this really a man’s role? You just don’t know what you want me to do, so you just come in and see.
(We both laugh again)
But no. Hermes is actually nondescript. Hermes is male or female. That box is absolutely ticked with Iosefa Laga’aia as my understudy in that role. So there is a male version in our cast as well. In the awful event that I’d have to take a show off. Isn’t that wonderful though?
I have been waiting for theatre to bring me something like this for my entire career. The last roles I played were Bloody Mary (South Pacific), and Teen Angel (Grease). There’s not a lot of roles I’ve been able to go for because I’m not your traditional musical theatre voice. So when you’re casting and I’m going for that part, then you know that it’s going to be a particular type of sound.
I sort of urged the heavens above me and asked the guardian angels, please, let this role be mine, I want to immerse myself in it. I think that this role is as much about the acting as it is about the singing as it is about the movement. It’s got everything that I’m designed for, that I have cultured inside of myself for so long. At the same time, I had such a great audition. I just thanked everybody for making it such a safe place to be myself in.
I wanted to ask you about the music in the show because it’s like nothing I’ve ever heard before. It has this beautiful healing quality to it. The music of Hadestown means so much to so many. Could you tell me what the impact of this music, and music in general, has been on your life?
My mum, God bless her soul, she reckons that there’s a song that used to come on the radio. And every time it came on her cousins and her sisters would go and turn the radio up. Just this particular song on the radio just to see my reaction. Apparently, it would make me cry. I’ve spoken to lots of singers with children who say that whether they were making an album or rehearsing for a tour, there’d be certain songs, notes that mum would hit, and it would just pull on some heartstrings.
I bring that story as an example, because it’s the very thing that happens with the music in this show. There must be some beautiful chordal frequencies that really tug at our heartstrings. And I really, really, properly mean that, because you might not necessarily understand what’s happening yet in the story, but the music has gone inside of your soul and it’s captured you instantly. Once you’re there, it strikes this chord of emotion and when that happens, the story starts to click and you’re off and running. You’re with it. You’re standing alongside everybody on that stage, waiting to see what comes next.
And it’s not all doom and gloom. I mean, there are some beautifully comical moments in the show. That’s what I mean by well-rounded. It’s got everything in its storytelling capacity. It’s what a good story should have. It should hit every note like that, and it’s so beautiful. It’s such a privilege, and it’s such an honour to be the person who helps tell that story from the beginning to the end.
That’s beautiful. I’m so glad. We are all so glad that it was such a moment of pride, because you’re obviously an Australian icon. So it was a joy to see you on that stage. Thank you. I have one more question. What advice do you have for a young aspiring performer who wants to get into your line of work?
Wow, okay, get a haircut and get a real job. No, seriously I think the fortunate thing about jumping into the mould in Australia is that we are forced to be everything that we can be. We need to be an ensemble, or be a cover, we have to be multiversed in this industry. You can’t stick to one thing and be really good at that.
But also this show proves that, and I’m so jealous of them, you’ve got the Fates who can play instruments as well as act and dance in it, and have these kick ass vocals. I would say, explore everything that you are capable of doing. Go into this industry without any fear, but also have a lot of it, because that is where you will grow the most.
Hadestown runs in Melbourne from 8 May at Her Majesty’s Theatre, 219 Exhibition Street Melbourne.
Tickets: https://hadestown.com.au/tickets/melbourne/
Website: https://hadestown.com.au/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/hadestownau/
Photo credits: Lisa Tomasetti
