☆°distant dreamer°☆

the entire Doubt Comes In sequence, they did such a great job at portraying Orpheus' feelings of despair and fear of being alone. Reeve killed me with his devastating delivery of "it's you"

the low-angle shot from Wait for Me. I've always lamented how recordings don't quite capture the incredible stage set up of the walls opening up after Orpheus sings his refrain, but that shot did it perfectly

the shot from the lift as it lowers and we see the ensemble looking down at us. Absolute cinema

the end of Chant when Hades sets sights on Eurydice

the perspective switch from Hades to Persephone when they sing How Long?

the focus on the workers in Epic III when they're taking their hats off

honestly any time they showed the characters at the back of the main focus, like when Orpheus sings Epic III and Persephone steps in to stop Hades from disturbing his singing

Small details you don't get to see from afar, like Hades and Persephone playing dominoes on the balcony and their worsening relationship as she prepares for summertime, or Hermes blowing out Eurydice's candle with an oblivious Orpheus at the background

The shots of the audience throughout the show, especially the cups being raised

other thoughs:

I was a bit sad last year when they announced that the Fates for the recording would be West End cast instead of the OG Broadway like the main 5, but damn they really blew me away. Such an incredible job with the harmonies

André De Shields is still giving his all despite being the oldest cast member at 80 years old. He sounds just like the studio recording!

I heard that Eva Noblezada chose to opt down for some of her songs (understandable choice), but the belting wasn't even missed with her delivery of her lines. I kept tearing up any time her voice hitched. She'll always be my favourite Eurydice, her performance of Flowers is one of my highlights

Also, I hadn't actually realized just how long she spends crawling on the floor throughout the show lol

Amber Gray's Persephone is a generational performance holy shit. I'm so very glad that she forgot about on-camera acting vs stage acting and went all out with her expressions. The "Hades, you let them go" face is burned into my retinas. My little sister's favourite song was Our Lady of the Underground for a reason.

How the actors' relationships in real-life shined through during the entire show. Hermes kissing Eurydice's head right at the beginning, Orpheus and Eurydice having such chemistry and her little kisses to his arm whenever they were holding each other(I forgot to tell my older sister that the actors are married beforehand, she said "no wonder they looked so into each other" after lol), Hades and Persephone staring at each other and saying so much even when no words were spoken...the dance, them holding hands until the very last second and Hades being the first to let go during Wait for Me (Reprise)...😭

Patrick Page. 100/10 no notes. I can't tell if he was actually murmuring something at the end of Epic III or if he was just preparing to sing the refrain, but whatever it was- excellent choice. His injury and the boot did nothing to take away from his performances, he made it seem like it was part of the character all along (my older sister said she only realized it was probably real during the dance, since it looked like they modified the choreography in parts where you would expect him to lift Persephone up lol). "And doubt comes, doubt comes in" said with the face of a man who has lived through this before

The Hades/Eurydice thing is a central part of the plot, but the way they shot the scenes really made the Persephone/Orpheus thing become more obvious

The details in the script and costuming (this is a more general point since they're part of the play and not exclusive to the pro-shot, but I love talking about them <3) These are the ones I pointed out to my sister who didn't know the show beforehand:

- Eurydice placing the coins over her eyes (this is one of my favourite stage directions, it symbolizes the old tradition where you put coins over the eyelids of the deceased both to keep them closed and to pay the toll to Charon to ferry the soul across the River Styx).

- The feather in her hair because she's the "songbird", her snake ring as a nod to her death in the myth. Here Hades is the "rattlesnake" that seals her fate

- Also, her candle is a hurricane candle

- Hermes' pin of a pair of feathered wings

- Hades' cane has the head of a dog in reference to Cerberus

- Orpheus' red bandana which is, of course, a reference to the original "rednecks" who were miners fighting to unionize in the 20th century

- "Kinda makes you wonder how it feels" and Orpheus jumping in to keep Eurydice away from Hades' eyes

- "What he doesn't know is that what he's defending is already gone" and Hades turns to look at Persephone