Hadestown: Orpheus
I figured out why Reeve Carney and Damon Daunno are both great choices to play Orpheus.
Damon provides the ethereal voice that is light and effortless, like a spring breeze. He seems almost artificial (because the notes are so perfect) in how clear his voice is and almost untouchable (in a good way), like he’s in his own world. His singing is like walking early in the morning as the sun is just coming through the trees and the grass still has dew. He’s like the intro to your favorite movie where you know that it isn’t a real story (or even if it is, you know that some of it might be embellished), you can feel yourself being drawn in as the music begins.
Reeve provides a different vocal approach which sounds much more human and the notes during the second “la la la la la la la” in the chorus seem like they’re being stretched, almost like he’s vocally doing the reaching that his character is metaphorically doing. Grasping for something that is just out of reach. It’s more yearning and sounds almost like pleading/mourning. His voice when he sings the refrain is like standing on a mountain/hill and looking in any direction but only seeing more and more landscape where it looks like the world never ends and due to its vast beauty, the only thing you can do is just appreciate it. It feels like hearing a story told so well that you feel like the storyteller was actually there because you can *feel* the emotion but they couldn’t have *possibly* been present in the story they’re telling... or were they?
