As someone who has ONLY seen Jack Wolfe’s Orpheus (and only listened to the OBC album) I think the reason my current favorite song is “If It’s True” because Jack just looks so MAD at the way the world is. He LAUGHS at the absurdity of it all.
He laughs, exasperated at the unfairness he sings about. Even his version of Epic II was fueled by the anger at the gods and the harm they create through their interpersonal issues. It’s as if, now that he’s lost his belief in what the world could be, he’s furious at how the world is.
Other’s have mentioned Jack portrays Orpheus as if he’a aware of the cycle, that he’s done this before, and what the outcome will be and I agree (to the extent I have no comparison). As a newbie to Hadestown, he really embodies the disbelief at the injustice of the world, both in the show and in the real world. Like it’s less about the cycle and more about the situation if that makes sense. It’s less of a “oh no I have to suffer again this is bullshit” and more “oh my gods i can’t believe how broken this place is.”
What I’m trying to say in a round about way is it’s cathartic to see him so frustratingly flabbergasted at how evil and awful the world can be, and gods know there’s a lot of real life material that can be drawn upon to feed his performance.
