Episode Details

Erin McGuire:
It's unusual for a high school to be able to do a show that is still on Broadway. It is really unusual to get two in the same year.

Anthony Godfrey:
You said that this particular production is stretching you and you're doing things that you had done before.

Erin McGuire:
We have 80 students who are involved in this. There are no scenes that are just dialogue.

Anthony Godfrey:
Have you done shows with a trap door like that before?

Clin Eaton:
No, never.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is a Broadway hit winning eight Tony Awards and garnering rave reviews. Now the critically acclaimed musical Hadestown is about to be performed at Riverton High School.

On this episode of the Supercast, find out how Riverton High was awarded the rights to Hadestown and is among the first high schools in the country to perform the play, which is still running on Broadway. It is a student performance worthy of a standing ovation, thanks in part to the two people you're about to meet, musical directors Erin McGuire and Clin Eaton.

For those who are listening who aren’t familiar with the story, tell us what Hadestown is about.

Erin McGuire:
It is the way the way the writer put it together is an intertwining of the two Greek mythology stories with Persephone and Hades and Orpheus and Eurydice. So Orpheus and Eurydice fall in love. She's actually killed by a snake that may or may not be Hades, has to go down to hell. And then Orpheus, her love, comes and finds her, tries to take her back, and she can walk behind him but not next to him on the way out of hell. If he turns around and looks at her, she goes back down and he can't get her again.

And then with Hades and Persephone, she is the daughter of the goddess of the harvest and she loves being outside and loves nature, but she also fell in love with Hades. So to make a deal to make them both happy, she spends six months with him and Hades and six months up on earth. So it's how those two stories in the author's mind twist them together as these two beginning of love and middle of love love stories. It's gorgeous.

Anthony Godfrey:
Talk about the setting for the story.

Erin McGuire:
We have two basic settings, above ground and below ground. So we have our performers at the beginning of the show, and it's kind of in a pub, a bar, New Orleans, it's kind of a place. And then when we deal with people who are living down in Hades, it goes below ground. And so as you can see on the set here, it doesn't really change a whole lot. We do a lot with lighting, and we have fantastic lighting students who are doing some great things with it. And we dress it that way, but it all just happens right here.

Anthony Godfrey:
I see a rock and roll set up there. Talk to people about how that comes into play.

Erin McGuire:
Yes. Okay, we had the option of either using tracks that are pre-recorded or a live band, and we were lucky enough to be able to get live bands. So we have people from all over, a former student of mine from way long ago, a couple of teachers here in the district.

Clin Eaton:
We have three Jordan School District faculty members.

Erin McGuire:
Yes.

Clin Eaton:
We have Eric Noyes from South Hills Middle