André De Shields & Hadestown Original Broadway Company
Eva Noblezada, Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzales-Nacer & Kay Trinidad
Reeve Carney, Eva Noblezada, André De Shields, Afra Hines, Timothy Hughes, Kimberly Marable, John Krause & Ahmad Simmons
Reeve Carney, Eva Noblezada, Afra Hines, Timothy Hughes, John Krause, Ahmad Simmons & Kimberly Marable
Reeve Carney & André De Shields
Amber Gray, André De Shields, Reeve Carney & Hadestown Original Broadway Company
André De Shields
Eva Noblezada & Reeve Carney
Hadestown Original Broadway Company
André De Shields, Reeve Carney, Eva Noblezada, Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer & Kay Trinidad
Reeve Carney
Hadestown Original Broadway Company
Patrick Page & Eva Noblezada
André De Shields
Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer, Kay Trinidad & Eva Noblezada
Eva Noblezada, Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer & Kay Trinidad
André De Shields & Reeve Carney
André De Shields, Reeve Carney, Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer, Kay Trinidad, Timothy Hughes, Malcolm Armwood, Jessie Shelton, Kimberly Marable, Khaila Wilcoxon, Ahmad Simmons, Afra Hines, T. Oliver Reid & John Krause
Patrick Page & Hadestown Original Broadway Company
André De Shields
Amber Gray
André De Shields, Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer, Kay Trinidad, Eva Noblezada, Timothy Hughes, Malcolm Armwood, Jessie Shelton, Kimberly Marable, Khaila Wilcoxon, Ahmad Simmons, Afra Hines, T. Oliver Reid & John Krause
Eva Noblezada
Reeve Carney & Eva Noblezada
Patrick Page, Amber Gray, André De Shields, Eva Noblezada & Reeve Carney
Hadestown Original Broadway Band
Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer & Kay Trinidad
Reeve Carney, André De Shields, Afra Hines, Timothy Hughes, John Krause, Kimberly Marable & Ahmad Simmons
Amber Gray & Patrick Page
Hadestown Original Broadway Company
Reeve Carney & Hadestown Original Broadway Company
Hadestown Original Broadway Band
Eva Noblezada & Reeve Carney
Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer & Kay Trinidad
Patrick Page
André De Shields, Reeve Carney, Eva Noblezada, Afra Hines, Timothy Hughes, Kimberly Marable, John Krause & Ahmad Simmons
André De Shields & Hadestown Original Broadway Company
Reeve Carney, Eva Noblezada, Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer, Kay Trinidad, Afra Hines, John Krause, Kimberly Marable, Timothy Hughes & Ahmad Simmons
André De Shields & Hadestown Original Broadway Company
Amber Gray, Eva Noblezada & Hadestown Original Broadway Company
As the opening number to Hadestown, Hermes welcomes us to the world of the show and introduces all of the characters to us. “Road to Hell” was not on the original Hadestown studio album, but was written for the New York Theater Workshop version of the show and was originally the second song, after “...
[HERMES]
Mmm...
[Chorus]
Mmm...
[HERMES]
Mmhm...
[Chorus]
Mmhm...
[HERMES]
Chugga chugga chugga chugga
Chugga chugga chugga chugga
[HERMES and Chorus]
Chugga chugga chugga chugga
Chugga chugga chugga chugga
[HERMES]
Once upon a time there was a railroad line
Don't ask where, brother, don't ask when
It was the road to Hell, it was hard times
It was a world of gods...and men!
It's an old song
[Chorus]
It's an old song!
[HERMES]
It's an old tale from way back when
It's an old song
[Chorus]
It's an old song!
[HERMES]
And we're gonna sing it again
(spoken)
Gods and men, a'ight?
We got some gods in the house tonight!
(sung)
See, on the road to Hell there was a railroad line
And there were three old women all dressed the same
And they was always singin' in the back of your mind
Everybody meet the Fates!
(Applause, FATES bow)
[HERMES]
And on the road to Hell there was a railroad line
And a lady steppin' off a train
With a suitcase full of summertime
Persephone, by name!
(Applause, PERSEPHONE bows)
And if you ride that train
[Chorus]
Ride that train
[HERMES]
If you ride that train
[Chorus]
Ride that train
[HERMES]
If you ride that train to the end of the line
Where the sun don't shine and it's always shady
It's there you'll find the king of the mine
Almighty Mr. Hades!
(Applause, HADES bows)
[HERMES, spoken]
We got any other gods?
Oh, right, almost forgot...
(sung)
On the road to Hell there was a railroad station
And a man with feathers on his feet
Who could help you to your final destination
Mr. Hermes, that's me!
(Applause, HERMES bows)
[HERMES]
See, someone's got to tell the tale
Whether or not it turns out well
Maybe it will turn out this time
On the road to Hell
On the railroad line
It's a sad song
[Chorus]
It's a sad song!
[HERMES]
It's a sad tale, it's a tragedy
It's a sad song
[Chorus]
It's a sad song!
[HERMES]
We're gonna sing it anyway
(spoken)
Now, not everyone gets to be a god
And don't forget that times are hard
Hard times in the world of men
Let me introduce you to a few of them
You can tip your hats and your wallets
Brothers and sisters, boys and girls
To the hardest working Chorus
In the gods' almighty world!
(Applause, CHORUS bows)
[HERMES, spoken]
And workin' just as hard for you
Let's see what this crew can do!
(HERMES introduces the band. Band break.)
[HERMES]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
(COMPANY applauds)
[HERMES]
A'ight!
A'ight!
On the road to Hell there was a railroad line
And a poor boy workin' on a song
[ORPHEUS]
La la la la la la...
[HERMES]
His mama was a friend of mine
And this boy was a muse's son
On the railroad line on the road to Hell
You might say the boy was touched
[ORPHEUS]
La la la la la la...
[HERMES]
Cause he was touched by the gods themselves!
Give it up for Orpheus!
(Applause, ORPHEUS misses the cue)
[HERMES]
Orpheus!
(ORPHEUS bows)
[HERMES]
There was one more soul on this road
Girl, come on in from the cold!
On the railroad line on the road to Hell
There was a young girl looking for something to eat!
And brother, thus begins the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice!
(Applause)
It's a love song
[Chorus]
It's a love song!
[HERMES]
It's a tale of a love from long ago
It's a sad song
[Chorus]
It's a sad song!
[HERMES]
But we're gonna sing it even so
It's an old song
[Chorus]
It's an old song!
[HERMES]
It's an old tale from way back when
And we're gonna sing
[HERMES and Chorus]
We're gonna sing
We're gonna sing it again!
[HERMES]
Again!
Again!
Road to Hell was written by Anaïs Mitchell.
Road to Hell was produced by Todd Sickafoose & David Lai & Anaïs Mitchell.
André De Shields & Hadestown Original Broadway Company released Road to Hell on Fri Jul 12 2019.