by Abigail Hrabar
The Saenger Theatre has long been a large part of Pensacola’s arts and culture. Standing in the heart of Downtown Pensacola since 1925, the theatre recently celebrated its 100-year anniversary. To commemorate it, they hosted a grand reopening ceremony with a ribbon cutting and cake on April 4. On top of this, the Saenger hosted two free showings of the Phantom of the Opera silent film, one of the firm films to be shown back when it first opened in the 1920’s.
Today, the Saenger boasts an average of 110 shows a year, many of which are famous musicians, talented comedians, and popular Broadway shows. In late March, the Saenger hosted two nights of Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell, a popular musical first performed on Broadway in 2019. Since then, it has amassed a huge fan base, earning high praise and awards from fans and critics alike. In fact, within just the first two years after its Broadway debut it received 14 Tony nominations, winning eight in 2019, including Best Musical and Best Original Score, and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in 2020.
One of my greatest passions has always been theatre. So, in 2020, the height of the boredom of lockdown, I found myself further immersed in the world of musicals. Through this time, I discovered Hadestown. It meshed many of my favourite things together, including Greek mythology, folk and blues music, and theatre. As such, I was incredibly excited to hear about the coming of Hadestown’s touring company to our very own Pensacola Saenger Theatre.
The theatre was buzzing with excitement as it neared time for the cast to come out and begin the musical. When they finally did appear from behind the curtains, the audience was loud and enlivened. Jumping out from behind the curtains came the whole cast as they danced along to jazz music provided by the band which was visible but seated in a near semicircle around the background of the set.
They then opened the musical singing “Road to Hell,” introducing the audience to the world they were now immersed in and bringing further excitement with the upbeat rhythm. Starting at around 7:30, it ended nearly two and a half hours later at 10. As the cast took their bows, the audience stood up all together cheering loudly for the actors and the production.
Hadestown is not only an incredibly written and produced musical, but it also touches on many topics relevant to our society today. On top of this, its choice to show at the Saenger further indicates how wonderfully the Saenger has grown throughout its 100 years of history to welcome talented artists and huge productions alike.