Reeve Carney & Eva Noblezada Talk Returning to Orpheus, Eurydice, and Hadestown: The Musical [INTERVIEW]

While Hadestown: The Musical features five outstanding performances, the two that anchor the entire production are those of Reeve Carney and Eva Noblezada. The actors portray the ill-fated figures of legend, Orpheus and Eurydice. As the two actors fall deeper and deeper into the underworld, the love shared by their characters becomes the central tension of the story. Carney and Noblezada sat down with FandomWire to discuss the filming process, returning to characters they played almost a decade ago, and how pro shots can become cinematic in the right hands.

Interview with Reeve Carney & Eva Noblezada 

FandomWire: Eva and Reeve, for speaking with me about this awesome musical. I’ve loved Hadestown since they released the original cast recording, and not living in New York, I never saw it. So thank you for coming back to the roles.

Reeve Carney: Thank you for saying that.

Eva Noblezada: We’re grateful that we got asked to come back.

FandomWire: What did it mean to you to come back to the roles after going and having all the other success since the show?

Eva Noblezada: It was really special. I think we definitely lived a lot of life before coming back into the roles, and the best part was coming back with the five. When we started on Broadway, we left at different times, so we didn’t really get the closure that we really deserved. This experience was like a celebration and closure all at once. It really tied everything together. And to film it in London, which is where we had our first production at the National Theater, was like coming home.

Reeve Carney: Yeah, and this show is so important to us. Having the opportunity for a second chance altogether, the stakes of that was not lost on us. What a unique opportunity to actually achieve this. I think that lit a little bit of a fire under all of us as well. Just going all right, and they’re gonna film it, we gotta…

Eva Noblezada: Make it count.f

Reeve Carney: Yeah.

FandomWire: Reeve, I first learned who you were on Penny Dreadful, and then I went back and found out about all your musical experience. How did this compare to when you filmed Rocky Horror?

Reeve Carney: Very different. Kenny Ortega is brilliant too. That was more like a film. That’s the crazy thing about Hadestown: The Musical, the film. Even though we only had three filmed performances: Friday night, Saturday matinee, Saturday evening. We had three days of pickup. Four- or five-hour days for certain things they couldn’t do with an audience. The cameras were on stage, moving.

The fact that this looks like a cinematic piece and an actual film is just a testament to the creative team that planned this. Because not only did we only have three chances really in live performance to do it. Every camera angle you see in Hadestown the film is the only time we got that chance. They had four to six cameras at any given time. But each performance, they moved the camera to a completely different part of the house. So we only had that one shot each time.

They were like, “We’re doing this tonight. We’re doing that tomorrow night. We’re adding more fog tonight. We’re dimming the lights tonight to do this.” Like in “Doubt Comes In,” I think is one of the things. They were able to achieve some of the things with lighting and with contrast between black and the brightest lights because of the way they planned this.

FandomWire: Eva, I was thinking about the song “Flowers,” which has always spoken to me. It’s an incredibly emotional, intimate piece, and the camera allows you to really show that more. Tell me how you played to the camera or how it affected your performance.

Eva Noblezada: Throughout my years of being an actor and understanding how I can better my craft, I realized that I had to develop different parts of me. I’m the actor, but I also have to be a director. Am I is my truthtelling obvious if I were to astral project my body into the mezzanine? Is this intimate moment being communicated to my standards from any point in the house?

In that way, that POV is kind of like a camera picking it up. I was always doing something that could have been picked up by a camera. So when the cameras were there, like Reeve was saying before, the cameras were a security blanket for us. It allowed us to be in the moment because we knew it was going to capture everything. It wasn’t going to go divert its attention if something else was happening. It was going to sit with you.

It allowed me to be in my body, and it allowed me not to worry about whether I was hitting a point at the back of the house. But there’s something about being on camera that time feels different when they say action. There’s a different magic in the air versus when you go on stage, it’s all live anyway. That’s our forte. But the camera keeps saying it’s objective and it picks up all the snot, all the snarls, all the despair. I’m so thankful for that because we put a lot of work on stage, put in a lot of work to make it as truthful as possible.

Reeve Carney: And “Flowers” is one of the most brilliant moments in the show and in film because it’s a filmmaking moment. Like, I don’t know if you’ve seen Birdman, but it’s the only shot. This is the only shot in the film that is a continuous one-shot. There are no edits in the entirety of “Flowers,” and that’s a testament to what Eva is capable of doing.

Eva Noblezada: Which is brilliant because the camera, it adds… not a forced perspective… but it encourages you to look at the vastness of Hadestown. And then helps me as the actor in the moment. The audience goes, “Wow, she really is all alone. She really is miles, miles, miles, miles down below any actual reality. When the realization hits her, you feel the echo of the space because of how it’s framed in the cameras.

Reeve Carney: And that was one of Rachel’s first planned shots. She told us that that was one of the most important shots for her in the film.

FandomWire: You definitely read that as it comes across. The other big thing, as you were mentioning about the intimacy and all the physicality, is the choreography. The “Wait for Me” scene towards the end of Act One is so far more physical than I expected. Reeve, tell me about actually getting that captured on film.

Reeve Carney: Yeah, watching it back for the first time. I don’t know if this is how it looked in the house. It was my first time really experiencing and going, “Oh wow, yeah, Orpheus-he actually is literally going through hell.” It’s such a poetic piece. I mean, we’re in a bar that then opens up into Hadestown.

When we were filming it, they said, “Just so you know, during the filming, the lights are gonna be dimmed to 60% and it’s gonna look and feel a little different to you.” And it did, but in a great way. That’s what allowed them to play with light in these ways that really adds to storytelling. I mean, and the physicality. Yeah, I guess I just always went for that way.

FandomWire: Eva, the last question is for you. You have so much incredible chemistry, obviously with Reeve, but also with Amber. You have so many nonverbal moments where you guys acknowledge something going on across the stage. Tell me about how you built that chemistry to make the communication so clear without even needing words.

Eva Noblezada: Thank you for saying that. I’m obsessed with Amber. She’s my blood sister. We’ve definitely shared a womb in some lifetime. She’s one of my favorite people. I learned so much from Amber because she has been a part of this production longer, way longer than I have. Literally, she’s probably been the first one.

For Eurydice, there needs to be an obvious “Wow, that’s a goddess! That’s not a human” reaction. I’m glad that comes across because Eurydice is really in Persephone’s territory when she goes to Hadestown. But also when Persephone’s talking to her and looks at her. If a goddess looks at you and decides she wants to talk to you, that’s like, “Wow. Am I even worthy? I’ll do whatever you need. Let me hold your flask. I’ll dance.”

Amber and I think we want to tell the truth. We also really appreciate the contrast between our characters for the depth of what enlightenment is to each of our characters. For me, my enlightenment is Orpheus. To her, enlightenment is the love of Hades, which has become her love of life and growth and vitality and the sun. Those moments are important because they answer questions that you didn’t even realize you had in the moment. Who knows what happens behind the closed doors with Hades and Eurydice. A lot of people have their own answer. For Eurydice, that’s just an important moment for her of looking at Persephone and going, “I don’t know what’s gonna happen.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Hadestown: The Musical is in theaters now for a short theatrical engagement. Bleecker Street distributes.