This is the story of Orpheus and Eurydice as told in Anaïs Mitchell's album "Hadestown" and stage adaptation.
In depression era New Orleans, young Orpheus and Eurydice fall in love but Eurydice dreams of a better life than the poverty she grew up i...
A/N Two things I'm obsessed with right now are Rick Riordan's Heroes of Olympus series and the musical Hadestown, based on the concept album by Anaïs Mitchell. Judging by the jazz and blues score of the music and the details provided by the lyrics, Hadestown takes place in New Orleans in the 20s-30s. There's a character named Hazel in Heroes of Olympus who was born in 1928 and spent the first thirteen years of her life in New Orleans in the 1930s and 40s, so I'm going to add some details from Hazel's backstory to my story. Another story which takes in this time and place is the Disney film The Princess and the Frog. I'm also going to add some story elements from that movie as well.
The sunrise turned the sky over New Orleans to red gold and the balmy early morning air smelled of the fresh-cut magnolias and roses which were used to decorate Mardi Gras floats. Jazz bands practiced and children, weighed down by colorful beaded necklaces, laughed and chased each other.
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Eurydice hopped off the streetcar which had taken her through the French Quarter and made her way towards Hestia's Cafe. Three old women sitting in wrought iron balcony glared down contemptuously at the people down below them. They were indistinguishable in appearance and were dressed almost the same: old velvet and lace dresses in shades of black and grey and elaborately braided hair.
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One of them held balls of yarn. Another was knitting a pair of yellow socks. The third held a large pair of scissors. They were also sitting in the balcony whenever Eurydice passed by that building, always working on a pair of yellow socks.
A strange looking character approached Eurydice. He was old and pot-bellied with a thick graying beard and brown, wrinkled skin like the shell of a nut. His threadbare suit was patched up with pieces of colorful fabric and he wore a daisy in his buttonhole. Judging by his appearance, he was a hobo who had come into town looking for work.
