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Myths And Hymns review



Complete denial of worldly needs resulted in a strong confrontation between the two generations of the same family. If the parents were happy with quite ordinary life, their children wanted for something more. The turning point in the relationship between father and son occurred at a time when the man realized homosexuality of his child. Because it was considered a sin, the patriarch of the family decided to renounce his boy. His religious feeling took over his father's. But when the young man died because of AIDS, father bitterly regretted about his decision. Only after losing a beloved one, he realized that everyone could live own life, no matter how strange it seemed to people around.

Man slightly outlived his son. Remained almost in the same time without children and without a husband, a woman could not live with it. Her daughter also suffered the loss. She unsuccessfully tried to fill the appeared void with new love relationship, but they brought her only suffering. When the family's financial situation deteriorated, the house was put up for sell. But the widow refused to leave it, being perseverant in her denial.

The author has written Song of Icarus in 1987. It was the first product of the future collection, on the basis of which the final musical has been formed. Inspired by Greek mythology, Adam Guettel continued to create a cycle of music compositions on the subject. In 1993, the author purchased in a secondhand bookshop hymnal of the XIX century, which contained a religious hymns. This book became the impetus for the creations by the composer – he wrote new songs based on the theme of faith in Lord. When Adam showed two cycles of works to Tina Landau, she proposed to combine them into a coherent whole thing. So a spectacular was built-up, which has been created on the songs written based on Greek myths and biblical themes. He was named ‘Saturn Returns’. Name of the product is directly related to the age of the author. Planet Saturn revolves around the sun once in 29 years. Approaching the 30-year milestone, Adam was trying to figure out whether he was able at that time to create something significant in his life or not.

During the re-working, Lucas moved away from the interpretation of musical, as the search for faith in God with the help of songs. She began to consider it as life of the religious family. Parents and children are shown by director impersonally. Elizabeth paid great attention to the compositions, but now the story line clearly runs throughout all work. The complex relationship arising between a father and a faithless child have become the main theme of the production. Production received another name.

The musical features a sophisticated lighting and color design of the scene developed by H. Goldman. Original costumes by E. M. DeAngelis, helped each participant to realize in the performance as accurately as possible the image of own hero. Unusual choreography by W. Seyb allows the actors to express feeling through movements. Special attention deserves the orchestral group composed of pianist K. Stanislavskaya, violinist A. Waddell, bassist A. Terry, drummer J. Mack, guitarist J. Russ & cellist A. Seidner. Thanks to the masterful performance of the musical, it completely immerses the viewer into the world of images & fantasies of Adam Guettel.
Last Update:May, 16th 2016

Myths And Hymns Lyrics

  1. Children Of The Heavenly King
  2. At The Sounding
  3. Saturn Returns
  4. Icarus
  5. Migratory V
  6. Pegasus
  7. Link
  8. Hero And Leander
  9. Sisyphus
  10. Come To Jesus
  11. How Can I Lose You?
  12. There's A Shout
  13. Awaiting You
  14. The Great Highway
  15. There's A Land
  16. Saturn Returns (Reprise)

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