“There are no new stories,” they tell us. It’s all just retelling of a few primal narrative arcs.
And that’s probably true – look at the newest Best Musical Tony Award Winner – a retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice. What could be less new than a Greek myth? The details are reinvented but it is faithful to the spirit of the tale, down to a truly tragic ending – the kind of ending that the Greeks were far more comfortable with than we are.
But it’s also not true that there’s nothing new to say – things are always new. Every time I think all the good ideas have been used up, something new knocks me back. Hadestown, this year. Before that, Hamilton. Always new and stirring.
Here’s the portion of Hadestown they presented during the Tony Awards telecast. I found it to be captivating and thrilling.