The Art of "Hadestown"

Yesterday we saw the musical "Hadestown" at the Walter Kerr Theatre in NYC.  I was simply blown away by the words, the emotions, the symbolism--the sheer power--of the performance.  I had heard and purchased the Anais Mitchell album a couple of years ago, well before I learned it would be performed first off, and then on, Broadway.  The album features Mitchell as Eurydice, Ani DiFranco as Persphone, Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver) as Orpheus, Greg Brown as Hades, and Ben Knox Miller as Hermes.  Every song packs a punch, not least of which is "Why Do We Build The Wall?"  The song is so timely that Mitchell could easily have written it about the contemporary controversy over the ill-considered and awful well that the current president is obsessed over (she did not).  Some of the words are below.  They make me shiver.

"Why do we build the wall?
My children, my children
Why do we build the wall?

We build the wall to keep us free
That's why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free

How does the wall keep us free?
The wall keeps out the enemy
And we build the wall to keep us free
That's why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free

Who do we call the enemy?
My children, my children
Who do we call the enemy?

Who do we call the enemy?
The enemy is poverty
And the wall keeps out the enemy
And we build the wall to keep us free
That? s why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free

Because we have and they have not!
My children, my children
Because they want what we have got!

Because we have and they have not!
Because they want what we have got!
The enemy is poverty
And the wall keeps out the enemy
And we build the wall to keep us free
That? s why we build the wall
We build the wall to keep us free
...