Hadestown at Orpheum Theatre
Welcome to Hadestown! The dramatic retelling of two Greek tragedies, the fateful love Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of the rulers of the underworld, King Hades and his wife Persephone. Come on a hell-raising journey down into the underworld and back. Anaïs Mitchell’s beguiling melodies and Rachel Chavkin’s poetic imagination pit industry against nature, doubt against faith, and fear against love.
“SUMPTUOUS. GORGEOUS. AS GOOD AS IT GETS. You wish you could live in the glowy moment forever.” – The New York Times
“Hadestown feels like something more intuitive, elemental, and finely woven than a traditional musical.” – The Guardian
“Good luck trying to get these melodies out of your head.” – The Star-Ledger
Dear viewers, the story of Hadestown is based on the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice, and as you may well know, these never, ever, end happily ever after…
Our show opens with the great storyteller of the ages, Hermes, the messenger of the gods and our guide as we follow this sad love story. The main characters, Orpheus, a passionate and talented young musician, and his lover, Eurydice, an independent and resilient young woman. The two live on the surface of ravaged world, the end of everything has come and resources are scarce. Eurydice accepts an invitation from Hades, to go and work in his factory in the underworld, the last surviving enclave of humanity left, but unknown to her, the contract is not without a price.
And now, our young dreamer, forced to become the hero, Orpheus, must journey down into the bowels of the earth, to save his love from a lifetime of torment. Orpheus must now venture, literally to hell and back, armed with nothing but his music and his love, to bring her home once more. Once he arrives at the factory, he must petition King Hades and Queen Persephone, the gods of the underworld, to allow him to bring her back to earth. With this task completed successfully, the two must now embark on the most harrowing part of the journey, to literally climb out of hell…
Strange that King Hades would let a soul go that easily.
“Eurydice is not an agency-less victim in this version of the story, but a practical girl who chooses the security of Hadestown over her unpredictable life above ground,” says creator, Anaïs Mitchell. “To me, these myths and these mythological characters feel very modern, but also ancient, they keep resonating in surprising ways.”
This Tony and Grammy Award winning new musical by celebrated singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, named as one of the most influential people of 2020 by Times, and innovative director Rachel Chavkin, creator of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812. The Musical was originally premiered in 2006 in the town of Barre, Vermont, and went on tour to Massechusetts in 2007, but ultimately this early version of Hadestown failed to draw a crowd. In 2012 Anaïs Mitchell teamed up with director Rachel Chavkin to rework the production, adding in new scenes and music, and this new version premiered Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop in May 2016, making its way to Edmonton, Canada, and at the National Theatre in London, before finally onto Broadway by March 2019.
The Broadway production opened to positive critical acclaim and received numerous awards and nominations, and at the 73rd Tony Awards in 2019, Hadestown received a total of 14 nominations, winning eight of them, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. The New York Times called it, “gorgeous and hypnotic”, especially noting its improvement from the New York Theater Workshop version, and the The Hollywood Reporter called it, “utterly fabulous!” Hedestown also took home four Drama Desk Awards, one Drama League Award, and six Outer Critics Circle Awards in 2019 and the album of music from the show won the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.