Hadestown producers Mara Isaacs, Dale Franzen, Hunter Arnold, and Tom Kirdahy announced that the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Hadestown will be formally added into the Library of Congress collections in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, October 17.
To celebrate the show’s ongoing success on Broadway and across the country, and to cement the production’s place in the American cultural canon, Tony Award-winning composer Anaïs Mitchell will donate an assortment of artifacts that represent several iterations of the development of the show, all the way up to its Broadway premiere. The event, hosted by Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden, will feature a performance and discussion from the Broadway cast in the historic Coolidge Auditorium with about 500 students in attendance.
“We are delighted to bring the beauty and magic of the Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown to the Library of Congress,” commented Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “We have one of the best performing arts collections in the world and having Hadestown creator Anaïs Mitchell and the Broadway cast perform and donate items from the production will further enrich the Library’s collection for generations to see.”
Written by Anaïs Mitchell and directed by Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown is currently playing at the Walter Kerr Theatre (219 W 48th Street) and is about to enter its 5th year on the Great White Way.
Hadestown currently stars Tony Award winner Lillias White as Hermes, Solea Pfeiffer as Eurydice, Betty Who as Persephone, and Phillip Boykin as Hades. They are joined by Belèn Moyano, Lindsey Hailes, and Brit West as the Fates. The chorus of Workers is played by Emily Afton, Malcolm Armwood, Chibueze Ihumoa, Alex Puette, and Grace Yoo. The cast includes swings Sojourner Brown, Brandon Cameron, Tara Jackson, Max Kumangai, Alex Lugo, and Tanner Ray Wilson. As previously announced, Grammy Award winner and original cast member Reeve Carney will play his final performance as ‘Orpheus’ on November 19. Jordan Fisher will assume the role of ‘Orpheus’ on Monday, November 20.
Tickets for Hadestown are available at www.seatgeek.com/hadestown-tickets or by visiting the Walter Kerr Theatre box office (219 West 48th Street).
The winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards, including Best Score and Best Director, Hadestown originated as Anaïs Mitchell’s indie theater project that toured Vermont which she then turned into an acclaimed album. With Rachel Chavkin, her artistic collaborator, Hadestown has been transformed into a genre-defying new musical that blends modern American folk music with New Orleans-inspired jazz to reimagine a sweeping ancient tale.
Hadestown set a new standard for audacious artistry in the commercial theater when it opened on Broadway to rapturous critical praise. Jesse Green of The New York Times declared it “As good as it gets!” The Wall Street Journal named it, “The best new musical of the season,” while New York Magazine extolled it as, “Visionary and ravishing! A cause for celebration.” Deadline called Hadestown, “The most thrilling new musical of the season,” and The Daily News proclaimed it, “the most relevant musical in town.”
Hadestown marks the first time in more than a decade that a woman has been the solo author of a musical: writing the music, lyrics, and book, and is the fourth time in Broadway history a woman has accomplished this creative feat. It also marks the first time in Broadway history that a show’s female composer and female director both won Tony Awards for their work. Earlier this year, the landmark musical became the longest running show in the history of the Walter Kerr Theatre and holds the record for highest grossing musical in that venerated stage’s 100-year history.
Following two intertwining love stories — that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone — Hadestown invites audiences on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Mitchell’s beguiling melodies and Chavkin’s poetic imagination pit industry against nature, doubt against faith, and fear against love. Performed by a vibrant ensemble of actors, dancers, and singers, Hadestown delivers a deeply resonant and defiantly hopeful theatrical experience.
The creative team of Hadestown features Tony Award winner Rachel Hauck (Tony Award winner for her set design), four-time Tony Award nominee Michael Krass (costume design), two-time Tony Award winner Bradley King (Tony Award winner for his lighting design), Tony Award winners Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz (Tony Award winners for their sound design), Obie Award winner and Chita Rivera Award winner David Neumann (choreography), Liam Robinson (music supervision, direction, and vocal arrangements), Tony Award winners Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose (arrangements and orchestrations – Tony Award), Ken Cerniglia (dramaturgy), and Whitley Theatrical (casting).
The North American tour has begun its third year with a return engagement at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles for two weeks through Sunday, October 15 before returning to the Paramount Theatre in Seattle for one week starting Tuesday, October 31. More stops include Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary. For the latest tour route and other information, please visit www.hadestown.com/tour.
The Grammy Award-winning Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hadestown is one of the most streamed cast albums of all time with over 300 million streams to date. It was released in the summer of 2019, topped Billboard’s Broadway Cast Recording chart, and debuted at #8 on the Top Album chart. The CD edition features a 64-page booklet and a two-disc set, while the triple vinyl edition features a 16-page booklet. Both editions include complete song lyrics and never-before-seen before seen photos of the Hadestown cast and creative team in the studio, and other exclusive content.
In the fall of 2020, Mitchell released Working On A Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown, an illuminating book of lyrics and stories about her more than decade’s long process of building the musical from the ground up. Working On A Song is available from Penguin Random House.
Hadestown instantly electrified audiences with its 2016 world premiere at New York Theatre Workshop, which is the longest-running show in that celebrated theater’s 40-year history. The production then received its Canadian premiere at Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre in 2017 and then a 2018 sold-out engagement at London’s National Theatre prior to Broadway. Hadestown was developed with funding from the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center and was further developed by The Ground Floor at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Hadestown was co-conceived by Ben t. Matchstick.
Hadestown will make its triumphant London return in February 2024 when it plays the Lyric Theatre in the West End.
