Hadestown Begins West End Previews February 10
The London return of the Tony-winning musical plays the Lyric Theatre.
Dónal Finn and Grace Hodgett Young
The London return of the Tony-winning musical Hadestown begins previews at the Lyric Theatre February 10 with an official opening February 21.
Anaïs Mitchell’s underworld-set folk opera, which premiered
Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop in 2016, made its London
premiere at the National Theatre in November 2018. The production
subsequently opened on Broadway, where it continues at the Walter Kerr, in April 2019.
The London company is led by Dónal Finn (The Wheel of Time) as Orpheus, Grace Hodgett Young (Betty Schaefer in the Broadway-bound London revival of Sunset Boulevard) as Eurydice, Grammy winner Zachary James (Lurch in The Addams Family on Broadway) as Hades, Melanie La Barrie (Mary Poppins, & Juliet) as Hermes, and Gloria Onitiri (Cinderella, Hadestown at the National) as Persephone.
Bella Brown, Madeline Charlemagne, and Allie Daniel play the
Fates, and Lauren Azania, Tiago Dhondt Bamberger, Beth Hinton-Lever,
Waylon Jacobs, and Christopher Short play the Workers, with Lucinda
Buckley, Ryesha Higgs, Miriam Nyarko, and Simon Oskarsson as Swings.
Get a first look at the company of the new London production in character portraits in the gallery below:
The creative team features set designer Rachel Hauck, costume
designer Michael Krass, lighting designer Bradley King, sound
designers Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz, choreographer David Neumann,
music supervisor and vocal arranger Liam Robinson, arrangers and
orchestrators Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose, and dramaturg Ken
Cerniglia. Casting for the London production is by Jacob Sparrow.
Mitchell said in an earlier statement, “We’re all thrilled to be bringing Hadestown back
to London! We truly loved our time at the National Theatre in 2018 and
felt so welcomed by your city that it feels like a homecoming to be
returning (to the West End)! I’m excited to work in and with the
fantastic theatre community of London, and to share the newest version
of our show, as there was a great deal of development pre-Broadway based
on things we learned at the National! And it’s always a curious gift
to witness how this epic myth vibrates differently in different places
and times. That is, West End Hadestown will be its own world—born of London and the now—and we can’t wait to discover it.”
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.
The show, featuring a book and score by Mitchell, won eight 2019 Tony
Awards: Best Director of a Musical (Rachel Chavkin), Best Featured
Actor in a Musical (André De Shields), Best Lighting Design of a Musical
(Bradley King), Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Rachel Hauck), Best
Sound Design of a Musical (Jessica Paz and Nevin Steinberg), Best
Orchestrations (Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose), Best Original
Score (Mitchell), and Best Musical.
Hadestown is produced in London by Mara Isaacs, Dale
Franzen, Hunter Arnold, Tom Kirdahy, and the National Theatre in
association with JAS Theatricals.
Visit UK.Hadestown.com.