After doing its first West Coast performances last year, Hadestown has swung back through San Francisco by popular demand, and performances begin Tuesday night.
Hadestown has been on tour the last two years, following its win for Best Musical at the Tony Awards in 2019 — the show actually won eight Tonys in total, after 14 nominations, including wins for Best Original Score and Best Direction by Rachel Chavkin, and its Broadway production is still open.
The highly original show, based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in the underworld, features songs by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and a hefty dose of bouncy New Orleans jazz throughout.
Since SFist's review of the show last June, most of the cast in the touring company appears to have changed. Broadway vet and screen actor Nathan Lee Graham has taken over the role of Hermes — the narrator role that won Andre DeShields a Tony Award. Maria-Christina Oliveras is playing the role of Persephone; Matthew Patrick Quinn is playing Hades; J. Antonio Rodriguez is playing Orpheus; and Hannah Whitley is playing Eurydice.
The show originated as a personal theater project and then concept album by Mitchell, who originally sang the role of Eurydice. The show toured around Vermont over 15 years ago, before later being developed into the stage musical that hit London in 2018, and Broadway in 2019, with Mitchell collaborating with Chavkin and adding 15 new songs, as well as dialogue.
"Throughout its development, Hadestown has been deeply influenced by audiences around the world," say producers Mara Isaacs, Dale Franzen, Hunter Arnold, and Tom Kirdahy. "We are thrilled and humbled to now share this beautiful story of hope, faith, and rebirth – written and directed by two amazingly talented women and brought to life by a diverse company of performers – with audiences across North America."
Hadestown re-opens tonight, Tuesday, at the Orpheum Theater and plays through Sunday, September 17, with 1 p.m. matinee performances on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Find tickets here.
Top image: Morgan Siobhan Green, Levi Kreis, and Nicholas Barasch in 'Hadestown' in 2022. Photo: T. Charles Erickson