HADESTOWN, the acclaimed Broadway musical phenomenon by singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell and director Rachel Chavkin makes its long-awaited West End premiere in February 2024 at the Lyric Theatre. ‘An epic celebration of music, togetherness and hope’ (Forbes) HADESTOWN is the winner of 8 Tony Awards® including Best Musical and the Grammy Award® for Best Musical Theatre Album.
HADESTOWN takes you on an unforgettable journey to the underworld and back, intertwining two mythic love stories – that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone.
A deeply resonant and defiantly hopeful theatrical experience, HADESTOWN invites you to imagine how the world could be.
‘Your next musical theatre obsession’ (Vogue).
‘Sumptuous. Gorgeous. As good as it gets’ (New York Times)
‘A transporting musical hit! Anaïs Mitchell’s score is a joyful combination of folk, pop, Dixieland and blues. You’ll be singing it in your head for days’ (Time Out)
__Access Performances__
Captioned: Saturday 20th April, 2:30pm, Wednesday 12th June, 7:30pm
Audio Described: Saturday 27th April, 2:30pm, Wednesday 19th June, 7:30pm
BSL Interpreted: Saturday 4th May, 2:30pm, Wednesday 26th June, 7:30pm
It takes a while for the dark magic to kick in. As the narrator, Hermes, Melanie La Barrie is full of swagger and has a stupendous voice yet the story is formless, with one song after another and little forward momentum. The alchemy is created quietly and somewhere in the first act you find yourself hooked.
The aesthetics and sound world suggest Depression-era New Orleans, although its exact location and time period are left deliberately vague. Even more so in this superb new British incarnation, in which the cast all use their natural accents. That means we get Dónal Finn’s Irish Orpheus (rooting him in another great folk tradition), Grace Hodgett Young’s grounded, no-nonsense East Midlands-accented Eurydice, and, most strikingly, Melanie La Barrie’s Trinidadian Hermes. In fact, with her dapper silver suit, expressive patois and roof-raising, soulful vocals, La Barrie just about walks off with the show.
2016 | Off-Broadway |
New York Theatre Workshop Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
2017 | Canada |
Canadian Premiere Canada |
2018 | West End |
National Theatre Pre-Broadway Engagement West End |
2019 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2021 | US Tour |
First National Tour US Tour |
2024 | West End |
West End |
2024 | US Tour |
North American Tour US Tour |
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