New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Tony-winning musical ‘Hadestown’ comes to Bushnell
“Hadestown,” the hit Broadway musical, snagged eight Tony awards in 2019, including the coveted Best Musical statue.
It also nabbed a Grammy the following year for Best Musical Theater Album, and it hits Hartford’s Bushnell theater next week, from March 712.
The show is the brainchild of singer/songwriter Anais Mitchellis and was based on her fourth album of the same name, which was released in 2010. The concept record was about Orpheus and his quest to rescue Eurydice from the underworld.
Mitchell developed the stage musical with director Rachel Chavkin and it made its debut at the New York Theatre Workshop in 2016, before heading off for Canada and London. It then made its official Broadway debut in 2019, the very year it would take the Tony Awards by storm.
But, “Hadestown” was intended for theater in its earliest phases, before notions of a concept record even began.
There was a seven-day, 10-city tour between Mitchell’s home state of Vermont and Massachusetts in 2007. Mitchell played Eurydice at the time.
Eva Noblezada stepped into the role once it reached Broadway, fresh off a Tony Award nomination for “Miss Saigon.” Morgan Siobhan Green makes the role of Eurydice her own as “Hadestown” tours the country, including its Bushnell stop.
The Greek god Hermes narrates this multifaceted production, wherein the star-crossed lovers travel the “Road To Hell” (one of the show’s popular songs). Among its many other Tony wins, “Hadestown” won for Best Original Score.
The love story of Orpheus and Eurydice intertwines with that of King Hades and his wife Persephone, so be ready to recall that sophomore year history class.
“Hadestown” not only invites audiences on a journey to the underworld and back, but back to the days of learning all about these larger-thanlife mythical characters at the same time.