Hadestown is soon to hit the big screens, as the Tony-winning musical looks to expand its audience and, potentially, chart a new course for theatrical live captures.
The live capture of the musical is coming to movie theaters for a five-night run starting July 24, with the film featuring five of the original cast members. After seven years on Broadway and two years on the West End, the goal of the film version is to spread word-of-mouth even further for the show.
“I sort of look at the audiences of Hadestown in concentric circles, and the inner circle are the core fans, and then they tell their friends, and then there’s the next circle, and they tell their friends, and then next circle, and part of what we’re trying to do is build the concentric circles as wide as possible to to draw everyone into the storytelling,” said producer Mara Isaacs.
The show intertwines the two mythic love stories of Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone, as Orpheus must go down to Hades’ underworld to rescue Eurydice after hard times befall the couple. Anaïs Mitchell penned the folk-jazz score and book. Rachel Chavkin directed the stage productions.
The idea for a film had pre-dated the show’s 2019 Broadway run, but producer Mara Isaacs said the show wanted to make sure they had the right creative team in place and vision for the film before proceeding.
