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Let's discuss the HADESTOWN West End cast | Mickey-Jo's thoughts after the musical's London press launch
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- [00:00]
Micky Jo
Oh my God. Hadestown. Welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. My name is Micky Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. This is my channel where I make a lot of videos about the theatre in the West End on Broadway, I review the shows that I've been invited to go and see as a professional theatre critic and I bring you the most exciting theatre news happening just about everywhere. And today I am very excited because we are going to be talking about the newly announced West End cast for the upcoming West End Return transfer production of Hadestown. It's going to be opening at the Lyric Theatre In February of 2024, just a few short months away. It is already one of the most anticipated shows of next year because even though the show has existed in London before as part of its extensive pre Broadway life, not that many people got to see it in its original run at the National Theatre. And it's fair to say that those of us who did see it there didn't necessarily warm to the show as readily as Broadway audiences did. And having seen both at the National Theatre and at the Walter Kerr Theatre where it has been on Broadway winning Tony Awards as well as earning itself an enormous crowd of fans, not only did I feel like the show had been honed and improved for its Broadway run, but I also felt like it was much easier to enjoy in that comparably more atmospheric venue. So I am excited and intrigued to see it at the Lyric, which does raise questions. Questions which will be addressed later in this video. For now, I want to tell you all about the actors who we have just learned will be playing these iconic roles when the show comes to London next year. I last week got to go to an exciting exclusive press launch for the show where so many numbers were performed at Jack Solomon's Club in London. It was so, so cool. Anais Mitchell was there sharing some very interesting insights about the process of making Hadestown, as well as about its journey to Broadway back to London and its future, as well as her future as a musical theatre composer. Again, we'll get to all of this later in the video. So what I want to share with you is some snippets from those performances. If you want to see my footage of the entire press launch unedited, I'm going to upload that for CHANN members, hit the link in the description and for just £2.99amonth you can become a channel member to get access to early and exclusive content here on my channel. And to make sure you don't miss any of the latest theatre news, as well as all of my many reviews of West End and Broadway shows. Make sure to hit the subscribe button down below. I will be waiting for you. This is a very large font, but we have all been waiting long enough. So without any further ado, here are my thoughts on the upcoming West End cast of Hadestown. So before I get to talking about the upcoming London return of the show, let me give you a little bit of context and history here. For those of you who may not know what Hadestown is so this was a Broadway musical 10 years in the making. It features a score and a book from award winning singer songwriter Aeneas Mitchell and it is based around the ancient Greek tragic legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. It also features other Greek legendary characters, Hermes, Hades and Persephone, as well as the Fates. You may know them from Hercules. After working on the show for a few years, Aeneas met the director Rachel Chavkin, who helped to develop the material and a version close to what we know the show to now be then premiered off Broadway in 2016 at the New York Theatre Workshop. It subsequently went to Edmonton. It came over to the UK at the National Theatre with the principal performers who would go on to take the show to Broadway. Opening at the waldaco Theatre in March 2019, it went on to receive 14 Tony Award nominations at the 23rd annual Tony Award, making it the most nominated show of that ceremony and it won eight of them, including Best Original Score and Best Musical. But it isn't only critically acclaimed, it is a hugely popular show with themes about love and adversity and trust that transcend this ancient time period in which it's set. It also features a score that does not reflect that period. The score is inspired by like New Orleans Louisiana jazz. It's also folky and dark and romantic and soaring and inherently theatrical. It really is wonderful writing for musical theatre. All of which goes much of the way to explain why the show became so popular. But we also have to credit the astonishing original Broadway cast, Reeve Carney, who played his final performance as Orpheus this weekend. Like hours before I'm sitting here filming this video alongside the vocal powerhouse that is Eva Oblizada, who when I saw the show on Broadway, the intensity that she brought to her acting was fantastic. We also have the mellifluous natural villain that is Patrick Page, who brought such resonance and status to his performance as Hades, not to mention his remarkable low vocal range, which is something that isn't showcased enough on Broadway and in the West End status and presence were also echoed by theatrical legend Andre de Shields, who earned a Tony Award for his performance as Hermes, the character who narrates the show as the messenger of the gods. And finally, I don't think anyone on that stage was giving quite as intriguing and nuanced and fascinating a performance as Amber Gray as Persephone. It's a really rewarding role that allows an actress to do very exciting things. Which brings us very nicely to the show's upcoming UK cast. So I have made you wait long enough. Let's talk about who is going to be playing these roles in the West End. Now, unusually, I am going to start by talking about the actor playing Hermes, because like I told you originally, Andre de Shields, a veteran performer, played this role and when it came time to replace him on Broadway, his replacement was Lillias White. Because the only important quality is the command of the stage and the story. So naturally, when it was announced that the show was coming back to London, everyone was instantly very intrigued about who would be playing Hermes because the options were very broad. And it has now been announced that we will be getting the wonderful, fabulous, talented Melanie LaBarrie.
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Unknown
Follow that dollar for a long way down. Far away from the poor house door. You either get to hell or to hit his down. Ain't no difference anymore.
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Micky Jo
So Melanie, having actively campaigned for this role on social media, which I just love, is currently appearing on Broadway as the nurse in the popular musical and Juliet at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. She is finishing with that show at the very end of 2023 and then returning back to the West End. Now Melanie is ordinarily a London based performer. She went over to Broadway with Anne Juliet, having played the role of the nurse in the original West End cast of the show here. But she has been in other original West End casts before. She was the original Mrs. Phelps in the musical. When that opened here, she was in mary poppins as Mrs. Corrie, aka the character who sings during the stage version of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. But what you may notice about the roles that she has played thus far, with the Nurse beginning to become slightly more of a breakout, is that she has been kind of unfairly trapped in this sort of comedic side character box, when in fact we saw in Anne Juliet the extents of her talents are so much wider than that. And just based on the press preview we got to go to, she may be the performer in this cast that I am the most excited about. They'll suck your brains.
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Unknown
They'll suck your breath, they'll puff their heart right off your chest. They'll trot you up in your Sunday best. I'll stop ya.
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Micky Jo
Open Twitter I was lucky enough to see her as the nurse in Aunt Juliet a bunch of times and she has the comedic moments, she has brilliant vocal moments. But then when she gets to sing f ing Perfect at the end of the show, you get a glimpse of this real moment of humanity and power. She conveys this important message of self worth to Juliet with considerable strength behind her, and it's that same strength we got to see. When she was delivering her lines in Wait for Me, I was struck by this and it's only a press preview, so these performances are going to change and evolve. But already I am fascinated by her take on this character. I love that she is performing it with her own accent. I think there's something so hypnotic about her performance. I'm so excited to see this in the theatre now. Next up, you may be wondering who is going to be playing Orpheus and Eurydice. Well, after very much speculation about who it was going to be, we have two relative theatrical newcomers, which is not to say that you will not know who they are. So Donal Finn is going to be playing Orpheus. I believe he is best known for having appeared in the TV series the Wheel of Time. I am obviously a complete musical theatre person. Am not familiar with this work. Comment down below and let us know if you are a fan if you have seen this show. What I can tell you is that he sounded fantastic at the press performance singing Wait for me.
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Unknown
I'm coming Wait I coming with you.
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Micky Jo
From this brief performance, it does seem as though he may be using his own Irish accent for the show. Grace, who is playing opposite him, also seems to be using a regional British accent and this is very exciting because this is something we haven't really had the chance to see before. With Hadestown. It turns out that this may be like 6 and like many other things recently, a show where performers are able to use their own accents regardless of the characters that they are playing. Only we haven't noticed this up to this point because everyone who has been in Hadestown has been American, right? Even when the show was over in London before, it had all American principles. But it does seem as though we are going to be getting West End Hadestown with some very different accents. Now that brings us to Grace Hodgett Young who is going to be playing Eurydice. Now she is a true rising star right now because she is currently Appearing in the West End revival of Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy Theatre, starring Nicole Scherzinger, Grace is playing Betty Schaeffer, the love interest of Joe Gillis. She's already made a big impression in that show and that was kind of her first job out of drama school as a graduate performer. For her to have immediately lined up one of the most sought after roles for a young actress while she is still in that first show is insane. Now, I really enjoy her vocal performance in Sunset Boulevard, but I am so excited to hear her using more of her belt because everything is placed kind of in a higher sort of a mix register as Betty. The way the Sunset Boulevard is directed by the brilliant Jamie Lloyd is there's also a lot of camera work and everything is kept quite reserved facially. There are some more dramatic moments towards the end of the show, but we don't get to see as broad a range of emotion. So again, very excited for her as Eurydice, where we're going to get a little bit more melodrama. But what a year she's having. Even on the day we went to this press preview, it was on a Thursday. Now she has two shows on a Thursday in Sunset Boulevard and it was timed so that she could leg it over from the Savoy Theatre, turn up and sing one song and then run back just in time for her one hour call before the evening show dedication. And just a wonderful career moment that she's enjoying right now. But Orpheus and Eurydice aren't the only pair of lovers featured in Hadestown. They are the young, hopeful lovers, but the more jaded relationship we see in the show is that between Hades and Persephone. So though he was not able to attend the press launch, Zachary James is going to be playing Hades. Now, he was seen on Broadway in the original Broadway cast of the Addams Family. He played Lurch and he is currently appearing off Broadway in a show called Spain, which is why he couldn't make the UK press launch. But he has this incredible operatic voice. I've been listening to various recordings of his and I think he is going to sound fantastic as Hades. I am deeply excited about this and I am just as excited about Gloria Enietri appearing opposite him. I don't know about you boys, but.
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Unknown
If you're like me, then hanging around this old man hole is bringing you down.
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Micky Jo
Now from the press preview, Gloria already has such a developed and exciting and nuanced and fleshed out take on this character and is already so comfortable with this material. And there is a Reason for that? Because I told you about that run before at the National Theatre. And true enough, it was the Broadway principals who played the leading roles, but there was a British cast ensemble with performers like Carly Mercedes Dyer and Adam Gillian and Beth Hinton Lever and Gloria Enietri, who played one of the Fates and understudied Persephone. So she is now getting to play that role that she understudied full time. And Gloria is an actress who has truly paid her dues in the West End. I'm happy whenever any alumnus of Angela Dwebber's original West End production of Cinderella gets to go on and do another show, because I feel like when one of them wins, we all win. Is this going to put her in awards contention? You know, not all of these roles necessarily speak to awards categories in a really obvious way, but Persephone is one of those that really gives someone an opportunity to get noticed. Now, those are all of the performers playing named principal roles, but we also have the Fates, a sort of enigmatic trio who sing an exciting vocal harmony. And they are going to be played by Bella Brown, Madeleine Charlemagne and Ally Daniel, all of whom I have seen in shows before. Let's start with Bella. I actually saw her while she was performing as Cassie in A Chorus Line at Arts Ed. She was fantastic, brilliant singer, phenomenal dancer, very excited about her in this. She is currently appearing in Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, just a few doors down from the Lyric Theatre at the Gielgud. Then we have Madeleine Charlemagne, who I saw earlier this year in the Secret Life of Bees at the Almeida, which was such a stirring and beautiful production. I think I've also seen her in 42 balloons in concert at the Vaudeville. We have Ali Daniel, who I have loved in so many things, in Legally Blonde at Regent's park, in How To Succeed in Business at Southwark Playhouse. She stole that entire damn show. I think Ali is so talented and I have been willing the universe to give her a moment like this. So excited for her to be one of the Fates in this and for her to be understudying the role of Hermes. I think she might be second cover for Hermes. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but as and when there are dates, I will be at the Lyric Theatre to see Ally Daniel debuting as Hermes, because that is something we all deserve. And aside from anything else and how talented all of these performers are, the fact that this show has meaningful trans representation included among its cast I think is important and beautiful and worth celebrating.
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Unknown
And the first shall be first and the last shall be last. Cause you.
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Micky Jo
In the rest of the ensemble, let me make sure I don't miss anyone. We have Lauren Azania, we have Thiago Dont Bamberger. We have Beth Hinton Lever who was in that original UK ensemble of Hadestown at the National Theatre. Loving that she's getting to do the show again. She is one of three understudies, I believe, for the role of Eurydice now as well as Hadestown. I saw Beth in A Chorus Line at the Leicester Curve. And such a dynamic performer, also a disabled performer, which is another group that you really don't often see represented in these big West End musical ensembles. So I like that they have taken the opportunity to do that. And when she goes on for Eurydice, that is going to be a ceiling breaking moment, I feel. We also have Waylon Jacobs. My God, the strength of this ensemble, that we have Waylon Jacobs in this ensemble who I believe also understudying Hermes and possibly Hades as well. I've seen Waylon in Hamilton and he's been in a host of other exciting shows as well. Who else do we have here? We have Christopher Short. I'm gonna guess that you're an Orpheus cover. I see that for you. Lucinda Buckley, Raisha Higgs, Miriam Ne and Simon Oskarson. So a very exciting cast on all fronts. But that's not the only thing that we learned at this press preview. So in between performances we had these little interview segments with the writer and conceiver of the show, Aeneas Mitchell, who also performed a little snippet of one of her songs herself, Flowers.
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Unknown
I remember Fields of Flowers, Soft Beneath My Heels now.
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Micky Jo
As well as being a hugely accomplished writer and a fantastic mesmerizing musician, Aeneas is just a really interesting personality. And listening to her, sharing her insights on having conceived the show and building it and coming from this sphere very much separate to the theatre industry and kind of growing into it and creating this wonderful musical was so interesting to me. For those who may be wondering about future projects of hers, she was asked about life after Hadestown, about whether she would be developing any other musicals, and she gave an answer that seemed to suggest that that is not the plan for her right now. She is very much focused on her music at this time because Hadestown has taken a decade of her life and she's enjoying getting back to music. But she did also share that anytime she's in a theater and working collaboratively with other theatre creatives, that it's so Sort of intriguing to her and exciting to her that I think inevitably she is going to want to write another musical.
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Anais Mitchell
I've got a couple challenges to try to make for London that I haven't done yet. I'm, like, looking at my producer, like, with a. Because this is.
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Micky Jo
This is brand new.
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Anais Mitchell
This is not the same show as.
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Micky Jo
Appeared in London all those years ago.
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Anais Mitchell
Certainly. Yeah, yeah. A lot of change happened during our London phase and then especially between London and when we went to Broadway. So certainly if folks saw it at the national, this will be a different show and I think you'll feel that now.
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Micky Jo
She also spoke about changes to the show and it was unclear as to whether she was trying to articulate about changes made between the previous London run at the National Theatre and then the Walter Kerr version on Broadway, because those who have seen both productions already know that that was significantly changed. What isn't quite as clear is whether there will be changes from the current Broadway version to what arrives in the West End. This happens. When Wicked first came over to the West End, there were little changes here and there to a little bit of the script, to some of the lighting, just little insubstantial things just to tweak the show. Now, the Lyric Theatre is a very different theatre to the Walter Kerr. We don't actually know whether we're going to get the full extent of the set. The National Theatre could do some very exciting things because it has a massive drama and there was a huge central thing. I won't spoil the show too much unless my hands just did. But what might be happening is that we might be getting something closer to the current US tour set, which I have on God Authority is different from the broad production, but also exciting for other reasons. Now, finally, the last question that we really have about Hadestown, because I mentioned awards earlier and for sure the performers in this cast will be eligible to receive Olivier Award nominations and Olivier Awards for their performances. But it's unclear as to where exactly this show sits, because the awards for shows themselves are split into new musical or revival of a musical. Now, technically, this is not Hadestown's UK premiere, because it has already been produced at an Olivier Awards eligible venue when it was at the National Theatre. But that run was very brief, and while it was technically eligible for Olivier's, I don't know how heavily it was really submitted and promoted for those awards, because for whatever reason, it did not receive any Olivier Award nominations, not even for its score or its design elements. The cast didn't get nominated, the show didn't get nominated, the creative team didn't get nominated. And I just know that the Olivier Awards aren't going to like acknowledging that they overlooked this originally or that the National Theatre didn't really promote this originally alongside the other shows that it had that year. So I'm wondering if what's going to happen is that they're going to pretend that that was sort of a development run because the show changed and adapted so you could frame it that way, I guess. And what we're now getting in the West End is the full version of the show that's arriving as a new musical. I don't know how I feel about this. I don't know if I think it really ought to be considered revival. But then it's not too different from the version that we had before. There is form for this, though. In recent years, Jerusalem, the play was nominated for best revival of a Play when it was brought back with the same production, the same set and some tiny tweaks to the script, but two of the same actors in it at the same theatre where it had originally played. Like that was almost a replica production that somehow was considered a revival and not a remount. Hadestown I just don't know where this is going to sit, but I will be watching very closely and if anyone is an Olivier nominator watching this video, feel free to email me or slide into my Instagram DMs and let me know because I am desperate to find out. For now, that is everything that we know about Hadestown coming back to the West End as and when we learn more about the show. Maybe I'll make another video, but I will definitely be reviewing the show when it opens in February, so make sure you're subscribed to my channel so you don't miss that. Thank you for watching this video. I hope that everyone has enjoyed. If you have, make sure to subscribe and comment down below with which member of the Hadestown UK cast you are most excited to see on stage. Don't forget, if you want to see the full Hadestown UK press launch, including not only all of the performances, but also all of the very interesting interview segments with writer Anais Mitchell, then click on the link in my description and sign up to become one of my channel members. I will be uploading all of that footage for members in the coming days. I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day. For ten more seconds, I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day subscribe.