Chibueze Ihuoma Sets Final Performance In HADESTOWN Tour

Chibueze Ihuoma, who launched the North American Tour of Hadestown in the Workers Chorus and took over the role of Orpheus last year, will play his final performance at the Hershey Theatre in Hershey, PA, on Sunday, April 9. J. Antonio Rodriguez, currently a Swing and understudy for Orpheus in the tour, will take over the role starting Tuesday, April 11 in Baltimore, MD. Rodriguez is a Mexican-American DREAMer, actor, musician, and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He has been with the Hadestown tour since February 2022.

Beginning April 11, the North American touring production will star Nathan Lee Graham as Hermes, Maria-Christina Oliveras as Persephone, Matthew Patrick Quinn as Hades, J. Antonio Rodriguez as Orpheus, and Hannah Whitley as Eurydice.

The Fates are played by Dominique Kempf, Belén Moyano, and Nyla Watson. The Workers Chorus features Jordan Bollwerk, Jamal Lee Harris, Courtney Lauster, Eddie Noel Rodríguez, and Racquel Williams. Swings for the tour include Ian Coulter-Buford, KC Dela Cruz, and Cecilia Trippiedi.

Originally set to launch in 2020, Hadestown began its North American tour in the fall of 2021 with dates now announced through the spring of 2024.

Hadestown is the most honored show of the 2018-2019 Broadway season. In addition to the show's eight Tony Awards including Best New Musical and the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, it has been honored with four Drama Desk Awards, six Outer Critics Circle Awards, including Outstanding New Broadway Musical, and the Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical.

The acclaimed new musical is by celebrated singer-songwriter and Tony Award winner Anaïs Mitchell and developed with innovative director and Tony Award winner Rachel Chavkin. Hadestown marks the first time in over a decade that a woman has been the solo author of a musical: writing the music, lyrics, and book, and is the fourth time in Broadway history a woman has accomplished this creative feat.

The show opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway (219 West 48th Street, New York) on April 17, 2019, where it played sold out houses nightly before performances were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hadestown resumed performances September 2, 2021, as one of the first musicals to reopen on Broadway where it continues to play today and just celebrated its 1,000th performance. The North American Tour opened at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC on October 15, 2021.

The show originated as Mitchell's indie theater project that toured Vermont which she then turned into an acclaimed album. With Chavkin, her artistic collaborator, Hadestown has been transformed into a genre-defying new musical that blends modern American folk music with New Orleans-inspired jazz to reimagine a sweeping ancient tale.

Following two intertwining love stories - that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone - Hadestown invites audiences on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Mitchell's beguiling melodies and Chavkin's poetic imagination pit industry against nature, doubt against faith, and fear against love. Performed by a vibrant ensemble of actors, dancers, and singers, Hadestown delivers a deeply resonant and defiantly hopeful theatrical experience.

The creative team features Tony Award winner Rachel Hauck (set design); four-time Tony Award nominee Michael Krass (costume design); two-time Tony Award winner Bradley King (lighting design); Tony Awardwinners Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz (sound design); Chita Rivera Award winner and three-time Bessie Award winner David Neumann (choreography); Liam Robinson (music supervision and vocal arrangements); Tony Award winners Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose (arrangements and orchestrations); Ken Cerniglia (dramaturgy); and Stewart/Whitley (casting).

Hadestown electrified audiences with its 2016 world premiere at New York Theatre Workshop, which is the longest-running show in that celebrated theater's 40-year history. The production then received its Canadian premiere at Edmonton's Citadel Theatre in 2017 and then a 2018 sold-out engagement at the London's National Theatre. Hadestown was developed with funding from the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center and was further developed by The Ground Floor at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Hadestownwas co-conceived by Ben t. Matchstick.

The Grammy winning Hadestown Original Broadway Cast Recording is now available at Hadestown.com/music. The album is produced by David Lai, Sickafoose, and Mitchell on Sing It Again Records.