Photos & Video: HADESTOWN Formally Added to Library of Congress Collection

Yesterday, the Tony Award-winning best musical Hadestown and its Tony Award-winning composer and creator Anaïs Mitchell were formally added into the Library of Congress collections in Washington D.C.

See photos and videos below!
 
To celebrate the show’s ongoing success on Broadway and across the country, and to cement the production’s place in the American cultural canon, Anaïs donated an assortment of artifacts representing several iterations of the development of the show, all the way up to its Broadway premiere. The event, hosted by Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden, featured a performance and discussion from the Broadway cast in the historic Coolidge Auditorium with about 500 students and guests in attendance.
 
Following the event, the cast was invited to visit the U.S. Capitol for a private tour and personal meeting with Senator Amy Klobuchar, who led the charge in passing the Save Our Stages Act in 2021.
 
The items formally being added into the Library’s collections included:
 
·         The original Gibson TG-50 tenor guitar played by ‘Orpheus’ in the London production of Hadestown, 2018
·         Hand-written scores from arranger-orchestrator Michael Chorney
·         A postcard from the original 2006 community theatre performance of Hadestown (the Vermont era of the show)
·         Several pages of handwritten lyric scribblings on a yellow legal pad from when Anais was fleshing out ideas before recording the 2010 album
·         A set of test vinyl pressings of the 2010 original album
·         A poster of ‘Virginia Sings Hadestown’ - when the original 2010 album had been released and was touring it as a concert
·         A vinyl and CD copy of the Grammy Award-winning original Broadway cast recording
·         some voice memos of songs Anais was working on in the lead-up to Broadway
 
 
Written by Anaïs Mitchell and directed by Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown is currently playing at the Walter Kerr Theatre (219 W 48th Street) and is about to enter its 5th year on the Great White Way.
 
Hadestown currently stars Tony Award winner Lillias White as Hermes, Solea Pfeiffer as Eurydice, Betty Who as Persephone, and Phillip Boykin as Hades. They are joined by Belèn Moyano, Lindsey Hailes, and Brit West as the Fates. The chorus of Workers is played by Emily Afton, Malcolm Armwood, Chibueze Ihumoa, Alex Puette and Grace Yoo. The cast includes swings Sojourner Brown, Brandon Cameron, Tara Jackson, Max Kumangai, Alex Lugo, and Tanner Ray Wilson. As previously announced, Grammy Award winner and original cast member Reeve Carney will play his final performance as ‘Orpheus’ on November 19. Jordan Fisher will assume the role of ‘Orpheus’ on Monday, November 20.

 
The winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards, including Best Score and Best Director, Hadestown originated as Anaïs Mitchell’s indie theater project that toured Vermont which she then turned into an acclaimed album. With Rachel 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.
 
 
Hadestown marks the first time in more than 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. It also marks the first time in Broadway history that a show’s female composer and female director both won Tony Awards for their work. Earlier this year, the landmark musical became the longest running show in the history of the Walter Kerr Theatre and holds the record for highest grossing musical in that venerated stage’s 100-year history.
 
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 of Hadestown features Tony Award winner Rachel Hauck (Tony Award winner for her set design), four-time Tony Award nominee Michael Krass (costume design), two-time Tony Award winner Bradley King (Tony Award winner for his lighting design), Tony Award winners Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz (Tony Award winners for their sound design), Obie Award® winner and Chita Rivera Award® winner David Neumann (choreography), Liam Robinson (music supervision, direction, and vocal arrangements), Tony Award winners Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose (arrangements and orchestrations – Tony Award), Ken Cerniglia (dramaturgy), and Whitley Theatrical (casting).