HADESTOWN to Return to Los Angeles for a Limited Engagement in October

The winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards® including Best New Musical and the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, “Hadestown” will return to Los Angeles to open the Center Theatre Group / Ahmanson Theatre’s 2023-2024 Season for a limited 16 performance engagement from October 3 through October 15, 2023. Tickets and information are available at CenterTheatreGroup.org.

“Our highest grossing show last season was ‘Hadestown,’ and our audiences loved it, proving the power of live theatre during these times," said Center Theatre Group Producing Director Doug Baker. “When it came time to plan our 2023-2024 Season at the Ahmanson, it made sense to bring back this beautiful and electrifying musical for a limited engagement and to kick off the new season. We can't wait for its return to Los Angeles.”

Charles McNulty in the “Los Angeles Times” said, “Mesmerizing! ‘Hadestown’ arrives in smoldering fashion. Unfurling like a dream, the show achieves a fluidity of musical theater storytelling that makes an old tale seem startlingly new.”

“Hadestown” is the most honored show of the 2018-2019 Broadway season. In addition to the show’s eight Tony Awards, 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.

Producers Mara Isaacs, Dale Franzen, Hunter Arnold, and Tom Kirdahy said jointly, “Throughout its development, ‘Hadestown’ has been deeply influenced by audiences around the world. We are thrilled and humbled to now share this beautiful story of hope, faith, and rebirth — written and directed by two amazingly talented women and brought to life by a diverse company of performers — with audiences across North America.”

The acclaimed 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. The North American Tour opened at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. 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 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 for “Hadestown” 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 Award winners 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 theatre’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. “Hadestown” was 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.

Tickets for “Hadestown” are available through CenterTheatreGroup.org, Audience Services at (213) 972-4400 or in person at the Center Theatre Group Box Offices (at the Ahmanson Theatre) at The Music Center, 135 N. Grand Avenue in Downtown L.A. 90012. Performances run Tuesday through Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

BIOGRAPHIES

Anaïs Mitchell (Music, Lyrics & Book) is a Tony and Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter whose recordings include the original studio album of “Hadestown” (2010), “Young Man in America” (2012), “Bonny Light Horseman” (2019, as Bonny Light Horseman) and “Anaïs Mitchell” (2022). She was named to the TIME100 list of the Most Influential People in the World in 2020 and her first book “Working on a Song–The Lyrics of Hadestown” was published by Plume/Penguin the same year. She headlines shows worldwide and her music has featured regularly on “Best-Of” lists including NPR, The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal. “Hadestown” is Anaïs’ first musical.

Rachel Chavkin (Director) is a Tony Award winning director, writer and artistic director of Brooklyn-based collective, the TEAM. “Hadestown” (NYTW, National Theatre, London) has been one of her greatest joys. Tony and Lortel nominations and Drama Desk A ward for Dave Malloy’ s “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812” (Broadway, Ars Nova, A.R.T.). London: “Mission Drift” (National Theatre), “American Clock” (Old Vic). Select New York and regional: Marco Ramirez’s “The Royale” (LCT; Obie Award, Drama Desk and Lortel nominations), Malloy’s “Preludes” (LCT3), Bess Wohl’s “Small Mouth Sounds” (Ars Nova and national tour), Carson Kreitzer’s and Matt Gould’s “Lempicka” (Williamstown Theatre Festival), “The Royal Family” (Guthrie Theatre) and multiple collaborations with Taylor Mac. Her first film, “Remind Me”,was an official selection of the Venice and Beverly Hills Film Festivals. 2017 Smithsonian Award for Ingenuity. Proud NYTW Usual Suspect and Member SDC.

David Neumann (Choreographer). Film: “I Am Legend,” “Marriage Story” (Noah Baumbach). Choreography: “An Octoroon” and “Futurity” (Soho Rep); “Antipodes” (Signature Theatre); “Underground Railroad Game” (Ars Nova); “Hagoromo” and “Home” (BAM); “The Antipodes” (Signature Theatre). Collaborator and performer: Laurie Anderson, Big Dance Theater, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Doug Elkins. Director: “The Object Lesson” (NYTW, BAM). Artistic director, Advanced Beginner Group (P.S.122, NY Live Arts, The Kitchen, Symphony Space, Abrons Art Center, The Chocolate Factory, The Whitney, Walker Art Center, MASS MoCA). Recipient of 2020 Obie A ward, 2019 Chita Rivera A ward, three Bessie Awards for dance/performance, Tony nominee for “Hadestown,” Lucille Lortel and Helen Hayes Award nominee.

Center Theatre Group, one of the nation’s preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles’ leading not-for-profit theatre company, which, under the leadership of Artistic Director Snehal Desai, Managing Director / CEO Meghan Pressman, and Producing Director Douglas C. Baker, programs seasons at the 736-seat Mark Taper Forum and 1,600 to 2,100-seat Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, and the 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to presenting and producing the broadest range of theatrical entertainment in the country, Center Theatre Group is one of the country’s leading producers of ambitious new works through commissions and world premiere productions and a leader in interactive community engagement and education programs that reach across generations, demographics, and circumstances to serve Los Angeles. Founded in 1967, Center Theatre Group was led by Founding Artistic Director Gordon Davidson until 2005 when Michael Ritchie was the artistic director until his retirement in 2021; Snehal Desai was appointed the organization’s next artistic director in 2023. Center Theatre Group has produced more than 700 productions across its three stages, including such iconic shows as “Zoot Suit;” “Angels in America;” “The Kentucky Cycle;” “Biloxi Blues;” “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992;” “Children of a Lesser God;” “Curtains;” “The Drowsy Chaperone;” “9 to 5: The Musical;” and “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo.” CenterTheatreGroup.org

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Photo credit: T Charles Erickson