HADESTOWN to Return to Los Angeles for the Ahmanson's 2023-2024 Season

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 as part of Center Theatre Group / Ahmanson Theatre's 2023-2024 Season for a limited engagement from October 3 through October 15, 2023.

"Our highest grossing show last season was 'Hadestown,' and our audiences loved it, proving the power of live theatre during difficult 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."

"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" will be available to current subscribers in May and will go on sale to the public this summer. They will be 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.

Center Theatre Group, one of the nation's preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles' leading nonprofit theatre company, which, under the leadership of Managing Director / CEO Meghan Pressman and Producing Director Douglas C. Baker, and in collaboration with the four Associate Artistic Directors, Lindsay Allbaugh, Tyrone Davis, Neel Keller, and Kelley Kirkpatrick, 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 nation'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 circumstance to serve Los Angeles.

Photo credit: T. Charles Erickson