Interview: Nickolaus Colón of HADESTOWN at Broadway San Diego

The train from the underworld is coming back to San Diego and bringing the national tour of “Hadestown” to Broadway San Diego at the Civic Theatre on Friday, November 8th—10th. Nickolaus Colón took time from touring to talk about the show and playing the all-powerful Hades, who can control everything in his life except for his force-of-nature wife, Persephone.

“Hadestown” takes the audience to hell and back in the pursuit of true love. When Orpheus (Bryan Munar)  falls in love with Eurydice (Megan Colton), they have no idea that their love could have ramifications for King Hades, his wife Persephone (Namisa Mdlalose Bizana), and the entire world.  

Nickolaus Colón plays King Hades, the mighty god of the underworld, who has his beloved wife Persephone for six months every year and has to give her back to the world for the other six months. He says that it is a story that explores how far each couple will go for each other.

“It's two mythical love stories. You have a young love with Orpheus and Eurydice. The two lovers see each other for the very first time in Orpheus, and immediately, they fall in love. It's young love, it’s naive, it's passionate, and it's beautiful.

And their question is, you know, how far would you go for love and Orpheus?

Then you have my story with Persephone, and that's the other love story asking what happens when you're with someone for forever?What happens when you take the loved one that you share and all those amazing things with for granted? And how do you come back together through that?

So, the show is a beautiful love story that shows both sides of the coin, from people who've been together for millennia to people who literally just met yesterday.”

Nickolaus says that the music, the costumes, and the musicians on stage help bring everything together to make this show memorable for audiences.

“It's a folk opera and the music is the last character of the show. For Hades, all my feelings, intentions, anger, rage, and fears are all in the music.

When you first see me (as Hades), I am in a full three-piece suit, tied all the way up. Everything's tight and kept together. When I finish the first act, I'm still in that, but then at the very end of the act, I strip the jacket, and it's the first time that we start seeing Hades.

Because up until this point, he's just been powerful, powerful, powerful. Then, in act two, we see what's going on behind the man with the entire world in his hands.”

Hades is nothing without his Persephine, and Colón says that working with his Persephone (Namisa Mdlalose Bizana) has been a wonderful experience.

“Working with Namisa is amazing.   I remember her at the final callback, and we just took each other in, and I was like, this is it.

Where other people might try to make everything about how Hades is feeling, really everything I do in this show is for Persephone. There's a line in the show, “I love her; everything I do with do for love of you.”

It  makes my job super easy when I have an amazing scene partner like you're like Namisa,  that's  lovely.”

For anyone who hasn't seen the show, Nickolaus says it has made such an impact because it is so different and something you need to see to experience.

“It’s not a classical musical, it's not jazz hands, there’s no kick lines, and it's cinematic in its approach. It is dark and beautiful, and the music is jazz, RMB, and folk music. It's like cinema on stage.

So don't be afraid because it's a musical; the music is mindblowing.”

How To Get Tickets

You can catch Nickolaus Colón and the entire cast of “Hadestown” at Broadway San Diego at the Civic Theatre on Friday, November 8th—10th.  For ticket and showtime information, go to www.braodwaysd.com 

You can follow Nickolaus on his adventure on tour on his Instagram 

Photo credit:  Nickolaus Colón and the original West End Company of “Hadestown” 

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