HADESTOWN Returns to Seoul Next Month

Like its hero, the bold Orpheus, “Hadestown” made its international premiere in Seoul amid the persistent threats of COVID-19 in 2021. It ran for six months in the capital city, with additional performances in Daegu and Busan in 2022, which clocked in a total of 233 performances.  

Winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Original Score, “Hadestown” continued its winning streak at the 2022 Korea Musical Awards. It won the Grand Prize, Best Actor for Kang-Hyun Park, who plays Orpheus, and Best Supporting Actress for Sun-young Kim, who plays Persephone.

Thankfully, a big chunk of the Korean production’s original cast has signed up for “Hadestown’s” imminent return, including Park and Kim who will reprise their now award-winning performances.

Park plays the hero, Orpheus, who is believed to be the son of a Muse, a Greek goddess of literature, science, and arts; thus, explains his gift of music. His warm, pure voice enthralls the “hungry young girl,” Eurydice, who later becomes his wife. Orpheus has a strong moral compass and is optimistic, but on the downside, naïve.

Kim, on the other hand, plays the Greek goddess and Hades’ wife, Persephone.  Every spring, she rides a train to take a break from Hadestown, a coal mine above, and hell and fire under it.  This annual trip of hers made Hades, the god of the underworld, suspect she was having an extra-marital affair.

The Company

Others in the principal cast are Hyung-kyun Cho and Min-seok Kim, who share the role of Orpheus with Park; Jung-won Choi, Jae-rim Choi, and Hong-suk Kang as Hermes; LINA, who shares the role of Persephone with Kim; Hwan-hee Kim and Soo-ha Kim as Eurydice; and Hyun-jun JI, Joon-mo Yang, and Woo-hyung Kim as Hades.

“Hadestown” features the book, music, and lyrics by Anais Mitchell; direction by Rachel Chavkin; choreography by David Neumann; associate direction by So Young Park; music direction by Jung Lim Han; and associate choreography by Yu Seon Hong.

The musical follows the two reimagined love stories: that of Orpheus and Eurydice; Hades and Persephone. “Hadestown” takes the audience along for a ride to the underworld and back. Inspired by the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice, Mitchell’s “Hadestown” was first performed before an audience as an indie theater project, which she later turned into an acclaimed studio album. 

With Chavkin as Mitchell’s creative collaborator, the show has been transformed, through years of trial and error, into a genre-defying original musical that fuses American folk music and speakeasy-inspired jazz from the 1930s.

Producers are Dong-won Shin and S&Co, with investments from Daegu MBC/IBK Corporate Bank.

Photos/Videos: S&Co

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