The 2019 Broadway musical retelling the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice set in a depression-era jazz-inspired underworld, winning 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical and revitalizing folk-rock theater.
Anaïs Mitchell’s Vision
“Hadestown” opened on Broadway April 17, 2019, after a decade-long journey from Anaïs Mitchell’s 2010 concept album to Vermont theater to London’s National Theatre. The musical reimagines Hades as an industrialist king, Persephone as his seasonally estranged wife, and Orpheus as a folk singer trying to rescue Eurydice from a deal with the devil.
The show’s folk-jazz-blues fusion score, featuring André De Shields as a scene-stealing Hermes, earned it 8 Tony Awards from 14 nominations - the most wins of the 2019 season. De Shields, at 73, became the oldest winner of Best Featured Actor in a Musical.
“Wait for Me” and “Why We Build the Wall” became breakout songs, with the latter (written in 2006) gaining eerie relevance during Trump-era immigration debates. The show’s themes of economic desperation, climate crisis (represented through Hades’ industrialization killing the natural world), and choosing hope in inevitable tragedy resonated deeply with millennial audiences.
The musical’s working-class aesthetic and labor politics made it a rare Broadway hit appealing to both theater traditionalists and younger audiences seeking socially conscious art.