Welcome to Hadestown: The Musical

Hadestown is a musical with music, lyrics and book by Anaïs Mitchell. It tells a version of the ancient Hellenic myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, where Orpheus goes to the underworld to rescue his fiancée Eurydice.

The original version of the musical premiered in the town of Barre, Vermont in 2006. There was also a production in Vergennes in the same year and a tour between Vermont and Massachusetts in 2007. Then Mitchell, unsure about the future of the musical, turned it into a concept album, released in 2010.

In 2012, Mitchell met director Rachel Chavkin, and the two started to rework the stage production, with additional songs and dialogue. The new version of the musical, developed for the stage and directed by Chavkin, premiered Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop on May 6, 2016 and ran through July 31. Following productions in Edmonton and London, the show premiered in previews on Broadway in March 2019.

The Broadway production opened to critical acclaim and received numerous awards and nominations. At the 73rd Tony Awards, Hadestown received a total of 14 nominations (the most for the evening) and won eight of them, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.

I haven't seen the musical (but desperately want to!) I wanted to share the NPR Tiny Desk concert of the soundtrack today, as it's super awesome and not enough people know about it. Enjoy!