Hadestown musical movie reunites Broadway cast for West End shoot
Hadestown: The Musical is in theaters for one week, with original Broadway stars back for a filmed West End performance.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
The Hadestown musical movie has brought Broadway’s favorite underworld romance to cinemas, with Variety reporting that the filmed stage production is expected to earn about $9 million at the U.S. box office this weekend.
That would put it behind only Hamilton among theatrical grosses for a direct filming of a stage production, according to Variety. The release is scheduled for a one-week run in theaters.
The movie reunites five original Broadway principals: Reeve Carney as Orpheus, Eva Noblezada as Eurydice, Patrick Page as Hades, Amber Gray as Persephone and André De Shields as Hermes. Anaïs Mitchell, who created the show’s music, lyrics and book, also spoke with Variety about the long-awaited screen version.
Hadestown retells the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice through a sung-through score with folk, Americana and theatrical influences. De Shields described it to Variety as a folk opera.
How was Hadestown: The Musical filmed?
Director Brett Sullivan filmed Hadestown: The Musical at the Lyric Theatre in London’s West End after the original Broadway cast members joined that production for five weeks. Variety reported that the stage performances were shot across three live audiences: Friday night, Saturday matinee and Saturday evening.
Carney told Variety that each live performance used four to six cameras, with the cameras moved to different parts of the theater each time. He said the combined result felt like a much larger multi-camera shoot.
The production also filmed some close-up material without an audience present, allowing camera positions that would have interfered with theatergoers. Mitchell said the film keeps the feeling of a live stage show while giving viewers access to details, such as facial expressions, that would be hard to catch from the seats.
Sullivan, whose stage-to-screen credits include Miss Saigon, Waitress, Kinky Boots, Frozen, Aladdin, Kiss Me Kate and Starlight Express, told Variety that the Hadestown set helped the filming. Because the band occupies space where traditional wings might be, cameras could shoot from side angles and build scenes around performers reacting to one another.
Why did the original cast come back now?
Carney said there had been an effort to film the show in winter 2022 before Gray left the Broadway company, but it did not happen. When the later chance came through London, he said the cast was grateful for another shot.
The delay may have helped the movie’s look. Carney told Variety that the Lyric Theatre stage is smaller than the Walter Kerr Theatre stage in New York, and he felt that made the production better suited to the camera.
Page’s return came with one visible change: an injured foot. Mitchell said Page was hurt during rehearsal, leaving him in a boot for the filming and requiring changes to movement and blocking, including his scenes with Gray.
Carney and Noblezada, who are now married, also discussed revisiting the roles after time away. Noblezada said the show’s lyrics, blocking and pacing helped her reenter Eurydice’s emotional world, while Carney said talks with stage director Rachel Chavkin and Mitchell helped shape this filmed version.
Mitchell told Variety that watching the film revealed new layers in a work she has seen many times, from Noblezada’s performance of “Flowers” to background movement by the Fates and workers. For fans who know every note, the underworld now comes with a front-row view.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.