Hadestown reached its 2,500th Broadway performance at the Walter Kerr Theatre on October 18, and after the matinee two of its costumes left the building for good: the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History accepted them into its permanent collection.
The museum takes two complete looks from the show's rulers of the underworld. From Ani DiFranco's Persephone come the green dress, the boots, the choker and the flower headpiece; from Patrick Page's Hades, the jacket, trousers, vest, shirt, tie and snakeskin boots. Page created Hades on Broadway when the musical opened in 2019. DiFranco, who first sang Persephone on the 2010 studio album the stage show grew out of, made her Broadway debut in the role in February 2024.
“Hadestown is a deeply resonant piece of theater that connects ancient myth with modern struggles, reminding us of the enduring power of love and hope through its innovative staging and folk-rock score,” said Anthea M. Hartig, the museum's Elizabeth MacMillan Director, who called the pieces “a perfect addition” to its entertainment holdings.
They join a Broadway collection that already includes costumes from Hamilton, Hello, Dolly!, A Chorus Line, Cats, Fiddler on the Roof, Dear Evan Hansen, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Mame and Lorelei, as well as three Tony Awards, props from the Off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks, Rose Marie's copy of the score of Top Banana, and a large stock of playbills and posters. The museum says it has no plans yet to put the Hadestown pieces on display.
The 2,500 mark falls in the musical's eighth year at the Walter Kerr, where it opened on April 17, 2019, after a run at London's National Theatre the year before, and went on to take the Tony Award for Best Musical. It has long since outgrown West 48th Street: a North American tour finished a three-year, coast-to-coast run in 2024, the London production is in its third year in the West End, and the show has also played South Korea, Sydney, Melbourne and Amsterdam.
The current Broadway company is led by Jasmin Savoy Brown as Eurydice, Kayko as Orpheus, Ben Davis as Hades, Amber Iman as Persephone and Norbert Leo Butz as Hermes, a casting covered here on October 17. Kelly Belarmino, KC Dela Cruz and Khori Michelle Petinaud play the Fates, and Emily Afton, Malcolm Armwood, Jeffrey Cornelius, Sydney Parra and Alex Puette the Workers, with Brandon Cameron, Tara Jackson, Max Kumangai and Alex Lugo as swings.
Written by Anaïs Mitchell and developed with director Rachel Chavkin, the musical started life as a small theater project that toured Vermont and then as a concept album. It runs two love stories side by side, Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone, to a score built from American folk and New Orleans jazz.
Hadestown runs at the Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 West 48th Street. Tickets are sold through the theater's own site, walterkerrbroadway.com, and at the box office.
