Sensational Hadestown Blows the Roof Off at The National Theatre
Hadestown
Broadway at The National
National Theatre
Jordan Wright
November 19, 2025
Jose Contreras (Orpheus) and Hadestown North American Touring Company, 2025. (Photo/Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)
If you haven’t brushed up on your Greek mythology lately, you may be easily excused. Yet surely you recall the parable of the doomed lovers Orpheus and Eurydice, Hades, God of the Underworld, and his Goddess wife, Persephone. Hades forced his lady love to live with him in hell for half the year and in sunlight for the other half — a seasonal arrangement that strained their unique marriage. Hadestown, the massive 8-time Tony Award-winning musical, borrows from these myths to create a sensational story of love, loss and the power of dreams.
This colorful, theatrical carnival evokes Thomas Hart Benton’s paintings of everyday American life, the unfettered dancing of Josephine Baker, the ground-breaking jazz of Louis Armstrong, the soft sultry ballads of American folk music and the syncopated rhythms of Basin Street’s Afro-Caribbean diaspora with its familiar syncopated “strut.” It’s a fascinating polyglot of N’awlins’ roots and shoots plunked down into a parable as old as time.
This wildly exciting piece of musical theater, offers up a huge dose of consciousness-raising. Note the reference of a “wall” to keep the ‘others’ from taking their wealth. Hades (Nickolaus Colón), King of the Underworld, is as ruthless as the early American coal and oil barons, recklessly stripping the earth of precious resources (reference the current fight for precious metals) and enslaving miners when union-busting proved deadly. Quinn’s magnificent powerhouse baritone is hauntingly evil… in a good way. Defending his unmitigated power, he sings of the need for a wall in “Why We Build the Wall” to keep the haves from the have-nots. “The enemy is poverty. We build the wall to keep us free. To keep out poverty.” Sound familiar?
Megan Colton (Eurydice) and Jose Contreras (Orpheus). (Photo/Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)
With his extraordinary, multiple-octave range, Jose Contreras as the guitar-strumming poet and heartthrob, Orpheus, sings of his love for the beautiful waif, Eurydice (Megan Colton), whose honeyed voice will give you goosebumps in her plaintive ballads. As poor Orpheus, who despairs of the deplorable conditions of the workers and the destruction of the Earth by power-mad Hades, promises Eurydice a boundless love.
Hadestown is a social and moral construct cleverly tucked into a brilliant musical with music, lyrics and book written by Anaïs Mitchell with all the original Broadway direction by partner Rachel Chavkin. At its heart is a tender love story (two, in fact) cleverly cached in the universal struggle for freedom from oppression and the quest for basic human rights. Be careful or you’ll miss it, wooed as you will be by the harmonizing harpies – The Fates – a stewpot of Cajun and Creole; the red-hot sexpot Persephone (Namisa Mdlalose Bizana); Hermes (Rudy Foster), the slithery, smooth, storytelling dandy. The Fates are played melodically by Miriam Navarrete, Alli Sutton and Jayna Wescoatt.
Hadestown North American Touring Company, 2025. (Photo/Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)
As in several modern musicals, the musicians are on stage throughout, affording us a close-up of the shiny glint and soulful wah-wahs of trombonist Haik Demirchian who racks up some mean solos; the beautiful strains of Jessie Bitner’s violin; with Lydia Paulos on cello; Nya Holmes on double bass; Sam Wade on guitar; drums and percussion by Lumanyano Mzi; haunting honky-tonk accompaniment by Cole P. Abod on upright piano; and one of the Fates on accordion, an important component in New Orleans Zydeco music. With the stunning harmonies and fierce dance component of the Workers Chorus featuring, Jonice Bernard, Ryaan Farhadi, Erin McMillen, Miracle Myles and Joe Rumi, the score is filled with minor chords adding to the heart-rending sense of longing and doom.
Directed by Keenan Tyler Oliphant; Choreography by T. Oliver Reid, based on the original Broadway choreography by David Neumann; Scenic Design by David L. Arsenault, based on the original Broadway Scenic Design by Rachel Hauck; Costume Design by Michael Krass; Lighting Design by Aja Jackson, based on the original Broadway Lighting Design by Bradley King; Co-Sound Design by Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz; Hair & Wig Design by Jennifer Mullins; Arrangements & Orchestrations by Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose; Music Direction by Cole P. Abod.
Through November 23rd at The National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information visit www.BroadwayAtTheNational.com or in person at the box office.