She sees the world for what it is, cold and empty, but he sees the world for all its potential. Fated lovers with a tragic ending that leaves you in your seat with a sense of sadness but also pride. A story that will be told repeatedly, now being brought to life so beautifully by the current cast.
Travel way down to Hadestown with me, and let’s talk about why the current cast of Hadestown on Broadway has taken the musical theater world by storm by portraying a tale sung so many times as no one has before.
About Hadestown
Hadestown tells the Greek myth of the tragic love story of Orpheus and Eurydice through a more political lens. Hades falls in love with Persephone and marries her, agreeing that she will spend half the year in Hadestown and the other half above ground in the sun.
Each time she leaves, Hades is filled with fear that she may never return. His jealousy and insecurity grow as he compares himself to the warmth of spring and summer. In response, he shortens her time on the surface, causing long winters and unstable seasons that leave the world above struggling.
The people above are poor and hungry, and Hades uses their desperation to his advantage by offering shelter and security in Hadestown. Eurydice, cold and starving, accepts his offer without fully understanding the cost.
In Hadestown, the souls Hades gathers become workers building a wall to keep poverty out, believing they’re protecting themselves.
When Orpheus journeys below to rescue Eurydice, he challenges Hades and reminds everyone that love can’t survive in a world ruled by fear and capitalism. Though the story ends in tragedy, it’s told again and again with hope.
Meet the Principal Cast
Jack Wolfe is an English actor who made his Broadway debut in September 2025 in Hadestown as Orpheus and has taken the Broadway world by surprise. Wolfe was made for the role of the lovestruck artist Orpheus.
He has the voice of an angel, but what truly captures viewers is his big doe eyes, full of yearning as he throws himself headfirst into his love for Eurydice. The emotion he can portray through one single expression is spectacular. Heartbreak, awe, grief, he captures his audience with every soft smile and tear shed.
Jack Wolfe’s Orpheus isn’t self-assured in his ability to save the world. He’s timid and low on self-esteem, but for love, he pushes past his fears to try to make the world right.
Each time he steps onstage, it feels like he’s telling a story he already knows the ending to, quietly hoping this time it will change. His grief morphs into desperate anger, making you question everything.
Morgan Dudley returned to Broadway as Eurydice in September 2025. Her vocals are extraordinary, hitting every low note and belting with such an urgency that the audience feels Eurydice’s aching soul. Dudley’s Eurydice is fierce but blind to optimism, and the crack in her voice as she calls Orpheus’ name one last time before returning to Hadestown leaves viewers tearful.
Allison Russell, a GRAMMY-winning Canadian singer-songwriter, reprises Persephone. She portrays a woman quietly suffering for love, shifting from a bright, indifferent character to one in mourning, making the audience feel trapped in Hadestown alongside her.
She walks onstage with grief-stricken features. Every movement is calculated perfectly to display how heartbroken she is to see the one she’s devoted to being so selfish in the name of love.
Kurt Elling, an acclaimed jazz vocalist, debuts as Hermes, guiding Orpheus and Eurydice and giving hope amid tragedy. The narrator must capture the audience’s attention for a 2-hour show, and Kurt Elling does just this. People come back for more because Kurt Elling’s Hermes gave them optimism for this devastating story.
Paulo Szot, Tony Award-winning actor, makes Hades complex, evoking pity where there should be hate, making the story feel alive in real time.
Through the Feminine Lens
In a world that often romanticizes the suffering artist, Hadestown asks what survival costs for women.
Eurydice is often portrayed in Greek mythology as the passive muse who died so that audiences could see Orpheus suffer beautifully. Hadestown reshapes that concept and shows Eurydice as a survivor.
She makes a choice based on need; she’s hungry, cold, and desperate. When given the choice to sign her life away for the security of a warm bed and food, it doesn’t feel like a betrayal.
When she fell for Orpheus, he promised he would provide, but she was left alone in a rising storm, seeking shelter from a love built on promises that were never guaranteed. She pays her ticket and goes “six feet under the ground.”
Her ending encapsulates a woman doing what it takes to survive another day without fully understanding the consequences, something many women can relate to. Eurydice’s quiet strength shows audiences that loving someone doesn’t always mean you can afford to wait for their dreams to come true.
Then there’s Persephone, a beacon of light to all those who live above Hadestown. She exists between worlds, between love and resentment, devotion and fury.
Persephone’s longing for Hades, who swept her off her feet years ago, is tragically beautiful. Although devoted to him, she refuses to watch him destroy a love that reminds her of the one she once shared with a man who has grown cold and empty.
Her story is a quiet expression of emotional labor. She loves a man who controls everything except his own vulnerability. Even though her love is strong, she pushes him to see his flaws and change, so others don’t have to suffer.
The musical portrays Persephone as pretending not to care in the first act, shifting from bright green to mourning black in the second. It shows her exhaustion with this life and readiness to stand up for herself.
Many women experience this feeling: finding the courage to be heard, refusing to be overlooked, and showing their power and intelligence. Persephone is done hiding behind a flask; she’s ready to speak her truth to the one person who needs to hear it most: Hades.
Morgan Dudley and Allison Russell capture the emotional turmoil of Eurydice and Persephone with perfect precision. Their performances explore the tension between independence and attachment, the choice between survival and romance.
The actresses combine the Greek mythology of Hadestown with a modern lens, allowing audiences to engage deeply with the story and its timeless emotional resonance.
This cast of Hadestown isn’t just acting out another musical theater role they managed to snag. They’re becoming their characters as soon as they step into the spotlight. They’re making sure that when you watch the show, you feel every emotion Anaïs Mitchell felt when she wrote Hadestown, and that you feel like you’re standing in the heart of an ongoing story.
They make you believe, for a moment, that maybe this time Orpheus won’t look back.
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