If you were as obsessed as I was with The Summer I Turned Pretty when reading the books and especially after the show came out, then you have definitely heard about Hadestown. Lola Tung, the star of The Summer I Turned Pretty, recently joined the cast of Hadestown in February, starring alongside highly acclaimed Jordan Fisher, Philip Boykin, and many other talented actors. Coming from a small town in Pennsylvania, I was never really into Broadway, besides when Hamilton came out on Disney+. But, Hadestown changed my entire opinion on Broadway and made me want to see every single show now.
I mostly went for Tung and Fisher but left loving the entire cast. On the Friday before my show, my friend and I caught the stage door and met Boykin, who was just about the nicest guy ever. We even got a photo with him, and even though we had no Playbill for him to sign, he still spoke to us kindly and made us all laugh. That Sunday, my friend and I showed up as soon as the box office opened because we knew we needed to see the show after that interaction. Plus, we wanted to catch the stage door again (which is my new favorite thing).
We ended up getting $40 standing-room tickets, which wasn’t the worst thing in the world. We explored the city until our 3 p.m. show, where we waited in a line that moved quickly to go in. To add to it, we befriended one of the Walter Kerr Theatre security/ushers, and everyone there was so unbelievably nice with a great sense of humor. One of my favorite theater experiences ever, especially since I only have one. Our show was pretty full, but a lot of seats did open up that we could’ve taken after intermission, but we stayed standing. This ended up being a good thing as during the second act, Fisher came directly behind me to run through the aisle and onto the stage. He smiled at me, I swear. I’ve never squeezed my friend’s arm so hard in my life. (I was standing in room number 2 in case you want this experience too.)
I don’t want to spoil the show, but if you take anything from this, my advice is to go see the show. Especially before Fisher leaves, though his ending date has not been announced yet. For our show, Lillias White was out and Malcolm Armwood played Hermes, which was just incredible. He was absolutely amazing, everyone’s voices just seemed to mesh together so well. Like they were all made for their roles. The chemistry between Tung and Fisher as Eurydice and Orpheus was jaw-dropping and slightly heartbreaking as someone in love with them both. Boykin played an amazing Hades, with the most perfect tone and execution for the role. Though I was not the biggest fan of Ani Difranco as Persephone, I’ve heard that a lot of people love her in the role. That night, it just wasn’t my favorite thing. Overall, Hadestown was an amazing show to have as my first Broadway show. The Walter Kerr Theatre has the most excellent workers who know exactly how to do their job and how to make things run smoothly, while still being extremely personable. Each actor brought energy to their characters and you could tell they loved working with one another. The music was filled with emotion and everything about the choreography made you never want to look away. Afterward, you can catch them often at the stage door, though I only met Boykin and an understudy who was in for one of the workers. Still, I never caught his name nor could I find it online. Also, the show ends around the same time as other Broadway shows if you want to catch another stage door. I ended up meeting Elle Fanning and Sarah Paulson at their stage door for Appropriate right after my show.