Anyone who knows me knows about my obsession with the Tony Award winning musical Hadestown. My senior yearbook quote was from the show, I can quote all two hours of the musical from memory, and I regularly count the day I saw the touring production in 2021 as one of the best moments of my life. So you can imagine how ecstatic I was when I found out my favorite musical was getting a proshot filmed and released in theaters.
Originally starting as a 2010 concept album by AnaĂŻs Mitchell, Hadestown was later developed into a stage version with Rachel Chavkin, going on to have productions in Canada, London, and eventually Broadway where it is still running today. What first started off as a community theatre production has now become a beloved Broadway musical with eight Tony awards, a Grammy award, seven years and running on Broadway, two national tours, and has had productions in London, Australia, South Korea, and the Netherlands.Â
The story of Hadestown traces through two well-known Greek myths, that of Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone, set against an apocalyptic, industrial background with a musical score inspired by folk, jazz, and the blues. This combination of age-old stories paired with a modern background creates a beautifully heartbreaking story centered around the importance of love and art, while also touching on current issues that plague our world now such as economic inequality, greed, exploitation, and the climate crisis.Â
So why is it such a big deal that Hadestown is getting a proshot released in theaters?
For most Broadway musicals the only way to watch is to physically go to New York, to hope a touring production comes to a city near you, or find an illegal recording from someone who went. As someone who has spent the past six years with the only way to access my favorite musical, outside of the soundtrack, being a video with muffled vocals and camera angles that often missed large portions of the stage, I’m thrilled to finally be able to see a professional recording with sound engineering and multiple camera angles to capture all the details I might have otherwise missed.  Â
Additionally, professional recordings of Broadway productions expand the reach and audience of these shows, leading to increased popularity. I remember when the Hamilton proshot came out on Disney+ in 2020, forever cementing the already popular musical into a lasting piece of media that could be watched at home instead of spending large amounts of money to travel and see it in person. Hadestown’s proshot release could not only boost interest in the show, but create more theatre accessibility to millions who otherwise couldn’t watch it
I’m personally very excited to see the original cast in the proshot. As someone who has obsessively listened to the original cast recording on Spotify for years and who only had the privilege to see the touring cast in 2021, being able to see the original cast return to their roles on a big screen is extremely exciting. Reeve Carney, Eva Noblezada, Patrick Page, Amber Gray, and André De Shields all returned to the stage in February of 2025 to reprise their main roles as Orpheus, Eurydice, Hades, Persephone, and Hermes for a limited run while filming was taking place. This moment is particularly beautiful, due to Noblezada and Carney, who first met in London in 2018 during a previous iteration of Hadestown, now being married which I think makes the story so much more romantic.
Although ultimately a tragic story, Hadestown is a story about hope in the world despite all odds. With its repeated line “To the world we dream about, and the one we live in now” it delivers a message that I think this world desperately needs today, and I’m excited to see how new audiences react to one of my favorite pieces of art.
I could write a 20-page paper about the intersecting themes and genius behind the song lyrics and production of the musical, but to save you the time I highly recommend checking out the proshot and see its genius for yourself. The Hadestown proshot hits North American theaters on July 24 this summer and I promise you won’t be disappointed.