Hadestown Coming soon to the big screens, the Tony Award-winning musical looks to expand its audience, and perhaps chart a new course for live theatrical footage.
The live-action adaptation of the musical will come to theaters for five nights starting July 24, with the film featuring five original cast members. After seven years on Broadway and two years in the West End, the goal of the film version is to further spread word of mouth about the show.
“I kind of look at the fans Hadestown “In concentric circles, and the inner circle is the core fans, and then they tell their friends, and then there’s the next circle, so they tell their friends, and then the next circle, and part of what we’re trying to do is build concentric circles as wide as possible to bring everyone into the storytelling,” said producer Mara Isaac.
The show intertwines the mythical love stories of Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone, as Orpheus must descend into Hades’ underworld to rescue Eurydice after a difficult time befalls the couple. Anaïs Mitchell has penned a popular jazz composition and book. Rachel Chavkin directed the stage production.
The idea for the film pre-dated the 2019 Broadway run, but producer Mara Isaac said the show wanted to make sure they had the right creative team and vision for the film before proceeding.
“When I think about live footage, very few have figured out how to translate the theatrical experience into an actual cinematic experience that has fidelity to what the theatrical experience is, but actually really works in the medium of film,” she said. “There were certainly captures, but there was always some sort of settlement.”
She is calling Hadestown Led by director Brett Sullivan of Steam Motion and Sound, the film is a mix of a film adaptation of the show and live theater capture, with Sullivan using cinematic tools to tell the story. One example, Isaac said, is the choice to take a single shot of Eurydice (played by Eva Noblezada) singing “Flowers,” with the camera moving slowly as she laments her choice to go to the underworld.
The live-action shoot was filmed in London’s West End, where costs are lower, but where there is also a different contracting setup, with all cast members leaving and starting at the same time. This paved the way for original cast members Noblezada, Reeve Carney, Patrick Page, Amber Gray and Andre De Shields to participate in the film’s production in London for one month in the winter of 2025 in order to star in the film. Isaacs said the film’s lower production costs made it seem less “risky,” as the film was shot on spec, before it was acquired by Bleecker Street’s Crosswalk and LD Entertainment and then premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Three live performances were filmed for the live capture, with a few additional filming days without a crowd in order to get the required camera angles. Filming was a multi-camera setup with mobile cranes.
It is relatively rare to release live footage of a production while the show is still on stage — Hamilton It is one of those rare examples – where many in the industry fear the film will lead to audiences cannibalizing live theatre. Isaacs said she is still waiting to see how the data turns out, but said she believes cultural consumption has changed such that consumers are more interested in repeat viewing. Hadestown He’s also been a recurring presence on the show thanks to a number of creative acting choices.
“I think we really need to take into account how younger generations consume culture and their interest in having the same experience from multiple perspectives,” Isaacs said.
