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Hadestown: Teen Edition

  • This full-length Teen Edition of Anaïs Mitchell’s haunting, jazz-inflected folk opera follows Orpheus’ mythical quest to overcome Hades and regain the favor of his one true love, Eurydice.

    * * PERFORMANCE RIGHTS CURRENTLY WITHDRAWN * *

    • More information

    Description

    • Full Length Musical
    • Drama, Fables/Folktales
    • 120 minutes

    • Target Audience: Teen (Age 14 - 18)
    • Orchestra Size: Medium

    • Performance Group:
    • High School/Secondary

    • Accolades:
    • Winner! Eight Tony Awards including Best Musical (2019)
      Winner! Four Drama Desk Awards (2019)
      Winner! Six Outer Critics Circle Awards including Outstanding New Broadway Musical (2019)
      Winner! Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical (2019)
      Winner! Grammar Award for Best Musical Theater Album (2020)
    Hadestown: Teen Edition is a full-length adaptation of Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown, modified for performance by teen actors for family audiences. The Teen Edition is only available for school and youth groups with performers 19 years old and younger.

    This intriguing and beautiful folk opera delivers a deeply resonant and defiantly hopeful theatrical experience. Following two intertwining love stories – that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of immortal King Hades and lady Persephone – Hadestown invites audiences on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Inspired by traditions of classic American folk music and vintage New Orleans jazz, Mitchell’s beguiling sung-through musical pits industry against nature, doubt against faith, and fear against love.
    Changes made for the Teen Edition include:

    • Adjusted vocal arrangements to better accommodate teen voices, including modified FATES features and transposed keys.

    • Original five-member WORKER chorus converted into a flexible and expandable SATB WORKER chorus.

    • Removal of stage action and language related to substance abuse and sexual references.

    • Suggest dialogue and music adjustments for productions utilizing performance tracks.

    • "Our Lady of the Underground," "Nothing Changes" and "We Raise Our Cups" approved as optional cuts for productions utilizing stage tracks or requiring a shorter run time. 
    REVIEWS:

    "Achingly beautiful, thought-provoking, powerful and prophetic."

     Newsday

    "Sumptuous... Gorgeous... As good as it gets... You wish you could live in the glowy moment forever."

     The New York Times

    "Utterly fabulous... arrives on Broadway with a furnace-like blast of creativity."

     The Hollywood Reporter

    "A transporting musical hit... Anaïs Mitchell’s score is a joyful combination of folk, pop, Dixieland and blues that will make you want to rehear it as soon as the lights come up"

     Time Out

    "Unforgettable. Simply one of the most exquisite works of musical storytelling I’ve seen in my more than 25 years as a theater critic. In its supple convergence of story and song, Hadestown represents a step forward for the art form."

     Los Angeles Times

    "Visionary and ravishing. An intricate and gorgeous feat of songwriting, a vehicle for dynamite performances and a courageous experiment with form, Hadestown is cause for celebration."

     New York Magazine

    "Heavenly. Haunting. Exquisite."

     WNYC

    "The songs are gorgeous, the band is hot, and the lyrics are eerily apt for the times."

     The New Yorker

    "Hadestown feels like something more intuitive, elemental, and finely woven than a traditional musical."

     The Guardian


    Premiere Production:
  • After its origins as a DIY community theatre project in 2006 and a studio album in 2010, Hadestown electrified audiences with its 2016 world premiere at New York Theatre Workshop, becoming the longest-running show in that celebrated theatre’s 40-year history. The production then received its Canadian premiere at Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre in 2017 and then a 2018 sold-out engagement at London’s National Theatre. Hadestown opened on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre on April 17, 2019, developed with and directed by Rachel Chavkin, starring Reeve Carney, André De Shields, Amber Gray, Eva Noblezada and Patrick Page. Hadestown made its West End debut in February 2024 at the Lyric Theatre, London. Directed by Chavkin, the production featured Dónal Finn, Grace Hodgett Young, Zachary James, Melanie La Barrie and Gloria Onitiri.

    • Characters

    • Casting: 2M, 5F, 1M or F
    • Casting Attributes: Roles for Multicultural Casting, Role(s) for Non-Binary Actor(s), Flexible casting, Expandable casting
    • Chorus Size: Small

  • ORPHEUS – Lyre-playing poet, gifted and naïve (Tenor with strong falsetto, range: D3-C5 (opt. Eb5))
    EURYDICE – A runaway, tough and vulnerable (Mezzo-Soprano, range: F#3-D5)
    HADES – Compulsive industrialist, boss-king of Hadestown (Bass, range: F2-C#4)
    PERSEPHONE – Queen of nature and the seasons, a lush (Mezzo-Soprano/Alto, range: F3-C5)
    HERMES – Charismatic guide and storyteller, mentor to Orpheus (Tenor/Bass, range: C3-B4)
    FATES – Three sisters, vicious and delicious, voices in the head ,em>(Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Alto, range E3-D5 (Fate 1 up to Eb5))
    WORKERS – Spirits of labor and community, a physical and choral presence (SATB)

  • AUTHOR'S NOTE:
    BAND – The onstage BAND, while not listed with the characters above, is an omnipresence in Hadestown, and may join in the singing at times. For licensees using performance tracks, we’ve provided suggested workarounds for “Road to Hell” and “Our Lady of the Underground” (two numbers in which the BAND is directly introduced).

  • WORKERS – In the Broadway production, the WORKERS were performed by five ensemble members. While the WORKERS to accommodate any cast size, a minimum of six WORKERS is required. Vocal arrangements for Hadestown: Teen Edition have been tailored for teen voices. Musical adjustments include transposed keys for some cues, and SATB arrangements for the WORKERS and some COMPANY moments. WORKERS can be played by actors of any gender. Whenever the WORKERS sing in chorus, the FATES are welcome to join as choral support. In those instances, in order to maintain their distinct narratives/identities, the FATES may be physically present but should not be featured visually.

  • HERMES – The character of HERMES has been played on Broadway by both male- and female-identifying performers. In the latter case, whenever HERMES is referred to as “Mister Hermes,” performers should use “Missus Hermes.” If that phrase ever appears in print materials, please avoid the spelling “Mrs.” There is no alternate vocal score, but every HERMES should feel free to place lines or verses in a different octave if it feels or sounds better. On the West End we have implemented nonbinary language for HERMES. When HERMES introduces themselves in “Road to Hell,” they say: “And a god with feathers on their feet” and “Yes, it’s Hermes, that's me!” When ORPHEUS addresses HERMES in “Wait For Me (Intro)” and its reprise, he says: “Scuse me, Hermes?” And in “Come Home With Me (Reprise)” ORPHEUS says: “It was Hermes told me so.”

  • Along those lines, we are still discovering ways in which the casting of Hadestown can become more diverse, and your production will be part of that discovery! These mythic characters are archetypal but also reimagined and open to interpretation by actors of all gender identities. It has felt important to us both to reflect the diversity of the community in which the story is presented and to be mindful of the narrative implications of those choices. For any questions regarding casting, please contact your Licensing Representative.

    • Available Material

    Name Price
    Perusal Material This is optional.

    1 x Vocal Book
    1 x Libretto

    		$0.00
    Libretto This is optional. Order Now

    Hadestown: Teen Edition is a full-length adaptation of Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown, modified for performance by teen actors for family audiences. The Teen Edition is only available for school and youth groups with performers 19 years old and younger.

    PLEASE NOTE: The LIBRETTO is available for SALE ONLY and is not available for hire as part of the Rehearsal Material set. It must be purchased separately.

    		$24.95

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