Around 2004, singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell was a twenty-something Middlebury College graduate when the melody of “Wait for Me” came to her while driving between performance gigs. She connected the lyrics to the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, a favorite of hers as a child. The story deepened as she put Orpheus, the young and creative optimist, against Hades, the King of the Underworld, who had a true love of his own in Persephone, the Goddess of springtime, flowers, and vegetation.

In collaboration with orchestrator/arranger Michael Chorney and original director/designer Ben t. Matchstick, Hadestown made its premiere as a small performance piece in 2006 at the Old Labor Hall in Barre, Vermont. From 2006 to 2007, Mitchell performed the show with a group of actors at a number of small venues throughout Vermont and Massachusetts before turning it into a concept album in 2010. The album earned international acclaim, which prompted a concert tour to some 60 cities across North America and the U.K. through 2012.

Along the way, Mitchell’s agent sent a copy of the album to producer Dale Franzen who caught a performance of Hadestown at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, California. Franzen immediately saw the potential and began further development at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica, also bringing producer Mara Isaacs into the fold.

In 2012, Mitchell saw the Ars Nova production of Dave Malloy’s Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, which transferred to Broadway in 2016. Mitchell felt an immediate connection with the show’s director, Rachel Chavkin, and the two began collaboration on Hadestown, which premiered its fully staged production at New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) in the summer of 2016. It was during the NYTW run when the show set its sights towards Broadway.

Hadestown played two additional pre-Broadway engagements at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton (Canada) and the National Theatre in London. It began previews on Broadway on March 22, 2019, and opened April 17, 2019, at the Walter Kerr Theatre where it remains today. The Broadway production earned eight Tony® Awards including Best Musical, the Grammy Award® for Best Musical Theater Album, six Outer Critics Circle Awards including Outstanding New Broadway Musical, four Drama Desk Awards, and the Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Broadway Musical.

Learn more at hadestown.com

The Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts cultivates a vibrant and connected community through experiences that bring the Keweenaw together. Located on Michigan Technological University's campus in Houghton, Michigan, the 80,000-square-foot arts center's design is inspired by the inclined look of the local copper mine hoists and shaft houses inside and out. Event spaces include the Rozsa Lobby, James and Margaret Black Performance Hall, Rozsa Backstage, Rozsa Art Galleries, and McArdle Theatre.

As the largest theater in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the Rozsa dramatically expands the region’s access to large-scale performing arts events including Broadway tours, ballet, cirque, music, and more.