Opera Australia has announced that it will stage the hit Broadway musical Hadestown in February 2025.

OA will co-produce the show with JONES Theatrical Group. The news affirms OA’s continuing commitment to the presentation of musical theatre as part of its annual programming.

Hadestown in London’s West End, 2024. Photo © Marc Brenner

Written by American singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, and developed with director Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown is a modern reimaging of two myths – Orpheus and Eurydice’s doomed love affair and Persephone’s abduction by Hades. Hermes acts as the narrator with the three Fates as a girl group.

The genre-defying musical, which was described by The New York Times as “sumptuous, hypnotic and somewhat hyperactive”, blends modern American folk music with New Orleans-inspired jazz and ethereal arias. The swinging arrangements are performed by an onstage seven-piece band.

Hadestown began life in 2006 as an independent community project in Vermont. After years of development, it opened on Broadway in 2019 where it won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Score. Five years later, it is still playing to packed houses.

In 2020, it won a Grammy Award for Best Music Theatre...