Hadestown: What you need to know about the West End folk musical and how to find tickets

Learn all about Anaïs Mitchell’s award-winning cult hit and plan your Hadestown London trip

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Hadestown takes its inspiration from two Ancient Greek myths. One is Orpheus and Eurydice, about a musician who journeys into the Underworld in search of his lost love. The other is Hades and Persephone, which sees the latter spending half the year in that Underworld with her devilish husband – that’s why, legend has it, we get six months of wintry weather.
The inimitable folk singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell combined elements of those tales in her story of a singer, Orpheus, who wants to transform the world with his music, and his romance with a starving girl, Eurydice, who makes a fateful pact with the evil industrialist Hades. The show also has a charismatic narrator, Hermes, and commentary from a trio of Fates.
This gorgeous show is also about how we tell stories, how we make sense of our world, and the enduring hope that we can change it for the better if we work together. Featuring music and design that suggests Depression-era New Orleans, but an otherworldly version, it’s a completely unique piece of theatre.
You can find seats for the London production of Hadestown on Telegraph Tickets. Since this is an intimate character study, it’s worth getting stalls seats if you can. Check Telegraph Tickets for the latest prices.
The Hadestown London production has assembled an incredible collection of talent for this exciting West End run. Irish actor Donál Finn stars as Orpheus. His past work includes Albion at the Almeida Theatre, TV series Wheel of Time and The Witcher, and film How to Build a Girl. Playing Eurydice is Grace Hodgett Young, who made a memorable West End debut in the smash-hit production of Sunset Boulevard.
The cast also features Zachary James (Akhnaten for English National Opera, The Addams Family on Broadway) as Hades, Melanie La Barrie (& Juliet in the West End and on Broadway) as Hermes, and Gloria Onitiri (The Bodyguard, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella) as Persephone. 
The score and script are by Anaïs Mitchell, and the show is directed by Rachel Chavkin. Both won Tony Awards for their work; Hadestown won eight Tonys altogether, including for Best Musical.
Hadestown runs at the Lyric Theatre, which is on Shaftesbury Avenue – right in the centre of London’s famous West End.
Hadestown is 2hr 30, including an interval.
Hadestown is currently booking to December 22, 2024. 
The age recommendation for Hadestown is eight plus. The show doesn’t have much sensitive content, but does deal with some darker themes.
Yes, the show runs some captioned, audio-described and BSL-signed performances. Upcoming dates can be found on the theatre website.
“The show is imbued with a passionate sense that here is a tale worth hearing and that something happens in the act of shared storytelling that’s akin to Orpheus’s fabled way with a lyre: everyone in earshot gets spellbound.” Read the full Telegraph review.
Yes. We first got a glimpse of this wonderful show when it played at the National Theatre in London in 2018, before heading over the pond to Broadway. Finally it’s come to the West End – and it’s definitely worth the wait. You can now catch it at the Lyric Theatre, where it’s playing until at least December 2024.
Hadestown isn’t quite like the usual West End musical, in that it is a more intimate, atmospheric production rather than a big spectacle. However, it’s just as compelling, with vivid characters, a mystical tale, and a beautiful score that has elements of folk music, blues, gospel, country and jazz, performed by a brilliant cast and onstage band.
Hadestown has had a long and extraordinary journey, beginning as a passion project by Mitchell and a concept album, then developed into a full stage musical, and travelling from Off Broadway via Canada and London to Broadway and finally the West End. Along the way, fans of unique and exquisitely crafted musical theatre have fallen head over heels in love with it. Visit the West End production and see if you do too.