Welcome to Hadestown: The Teen Edition

One song can change your fate. One song can sweep you from hope and wonder to tragedy and sadness. That’s what made Hadestown riveting when the Broadway show stopped at the Hult Center in November 2024. The question burns — can Orpheus rescue Eurydice from the clutches of the underworld, from Hades and his wife Persephone? Now, Anaïs Mitchell’s folk opera, which debuted on Broadway in 2019, comes to Springfield High School with Hadestown: Teen Edition. The five-performance run begins Feb. 14, and Jill Plumb, the drama director at the school for 21 years, is ready. “It’s one of the largest professional challenges I’ve had at Springfield High School,” she says with a laugh. That includes a revolving stage, a feature in the original Broadway production and a first for Plumb (“And it is awesome!” she notes). It also has some professional freelance help in the form of Vicki Brabham (accompanist), Naomi Castro (vocals), Adam Kelly (choreography), Emily Bolivar (technical consultant) and Perri Allison (costumes). Mostly, though, it’s about the young people in the production, whom Plumb cannot speak highly enough of. There’s James Glavin as Orpheus, Nadia Plumb as Eurydice, Martin Diaz-Alvarado as Hades and Leila Kammerzelt-Murphy as Persephone, as well as Brianna Hernandez as Hermes and Kaci Tanner, Max Britton and Lucas Brooks as the Fates. The Workers are Jade Kemry, Nay Fonseca, John Ward, Benson Hein and Lina Nyamute. “The kids know this. They understand,” Plumb says. “There’s been a lot of excitement and buzz. It’s been magical.”

Hadestown: Teen Edition is 7 pm Feb. 14, 15, 20, 21 and 22 at the Springfield High School Auditorium, 875 7th Street, Springfield. Admission is $6 to $9.

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