Photos: First Look at Betty Who in Rehearsals for HADESTOWN

International pop music sensation Betty Who will join the cast of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Hadestown as ‘Persephone’ beginning on Tuesday, September 5, 2023. Best known for her chart-topping singles such as “I Love You Always Forever” and “Somebody Loves You,” Hadestown will mark Betty Who’s stage debut.  

Get a first look at Betty in rehearsals below!

Hadestown currently stars Grammy Award winner Reeve Carney as ‘Orpheus’, Solea Pfeiffer as ‘Eurydice’, and Tony Award winner Lillias White as ‘Hermes’. They are joined by Amelia Cormack, Lindsey Hailes, and Brit West as ‘The Fates’. The ‘Workers’ chorus is played by Emily Afton, Malcolm Armwood, Alex Lugo, Sayo Oni, Alex Puette, and Grace Yoo. The cast also includes swings Brandon Cameron, Max Kumangai, Yael YaYa Reich, Eddie Noel Rodríguez, and Allysa Shorte. Jewelle Blackman as ‘Persephone’ and Tom Hewitt as ‘Hades’ will have their final performance on Sunday, September 3.

The winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards, including Best Score and Best Director, Hadestown originated as Anaïs Mitchell’s indie theater project that toured Vermont which she then turned into an acclaimed album. With Rachel Chavkin, her artistic collaborator, Hadestown has been transformed into a genre-defying new musical that blends modern American folk music with New Orleans-inspired jazz to reimagine a sweeping ancient tale.

Hadestown marks the first time in more than a decade that a woman has been the solo author of a musical: writing the music, lyrics, and book, and is the fourth time in Broadway history a woman has accomplished this creative feat. It also marks the first time in Broadway history that a show’s female composer and female director both won Tony Awards for their work. Earlier this year, the landmark musical became the longest running show in the history of the Walter Kerr Theatre and holds the record for highest grossing musical in that venerated stage’s 100-year history.

Following two intertwining love stories — that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone — Hadestown invites audiences on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Mitchell’s beguiling melodies and Chavkin’s poetic imagination pit industry against nature, doubt against faith, and fear against love. Performed by a vibrant ensemble of actors, dancers, and singers, Hadestown delivers a deeply resonant and defiantly hopeful theatrical experience.

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