Hadestown’s Amber Gray is in motion. On a warm two-show day at the tail end of Broadway’s awards season, the actor greeted Playbill at the Walter Kerr Theatre, beaming yet barely breaking stride as she glided through the stage door. It had been a busy season for the star, with Anaïs Mitchell’s folk opera garnering 14 Tony nominations (including a Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical nod for Gray), and in her dressing room, the actor is a ball of energy. As she prepares for the afternoon’s performance, she simultaneously chats with her hair supervisor, checks in with her company manager, and keeps tabs on the outside world via her phone.
It’s an impressive amount of juggling, to which the actor has grown accustomed. Not just a performer in a hit musical, Gray is also a working mom, perpetually balancing being present in the moment and one step ahead. And it’s an energy that she grafts onto Persephone, crafting a character who is raucously free-spirited yet tinged with longing and darkness.
Flip through photos of Gray's process of getting into character below:
