Several cast members and creative team members from the Tony-winning musical Hadestown got together virtually for a Pride roundtable June 28. Watch Timothy Hughes, T. Oliver Reid, Jessie Shelton, Anthony Chatmon, Ahmad Simmons, producer Tom Kirdahy, and stage manager Cherie B. Tay share what Pride means to them above.
"I hope Pride can expand to include Black Lives Matter and Black trans women; we would not be here without them," says Hughes. The performer, who is a part of the Worker's Chorus, added that he hopes to spend the next year expanding his view of Pride as a protest to go beyond the issues that affect him. "I'm going to fight for everybody more in the community."
Worker Chorus cast mates Anthony Chatmon and Ahmad Simmons (who left the production in September 2019 and went on to play Diesel in the 2020 revival of West Side Story), added that the intersection of Black Lives Matter and Pride is a tremendous opportunity for marginalized groups to come together not just for a month. "It's about all of it making sense all the time and being unapologetic about it," says Simmons.
WATCH: Hadestown Celebrates a Year on Broadway With This New Video
Hadestown began previews on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre March 22, 2019. The production, directed by Tony winner Rachel Chavkin with choreography by David Neumann, was nominated for 14 Tony Awards, winning eight including Best Musical.
Featuring music, lyrics, and a book by Tony winner Anaïs Mitchell, Hadestown intertwines two myths—that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone—using a folk sound to score a journey to the underworld and back.
André De Shields in the original Broadway cast of Hadestown
