West End Hadestown Announces 3 Principal Cast Changes

New casting has been announced for the London return of the Tony-winning musical Hadestown, which officially opened at the Lyric Theatre in the West End February 21.

Beginning August 27, Dylan Wood (No Love Songs, Dog Days) will join the cast, making his West End debut in the role of Orpheus, while Madeline Charlemagne, who has been playing a Fate, will step into the role of Eurydice. Francessca Daniella-Baker (The Lion King, My Fair Lady) will also join the cast as one of the Fates.

Dónal Finn and Grace Hodgett Young will play their final performances as Orpheus and Eurydice, respectively, August 25. Young will soon star as Betty Schaefer in the Broadway revival of Sunset Boulevard.

Check out the Hadestown merchandise in the Playbill Store

The London cast continues to star Zachary James as Hades, Melanie La Barrie as Hermes, and Gloria Onitiri as Persephone; Bella Brown and Allie Daniel as the Fates; Lauren Azania, Tiago Dhondt Bamberger, Beth Hinton-Lever, Waylon Jacobs, and Christopher Short as the Workers; and Lucinda Buckley, Winny Herbert, Ryesha Higgs, Ediz Mahmut, Miriam Nyarko, Brianna Ogunbawo, and Simon Oskarsson as swings.

Anaïs Mitchell's underworld-set folk opera, which premiered Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop in 2016, made its London premiere at the National Theatre in November 2018. The production subsequently opened on Broadway, where it continues at the Walter Kerr, in April 2019. Read reviews of the current London production by clicking here.

The creative team features set designer Rachel Hauck, costume designer Michael Krass, lighting designer Bradley King, sound designers Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz, choreographer David Neumann, music supervisor and vocal arranger Liam Robinson, arrangers and orchestrators Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose, and dramaturg Ken Cerniglia. Casting for the London production is by Jacob Sparrow.

Mitchell said in an earlier statement, “We’re all thrilled to be bringing Hadestown back to London! We truly loved our time at the National Theatre in 2018 and felt so welcomed by your city that it feels like a homecoming to be returning (to the West End)! I’m excited to work in and with the fantastic theatre community of London, and to share the newest version of our show, as there was a great deal of development pre-Broadway based on things we learned at the National! And it’s always a curious gift to witness how this epic myth vibrates differently in different places and times. That is, West End Hadestown will be its own world—born of London and the now—and we can’t wait to discover it.”

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.

The show, featuring a book and score by Mitchell, won eight 2019 Tony Awards: Best Director of a Musical (Rachel Chavkin), Best Featured Actor in a Musical (André De Shields), Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Bradley King), Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Rachel Hauck), Best Sound Design of a Musical (Jessica Paz and Nevin Steinberg), Best Orchestrations (Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose), Best Original Score (Mitchell), and Best Musical.

Hadestown is produced in London by Mara Isaacs, Dale Franzen, Hunter Arnold, Tom Kirdahy, and the National Theatre in association with JAS Theatricals.

Visit UK.Hadestown.com.