New York, NY (November 21, 2023) – Producers Mara Isaacs, Dale Franzen, Hunter Arnold, and Tom Kirdahy announced today that Grammy Award®-winning music icon Ani DiFranco will make her Broadway debut as ‘Persephone’ in the Tony® and Grammy Award-winning Best Musical, Hadestown, at the Walter Kerr Theatre (219 W 48th Street) beginning February 9, 2024.
DiFranco’s history with Hadestown began in 2010 when she invited Anaïs Mitchell to release the original studio album of Hadestown on DiFranco's label, Righteous Babe Records. DiFranco originated the role of ‘Persephone’ on the album, leaving an indelible imprint on the character as the show evolved over the course of several years.
DiFranco commented, “I could not be more thrilled to be joining the cast of Hadestown. It’s like I get to rewind to my New York youth and follow the road not taken.”
Mitchell added, “I can’t really overstate the influence of Ani’s music and example on me as a young songwriter. Poetic, bold, radically emotive and FUN, she simply has been a mythic figure in my life, and I can’t think of anything more beautifully full circle than Ani playing the role of ‘Persephone’ on Broadway. Grateful and awestruck.
Widely considered a feminist icon, Grammy winner Ani DiFranco is the mother of the DIY movement, being one of the first artists to create her own record label in 1990. While she has been known as the “Little Folksinger,” her music has embraced punk, funk, hip hop, jazz, soul, electronica and even more distant sounds. She has shared stages with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Seeger, Kris Kristofferson, Bon Iver, Brandi Carlile, Billy Bragg, Michael Franti, Chuck D., and many more. Her most recent albums include 2021’s Revolutionary Love and the June 2023 25th Anniversary Edition reissue of her seminal album Little Plastic Castle, both on her own label Righteous Babe Records. Her memoir No Walls and the Recurring Dream was released in May 2019 by Viking Books and was a New York Times Top 10 best seller. Her debut children’s book The Knowing is out now.
Hadestown currently stars Betty Who as Persephone (through February 4), Jordan Fisher as Orpheus, Tony Award winner Lillias White as Hermes, Phillip Boykin as Hades, and Solea Pfeiffer as Eurydice. They are joined by Lindsey Hailes, Belén Moyano, and Brit West as the Fates. The chorus of Workers is played by Emily Afton, Malcolm Armwood, Chibueze Ihumoa, Alex Puette and Grace Yoo. The cast includes swings Sojourner Brown, Brandon Cameron, Tara Jackson, Max Kumangai, Alex Lugo, and Tanner Ray Wilson.
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.
Tickets for Hadestown are available at www.seatgeek.com/hadestown-tickets or by visiting the Walter Kerr Theatre box office (219 West 48th Street).
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.