Hadestown, winner of eight Tony awards and a Grammy for best theatre musical album, is coming to Calgary this November as part of the production’s North American tour.
A modern take on the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Hadestown has been critically acclaimed and beloved by audiences throughout it’s run on both Broadway and in the West End.
The production tells the story of singer-songwriter Orpheus who chases his love Eurydice into the underworld to rescue her from Hades’ hellish industrial nightmarescape.
Amaya Braganza, a veteran of the Broadway stage, recently took over the lead role of the production as Eurydice ahead of the tour dates in Calgary.
“Hadestown has been a dream role of mine. I watched the show when it came out a few years ago, and once I saw it, I was like ‘I need to be in this,'” she said.
“I think this role is just super, super special because she’s not your typical Eurydice.”
Braganza said getting to perform the character, conceptualized by playwright Anaïs Mitchell, is a role that let her inhabit a woman who is strong, resilient, a fighter, and a survivor—all traits in a role that are not always given to women of colour.
“Representation is very important to me, and it’s rare for people of colour and women of colour to be performing strong female characters that don’t necessarily fit in with the binary and the stereotypes of what we typically are placed into in this industry,” she said.
She said that she has continually been drawn to the messages of hope and community that are weaved throughout the plays two acts.
“There are several moments in the show, especially like in Road to hell, where we connect with the audience and break that fourth wall,” Braganza said.
“It makes you feel like you’re not alone in this world, and that we’re all in this together and that we can still hope for a better world, no matter what, no matter the systems in place, and no matter what we’re experiencing at that moment—just knowing that community is most important.”
Braganza said the audience response to the tour dates she’s been on so far since October have been overwhelming.
“I just received so much love from the fans and also from the team and the cast. It made that transition really smooth. I’m very, very lucky to be in a cast and working with a team that really supports you and will be there for you for anything,” she said.
“I was also fortunate enough to open in my hometown back in L.A., so that was just such a blessing for family and friends and just being back where I grew up doing theater.”
Braganza is joined by new cast members Lana Gordon as Persephone and Will Mann as Hermes, alongside returning performers Matthew Patrick Quinn as Hades and J. Antonio Rodriguez as Orpheus.
Hadestown will be on stage at the Jubilee Auditorium for four dates from Nov. 21 through 26.
Tickets for the production are available at hadestown.com/tour.
