Recorded in London in 2025, Hadestown: The Musical is a proshot production of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Hadestown featuring the five principal actors from the original Broadway cast returning to their roles, along with the West End supporting cast. The musical adapts the tragic Greek myths of Orpheus & Eurydice and Hades & Persephone, juxstaposing these two love stories in a modern tale.

Hades (Patrick Page), the ruler of the underworld, falls in love with Persephone (Amber Gray) and the two are married. However, while Persephone is in Hades’ underground kingdom, life above ground no longer blooms. It gets dark and cold, and flowers no longer grow. So Persephone spends half her time away, above ground, bringing forth the seasons. But this has started to take a toll on Persephone.

Above ground, the weather has been harsh, and runaway Eurydice (Eva Noblezada) has been hungry, looking for food. She makes her way to a railway station, where she meets Orpheus. He is the son of a muse, a poor young man who works at the station, and an aspiring musician. When he sees Eurydice, Orpheus instantly falls in love, and wants to make her his wife. While Eurydice is more cynical about the world, Orpheus is much more hopeful. He’s been working on a song that will bring back the Spring, and an end to the harsh weather.

While waiting for the preoccupied Orpheus to finish his song, the weather grows increasingly cold, and Eurydice gets caught in a snowstorm. Urged on by the Fates (Bella Brown, Madeline Charlemagne, Allie Daniel), and lured by Hades offering a ticket to the warmth of Hadestown, she decides to sign a deal, becoming one of Hades’ indentured factory workers. Once Orpheus realizes that Eurydice is missing, he resolves to head to Hadestown himself and rescue her. However, it’s a dangerous trip, and he will only have one chance at saving her.

Narrating the tale, and serving as the audience’s tour guide is Hermes (André De Shields).

I was not familiar with the underlying Greek mythology of these characters before watching this production, so I didn’t know how the story was going to play out. Overall I was quite impressed with this production. The principal cast is fantastic. They have great chemistry with one another, and deliver both emotion and humor. The production has many memorable musical numbers, and an interesting story that takes some unexpected turns (if you’re not familiar with the story). While I wasn’t really a fan of the ending, it does remain true to the mythology, so I understand it.

The aesthetic of the production is depression-era New Orleans crossed with steampunk elements. The set is fairly simple, functioning as both the railway station as well as the Hadestown factory/speakeasy, with some minimal lighting changes. The orchestra is on stage the whole time in period costume along with the chorus, who serve both as patrons at the station as well as factory workers. Well-choreographed dance sequences also help to inform the characters and story.

The musical style of the production is a bit unique and varied. Songs range from more jazzy numbers, to country or spiritual-inspired songs, to things that sound closer to more standard Broadway tunes. It is an entertaining mix, with many songs that will get stuck in your head afterwards.

There’s some breaking of the fourth wall, such as when Persephone introduces the members of the band, who also serve as the band at her speakeasy. This proshot production also opens with some backstage footage of the cast preparing to go onstage, and sometimes cuts to audience reaction shots, or wider shots that include the audience in view. Overall, it is well shot, providing both close-ups and wider shots that are able to capture both the full on stage spectacle as well some of the more emotional performances.

Bleecker Street/Alliance Home Entertainment have released Hadestown: The Musical on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital. We were sent a copy of the Blu-ray release for review. The video presentation looks great, with a clean, crisp picture that captures the production’s unique lighting and color tones beautifully. The level of detail is solid throughout. The audio presentation is also impressive. While primarily focused on the front channels, songs really come to life and feel quite full.

The Blu-ray disc comes packed in a standard HD keepcase, which is covered in a sturdy carboard slipcover. Unfortunately the disc is barebones, with no bonus material, and no digital copy is included. It does, however, offer a song selection menu option to jump right to specific song performances.

What’s Included:

Film: (2:21:17)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
• Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:

No bonus material is included on this release.

Final Thoughts:

Bleecker Street’s Blu-ray of Hadestown: The Musical should please fans of the musical and those of musicals in general. The proshot is really well done, providing an excellent way to experience this award-winning musical. The original Boradway cast is excellent, and Hadestown has some really memorable music and an interesting story. While the disc is barebones, the presentation itself looks and sounds solid.