YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Mahoning Valley premiere of the hit Broadway musical “Hadestown” (teen edition) will open this week.
Tr-City Drama Club will present the show at Top Hat Productions, 4220 Youngstown-Poland Road, at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6-7 and 13-14 and 2:30 p.m. Feb. 8 and 15. Tickets are $18.75. To purchase, click HERE.
“Hadestown” won eight Tony Awards in 2019, including Best Musical.
Performance rights for the teen edition were made available in 2024, and Tri-City Drama Club is the first theater in the area to obtain them.
Tri-City is owned and operated by Top Hat Productions. It presents a musical every year, using students from area high schools.
“Hadestown” retells the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in a jazz/folk style. Eurydice is facing poverty, so she accepts Hades’ offer of food and shelter in his industrial underworld. This prompts Orpheus to journey there to rescue her.
Tri-City Drama Club’s production will include multiple-level sets and eye-catching technical scenes. It is being directed by Melanie Lucas, with musical directors Keith Stepanic, Evan Barrett and Michelle Robbins Jones.
Brian Palumbo designed the set and costumes. Jeff Chann is handling technical design.
Lucas latched onto the musical for several reasons.
“I chose ‘Hadestown’ not only because it is fresh and beautiful, but because it gives us the opportunity to bite into something challenging and meaningful,” she said.
Lucas caught a performance of the show’s touring production a few years ago. “It has themes of hope, doubt and choosing to keep going even when the outcome isn’t guaranteed,” she said.
The auditions for the show attracted actors from well beyond the Tri-City’s typical Struthers-Campbell-Lowellville area.
“I wanted to do a show that people have been excitedly waiting for the opportunity to perform in and see,” Lucas said.
Students from Columbiana, Austintown, Champion, Achievement House Cyber Charter School, Mahoning County Career & Technical Center, Canfield, Springfield, PA Cyber Charter School, Ursuline, Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, McDonald, Struthers and Trumbull County Career & Technical Center are part of the cast and crew.
The cast includes Abagayle Kane, Alex Pappalardo, Charlotte Ward, Kai Green, Marissa McKenzie, Maeve Law, Cadence Treich and Bella Barber. Ensemble members are Ellie Kistler, Sammy Harberson, Regina Miller, Danilo Papalardo, Lucia Pappalardo, Starr Rudolph and Lily Smiley.
Pictured at top: Bella Barber, Kai Green, Cadence Treich and Maeve Law in a scene from Tri-City’s production of “Hadestown.”