Going down to Hadestown has been the hottest, most sought after ticket on the West End.
When the Original Broadway Cast – consisting of Reeve Carney (Orpheus), Eva Noblezada (Eurydice), Andre De Shields (Hermes), Amber Gray (Persephone) and Patrick Page (Hades) – were announced for a limited run on the West End, it was met with both excitement and nerves. Why were the OBC reuniting? The only reason could be for a pro shot recording of the beloved musical, which made its Broadway debut in 2019.
After a failed attempt at getting tickets during their five week run in the Lyric Theatre, I set myself the delusion of getting tickets to the Pro Shot Recording, which took place on 28th February and 1st March 2025. If you need proof that it pays to be early, I entered the online Hadestown queue at 10.45 and managed to secure tickets to the Friday recording.
Watching that little man in the waiting room was like Orpheus, and thankfully I had a better fate than Eurydice.
This was my second West End visit of this year – the first being the fantastic Titanique where I’ve convinced myself I’m best friends with Celine Dion after a hilarious interaction during the show. Walking up to the Lyric, there was a sense of excitement in the air as the queue was FILLED with Hadestown fans who, like me, were thrilled to have won the Hadestown Ticket War.
I did meet a girl in the queue who recognised me from TikTok because I had been talking a bit about the pro shot recording. There was a delay in entering the theatre which I can only attribute to setting up the cameras, but we did catch a glimpse of the most recent West End Persephone, Rachel Tucker while queuing.
It was around 7.15pm when we were eventually allowed into the theatre and the queue moved SWIFTLY. I was sat in the Grand Circle in the limited view seats, but managed to see the majority of the show. For context, here is a view of what the stalls looked like and the camera setup:
Hadestown is based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. I won’t go into too many details of the show, but I will answer the most frequently asked questions about the pro shot recording.
When and where will the Hadestown Pro Shot be released?
There was no definitive answer to this, as the manager, Rachel, gave no inclination as to when we will see the final recording. There is also no answer to what streaming service will get the rights to Hadestown when it is eventually released, though logical guessing leads me to either Broadway HD or Prime Video.
How did Hadestown adapt to Patrick Page’s injury?
It was revealed before the OBC joined the West End cast that Patrick Page sustained an injury during rehearsals and has not participated in any of the shows in the run up to the recording. Instead, Philip Boykin has been playing the role of Hades.
However, this does not mean that Patrick Page would be missing out on the pro shot recording. A custom cane and boot were created for Patrick to use so he could portray Hades in the recording, and a lot of the filming in front of the audience was done on the main stage.
Click if you want Hadestown Pro Shot spoilers.
During the audience recording, Hades exits stage left with Eurydice as she signs her soul away, and during the Epic III dance, Patrick dances predominantly with his cane. It’s at the very end of the dance when he throws his cane to one of the Fates and walks to Persephone. This was met with HUGE cheers from the audience.
I do think that the exiting with Eurydice will be cleverly edited to look like Hades walks up the stairs for the streamed version of the show. Don’t take my word for it though.
Now when it comes to the show as a standalone theatre production, I thorougly enjoyed watching the original Broadway cast perform. In particular, I was taken aback at how fantastic Amber Gray is as Persephone, and I’m always in awe of the many facets of Eva Noblezada. Andre De Shields was a delight as Hermes.
I did, however, find myself longing for Jordan Fisher’s Orpheus on the stage instead of Reeve Carney. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve watched many a TikTok of Jordan’s phenomenal portrayal of my least favourite theatre character (I can’t forgive Orpheus for literally anything), and to be quite honest, Reeve struggled up against the other power houses in the production, ESPECIALLY the fantastic Fates who in my eyes, stole the entire show.
There was a technical difficulty during Epic III when the stage didn’t move, and Amber filled in the awkwardness with some fun moments that probably won’t make the cut.
Overall though, the wait to see the Original Broadway production was worth it (and hopefully we won’t be waiting long to see the final result of the recording).
