Photos provided by T Charles Erickson

Having swept the 2019 Tony Awards, including “Best New Musical,” and also garnering the 2020 Grammy Award for “Best Musical Theater Album,” “Hadestown” was already minted a “must-see” show before coming to Broadway In Chicago.

But after opening at the CIBC Theatre, where it continues through Sunday, March 13, that acclaim is destined to continue thanks to a magnificent cast, memorable songs and a funky jazz band that wouldn’t be out of place in Harry Connick Jr.’s interpretation of New Orleans.

The story itself centers around mythology and the overlapping love stories of King Hades (Kevyn Morrow) and his wife Persephone (Kimberly Marable), plus Orpheus (Nicholas Barasch) and Eurydice (Morgan Siobhan Green) representing the younger generation of gods.

Along with witty narration from Hermes (Levi Kreis), the couples and the ensemble cast do a bang up job singing and dancing in either earthly or supernatural realms.

Credit goes to singer/songwriter/Tony Award winner Anaïs Mitchell and director/fellow Tony recipient Rachel Chavkin, while it’s also worth noting that “Hadestown” is the first musical in over a decade (and fourth in the entire history of Broadway) where a woman was the sole author behind music, lyrics and book.

Those aspects are all effortlessly intertwined to examine several facets of faith, doubt, fear and love, ultimately leading to the fate of the four main deities, while providing symbolism that reflects the seasons of both climate and humanity.

Even if the journey towards a shocking conclusion isn’t without its fair share of heartbreak, “Hadestown” nonetheless provides those who patiently wait the hope to “see how the world could be, in spite of the way that it is.”

“Hadestown” continues at the CIBC Theatre through Sunday, March 13. For additional details, visit Hadestown.com and BroadwayInChicago.com.

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