Here’s a “Word to the Wise”— come see San Marin’s “Hadestown: Teen Edition”

To the Japanese, they were known as Izanami and Izanagi. In the Bible, they are known as the Story of Lot. However, to the Greeks and most of the world, they are known as a tragedy: the Tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice. 

Different variations of the tale are known worldwide, but the most common is this: Orpheus was the son of a muse, a “poor boy working on a song.” He fell in love with Eurydice, a “young girl looking for something to eat.” On their wedding day, she was bitten by a snake and went to the Underworld to live with Hades, the god of the Underworld and the dead. Orpheus goes after her, and Hades makes him a deal: Eurydice can leave with him, so long as Orpheus doesn’t look back and trusts that she is following. The tragic tale ends with Orpheus looking back, and Eurydice is cursed to live in the Underworld with Hades forever.

Put this sad story to a soundtrack of jazz and plop it in Depression-era New Orleans, and you have “Hadestown,” a musical intertwining the tales of Orpheus, Eurydice, Hades, and his wife Persephone, all narrated by Hermes, the god of thieves, while the notorious Three Fates “sing in the back of your mind.” 

“Hadestown” was first written in 2006 as a community theatre project by American singer-songwriter and musician Anaïs Mitchell, who later released a concept album featuring songs from the show in 2010. It wasn’t until 2012 when director Rachel Chavkin joined Mitchell in creating the show that “Hadestown,” the Broadway musical, started to form. The following years included an off-Broadway run, a premiere in Canada and London, and finally, a Broadway opening in 2019 featuring Reeve Carney, Eva Noblezada, Patrick Page, Amber Gray, and André De Shields at the Walter Kerr Theater where it has stayed dazzling the stage and featuring new casts since. 

In April 2024, Concord Theatricals announced that the licensing rights for high school and community theatre productions would become available. San Marin Musical Theatre students soon discovered they would be one of the first groups in the Bay Area to perform “Hadestown: Teen Edition.”

The teen edition offers optional changes: three songs can be removed, and certain drug-related lines have alternatives. However, one of San Marin’s musical theatre directors, Kele Gasparini, did not want to change a thing. 

“I was actually really happy with how the teen version is because there’s not really many differences,” Gasparini said.

Gasparini had some hesitation doing the show at first, due to concerns in recreating such a momentous show on a high school stage.

“I had to think about [doing the musical] because it’s a really iconic show, and it’s one of my favorite shows, and I wanted to make sure we could do it well,” Gasparini said. “But once I wrapped my head around that, I was all in.” 

The cast features eight principal roles, and because so many people auditioned for the show, all principal roles are double-cast (two people play one role and split the six performances). This is alongside the workers, who make up the show’s ensemble and hardly leave the stage. The pit orchestra plays onstage as a part of the show, and even interacts with performers in songs such as “Way Down Hadestown” and “Our Lady of the Underground.” In short, this show is an all-hands-on-deck production. The costumes are simplistic, except for a few characters, and the sets are minimal, allowing the actors to be the ones to draw the audience’s attention.

“It’s been my favorite musical since middle school, so it’s been really exciting to be able to play my dream role, especially at San Marin Musical Theatre with all my friends,” junior Riley Walsh, one of the actors playing Eurydice, said.

“This is very different from any show we’ve ever done because it’s all through song, and I think that that in itself has been an amazing learning experience for our cast in general, including me,” Walsh said. “We are working so hard on the harmonies, and also how to portray emotion while also singing, but also making it clear to the audience what we are saying.”

San Marin Musical Theatre uses double-casting, due to the program’s size and number of shows. With the majority of roles having two actors, the stress is split up and more people get opportunities to play principal roles. 

“Hadestown: Teen Edition” will feature Nathan Beaudette and Adi Hirasaki as Orpheus, Riley Walsh and Story Ng as Eurydice, Luciano Kozlenko and Gabriel Schutz as Hades, Camila Cabrera and Ruby Jae Hudlow as Persephone, and Kaden Hockinson and Kara Schutz as Hermes. The Three Fates, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, will be played by Maya Waldorf, Mia McGrath, Clara Rose, Rosalie Chi, Ashley Tyson, and Annabelle Brownfield.

San Marin’s fall musical “She Loves Me” caused controversy amongst the Musical Theatre students when it was first announced due to the small number of female roles and limited ensemble stage time. Although the show was ultimately a success, “Hadestown: Teen Edition’s” contrasting number of roles for girls and utilization of the workers in almost every song has allowed more students to be a part of the show and feel included. 

“All the characters have a story. I feel like, with all the stuff we do in the background, it feels not as important, but it’s very important [to the plot],” sophomore Isabella Vasquez, who plays a worker, said. “What we do together plays an important role.”

In addition to Vasquez, the workers will be played by Skye Brown, Rogan Ferrell Bell, Flint Berberich, Tobias Mossberger, Lenore Schulz, Alena Gasson, and Jade Stanton. 

The show opens on March 21, 2025 in the Emily Gates Performing Arts Center, and runs through March 30. Tickets can be found at https://gofan.co/app/school/CA23048.

For more information on the show, visit @smhsmusicaltheatre on Instagram.