INTERVIEW | Zachary James, Hadestown
Interview conducted by Emmie, Theatre & Tonic.
It won’t be long before audiences will be captivated by the journey to the Underworld and back with Hadestown. The acclaimed Broadway musical phenomenon begins its long-awaited premiere in London’s West End on 10 February.
With 8 Tony Awards already in its hands, Hadestown intertwines two mythic love stories that are deeply resonant and definitely hopeful. With its opening on the horizon, we had the opportunity to chat with Zachary James who steps into the spotlight as Hades in the show which kicks off this month!
Hadestown is probably one of the most highly anticipated productions of 2024. So before we get into the conversation about the musical itself, this is actually not your first time working in London. So how does it feel to kind of return to the city and in such a buzz for such a fantastic production?
Yeah, everything I've done here previously has been at English National Opera. So this is my proper West End debut, and it's really incredible. The buzz has been crazy, and everyone is, you know, commenting and DMing us on everything we post, it's really exciting to feel how excited people are for the show 100%.
There's such a buzz about the show and we've not seen a buzz like this in such a long time. So is there, do you think there's a reason behind that at all?
That's great to hear. It played at the National here before it went to Broadway and then it's been on Broadway for quite a while the recording has been out for a while. I think there's something about this show that people really latch onto and it has this cult following and people go over and over and over again. So I think it's quite nice that it's had the room to breathe and have a Broadway run. After being at the National and now coming back, it's kind of a totally different thing.
It's kind of like a little kid went out into the world and grew up and now it's coming home. Which is quite beautiful.
Gloria Onitiri and the West End cast of Hadestown in rehearsal. Credit - Johan Persson. Whilst you've been waiting for the show to open and you've been in rehearsals, have you had a chance to see any other West End shows whilst you've been in rehearsal?
I've seen a couple. The first one I saw was Peter Pan Goes Wrong, which was very fun. And I have to say I went for selfish reasons because I wanted to see the theatre we were going to be performing in. I just needed to see the space and understand what it was going to be like to look out at that audience.
So at the interval, I went down to the front of the stage and looked out. I saw what I would be looking at while on stage and that was really helpful. It was a really fun show. I laughed a lot. I also saw Phantom of the Opera, my friend Kelly Glyptis plays Carlotta. So I had to see her performance and it was stunning.
So before working on this job, Did you see Hadestown on Broadway at all?
Yeah, I actually saw it three times. Once after I'd been cast in this and I saw it twice the year before. I went on a group trip to see it for the first time and it was just unbelievably moving and something I just thought I wanted to be a part of something like that.
And then the second time I saw it, I knew that there had been some conversations about the possibility of me playing Hades, whether on Broadway or wherever. And so I saw it with more of a research eye. And then the third time, it was after I was cast in this and I wanted to go see it one more time, just to really solidify in my head what it was and all the moving parts, because there's a triple revolve stage. It's quite complex, and I needed to see, Okay, what are these people doing there? And what have I signed up for? Yeah. Oh, I can't turn back now!
So, obviously, you are taking on the character of Hades. What made you want to come over here and work on the production?
Well, I was actually here in London when it was announced, I was doing Akhenaten at English National Opera. Coincidentally I had just got a London theatre agent the week before and so I wrote to him the day before the announcement came out and said let’s get this, I want to do Hades! I was eager to bang down the door and get in there.
There’s this curiosity about Hadestown because a lot of people I know are still very unaware of what it is and what it's about. It has a hype already so people may seem slightly lost in the build up, similar to Hamilton before it came here I suppose. What can people expect from a musical like Hadestown?
I think the most intriguing and intoxicating thing about Hadestown specifically is that it requires everyone on stage to bring themselves to it. We really are just being ourselves and letting this material come through us and it's in a way It doesn't feel like acting. It really doesn't feel like a musical even if it's like we crack our ribs open and expose who we are. It demands a lot from you and comes with enormous responsibility, but also it's very liberating, in that sense, like you really can't hide.
You just have to give everything you have and reveal your heart to everyone.
There are many ways that his character is kind of interpreted in Greek mythology. So how have you kind of developed your own, like, perception of him during the creative process?
I've played a lot of historical characters and I've played roles like this where there's a lot you can read about them, but when it comes down to it, I think it's most important to see what's on the page and then fleshing out a deep personal life, a deep backstory. We definitely have some goals, Gloria Onitri who plays Persephone, my wife and I are really on the same page of wanting to make them, like, the love of the ages.
We really wanted to have this palpable sexual tension between us that grows in such a beautiful way. We have a wonderful relationship on stage and off.
I wanted to almost humanize him, find the humanity and make him relatable. I think it's easy to relate to him. If you ever have had any issues with abandonment or lost someone you didn't want to lose. And why does he act the way he does? That’s an exciting place to work from for an actor and it allows you to break out of the stereotype.
We got a flavour of the cast recently at the Big Night of Musicals. It is an exceptional cast! What has it been live to develop this production with them?
We're having the best time. We had a group chat going long before we even met each other. We still, even though we're in rehearsal and we see each other every day, we're texting all night as a group. It's really funny. I've not experienced anything like that before in a cast, but it's a phenomenal group. Everyone's really open and we all have the same goal of just, you know, changing lives with this show.
It’s a truly stupendous cast. Everyone is perfect. They just are their characters. I feel like they all bring a different level of energy as well because if you've seen them in previous stuff you kind of know what to expect from them. I mean if we want to talk about Melanie La Barrie, who's just legendary, Mel has this capacity to hold an infinite amount of people in her arms and take care of them. And that's what she does as Hermes, who's our storyteller.
Donal Finn is Orpheus. He's always sitting in the corner on his guitar and writing down poetry. It's like, yeah, you just are Orpheus, it's very funny. But that's just kind of the way it's been, you know, there's so much love in the room and everyone takes care of each other so beautifully.
With a show like this, it's a heightened emotional space that is almost impossible to rehearse in that space. So we're letting it slowly build and we had our final run through in the studio for the producers on Friday and it just without even trying went to a place of emotion we didn't know we were going to, and we touched on what we're going to be giving to an audience.
There was this deep awareness of that responsibility and then the exhaustion that hit over the weekend. Even if you touch one person in that way, it's extraordinary.
Is there anyone in particular besides yourself that you cannot wait for people to see?
Oh gosh, I mean really Hadestown is such an ensemble piece, like we're all on stage for the whole show. I would say when Donal opens his mouth to sing, it’s such an incredible instrument that he possesses and I think that will be a really fun treat to see, especially as a lot of people will know him as a TV actor.
Hadestown is kind of known for its musical score at the root. It’s where the musical began. Do you have a favourite number in the show and why?
When The Chips Are Down is my favourite. It's a number that the Three Fates sing, and our three fates are impeccable. It's kind of like making humor out of a bad situation which is kind of how we deal with things as humans. It's almost hilarious that this big upbeat fun number comes at the worst point in the show for Eurydice.
It's just like a terrific upbeat number that makes you want to dance. And when I first heard the show, I had that song on repeat for a few days. So that's always a good sign.
So one final question then for you. Why should people book to see Hadestown if they haven't already?
It's just a phenomenal show. There's really nothing else like it. And it's a very brave show. It started as Anais Mitchell wrote it and they just toured it around her and her friends.
They toured it around Vermont in little tiny venues and you can feel that in the heart. It's very brave that it started there and now and went to Broadway and now it's the West End. Like there's, there's something really magical about it. It's a really good time and it really hits on the human experience, what it is to just be alive and the struggle of that sometimes. But also what it is to experience love and loss and regret. And just the heartbreaks in life, like things you wish went differently.
Catch Zachary James in the West End production of Hadestown at the Lyric Theatre from 10 February 2024.
