Melanie La Barrie to leave Hadestown in London

West End star Melanie La Barrie (& Juliet) is leaving smash-hit London musical Hadestown.

Melanie is currently playing the role of Hermes in the show, and has confirmed that she will leave the West End run on 9 February 2025.

9 February is also the official date when other cast end their run in the show, although there’s no word on who will leave and who will stay.

Hadestown is now playing at the West End’s Lyric Theatre in London, booking to 28 September 2025.

A number of new cast members have joined the show over the last few months, including West End stars Rachel Tucker (Wicked, Sunset Boulevard) as Persephone, and Trevor Dion Nicholas (Hamilton, Next to Normal) as Hades, plus Dylan Wood (No Love Songs, Orphans) as Orpheus, and Madeline Charlemagne (The Secret Life of Bees, 42 Balloons) as Eurydice.

The cast also features Francessca Daniella-Baker, Allie Daniel and Bella Brown as the Three Fates.

The Workers are played by Lauren Azania, Tiago Dhondt Bamberger, Beth Hinton-Lever, Waylon Jacobs, and Christopher Short; and Swings are Lucinda Buckley, Winny Herbert, Ryesha Higgs, Miriam Nyarko, and Simon Oskarsson.

Previous cast members include Dónal Finn (Amazon Prime’s The Wheel of Time), Grace Hodgett Young (Sunset Boulevard), Gloria Onitiri (Cinderella) and Zachary James (The Addams Family).

The musical intertwines two mythic love stories – that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone. Billed as a deeply resonant and defiantly hopeful theatrical experience, Hadestown blends modern American folk music with New Orleans-inspired jazz.

Hadestown first premiered at the National Theatre in 2018, and has gone on to enjoy a successful run on Broadway where it won 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical, and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album.

The show got great reviews from the London theatre critics when it opened in February 2023.

Hadestown has music, lyrics and book by Grammy winning singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, and is directed by Tony Award winner Rachel Chavkin (Mission Drift, Hadestown on Broadway).

The creative team also includes David Neumann (choreography), Rachel Hauck (scenic design), Michael Krass (costume design), Bradley King (lighting design), Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz (sound design), Liam Robinson (music supervision and vocal arrangements), Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose (arrangements and orchestrations), Ken Cerniglia (dramaturgy), Maria Crocker (UK Associate Director), Tarek Merchant (Musical Director), Jacob Sparrow (London casting).

It was announced on Friday that a London cast recording of Hadestown will be released next month, with Hadestown – Live From London out on 6 December 2024.

Hadestown is booking at the Lyric Theatre to 28 September 2025.

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Hadestown

Lyric Theatre, London

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