Singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco will make her Broadway debut as ‘Persephone’ in the hit musical Hadestownplaying the role she originated on composer Anaïs Mitchell’s 2010 concept studio album.
DiFranco will begin performances at the Walter Kerr Theater on February 9, 2024. The announcement was made today by producers Mara Isaacs, Dale Franzen, Hunter Arnold and Tom Kirdahy.
DiFranco’s story with Hadestown began when she invited Mitchell to release her original studio album Hadestown on DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records label. DiFranco originated the role of ‘Persephone’ on the album, leaving what the producers’ announcement today described as “an indelible mark on the character as the show evolved over several years.”
“I couldn’t be more thrilled to be joining the cast of Hadestown,” DiFranco said in a statement. “It’s like I can go back to my youth in New York and follow the path I didn’t take.”
Said Mitchell: “I cannot overstate the influence of Ani’s music and example on me as a young composer. Poetic, bold, radically emotional and funny, she has simply been a mythical figure in my life, and I can think of nothing more beautiful and complete than Ani playing the role of ‘Persephone’ on Broadway. Thankful and impressed.”
DiFranco is sometimes referred to as the mother of the DIY movement, being one of the first artists to create her own record label in 1990. Known primarily for her folk style, she also incorporated punk funk hip hop jazz soul and electronica into her music.
His most recent albums include 2021 Revolutionary Love and the reissue of the June 2023 25th anniversary edition of their seminal album plastic castle, both on his own label, Righteous Babe Records. Your memoir Without walls and the recurring dream was released in May 2019 by Viking Books.
Hadestownwhich premiered in 2019 and won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, currently starring Betty Who as Persephone (through February 4), Jordan Fisher as Orpheus, Lillias White as Hermes, Phillip Boykin as Hades and Solea Pfeiffer as Eurydice.
