We chatted to Broadway star Zachary James about starring as Hades in the upcoming West End production of Hadestown.
How does it feel returning to West End? London has been an off and on home for me since I made my debut here in 2013 at the London Coliseum with English National Opera. I was just here earlier in 2023 at English National Opera performing in Akhnaten for a third sold out revival. I am thrilled to be back in one of my favourite cities on the planet this time doing my first proper long run in a West End show. It’s a dream. London has been very good to me.
For those who have yet to experience Hadestown for themselves, what can they expect? It’s a very special show. It’s brilliant poetry and music that requires the performers to bring themselves fully and vulnerably to their characters. When done right, it is alchemy. I had the pleasure of watching it on Broadway three times and I am extremely excited while also aware of the tremendous responsibility of delivering this profound material to our West End audiences. Anais Mitchell is a great artist and her decades long commitment to this material is inspiring. I’d encourage everyone to listen to the original concept album of the show. It’s high art.
There are many ways to interpret Hades, given the amount written on Greek mythology – how do you see him as a character? I play a lot of villains, and I like to approach them as misunderstood rather than evil. This guy has so many feelings, I think he has more feelings than anyone in the story. He is deeply wounded and has a huge heart, and has not been in circumstances or situations where he can easily inhabit those warm, bright places of his psyche because he is assuming the role people see him as, like an elected official. It’s a persona. Right under the surface he is incredibly sensitive and emotional. And I think that’s what makes characters who are perceived as villains Interesting. Humanity. If the audience isn’t rooting for “the villain”, you’re not doing it right.
How has it been working on the production so far? An absolute dream. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. It’s a dream cast; a dream role, a dream city to be living and working in. Every day has been a dream and I really have to remind myself to take it all in and remain present and in wonder by it all, while also grinding away and getting the job done.
Greek mythology is an endless source of fascination for people – what do you think it is about this take on two of the stories that captures people’s imagination? I think in setting it in a more modern world and hinting at some of our societal challenges, such as poverty, climate change, classism, etc it’s very easily relatable. There’s a reason these characters are still talked about, a reason these stories are still told and reinvented in exciting new ways. The Greeks knew what they were doing.
How would you describe the show musically? t’s a folk opera, and as someone with opera experience I can say it hits on all of what opera does best – living in big emotionally charged spaces and not having rules set as to how we tell the story, bending the boundaries of time and space. Musically, it’s a very familiar landscape and a lot of the stuff would easily fit into singer songwriter type pop music. Like you could easily imagine Billie Eilish singing some of these songs, but they are timeless in a way that they could also be hits in Cyndi Lauper and Joni Mitchell’s voices.
What are you most looking forward to about bringing it to London audiences? Don’t tell New York, but the London theatre audience is my favourite. People grow up going to the theater here. God bless Panto for getting children in theaters. It’s such an intelligent, sophisticated audience. They challenge us. They make us work hard and don’t accept less than excellence. But that’s why we do it. All of us in this show, this is our greatest passion and it’s a privilege and an honour to be on stage telling this story and sharing this show with people. We cannot wait to invite audiences into our theatre and share our hearts with them and receive them into our world. This show really depends on an audience. It’s a cyclical relationship. We address the audience at the top of the show and break the fourth wall and challenge them to live in the story with us. That’s part of what makes it a magical piece of theater.
By Emma Clarendon
Hadestown begins performances at the Lyric Theatre from the 10th February. Tickets for the show are available here.