Hadestown – One Helluva Show.

Image: Abigail Adriano, Christine Anu and Noah Mullins in Hadestown. Photographer: Lisa Tomasetti

Christine Anu talks to Coral Drouyn about one of Broadway’s best, but least known, shows.

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Whether that’s true or not, it was certainly a long road for composer/lyricist/librettist Anaïs Mitchell, who originally conceived Hadestown in 2006, though it took another ten years to reach New York. 

By 2019 it was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards, winning eight and gaining a staggering total of 39 nominations across the award season.

And yet it’s fair to say that even some die-hard Musical Theatre fans have never heard of this astonishing musical or, at best, know little more than the title. Somehow it has eluded theatre lovers, until now.

If we say it’s based on the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, our scant knowledge of Greek Mythology kicks in.  We all remember how star-crossed lovers are separated when Eurydice is spirited away to Hell, or Hades, and her lover Orpheus must risk all to go down to the depths of hell to rescue her, overcoming obstacles placed in his way by Hermes and other Greek Gods. 

Mitchell could see similarities between the ancient myth and the politics and lack of compassion of the 21st Century.  The simple love story with its strong themes of injustice and triumph over adversity ultimately offers hope in a world which desperately needs it. 

True, themes of poverty and exploitation are all too familiar to us now, but it’s just another ‘myth’ that a number with the lyrics “Why we build the wall. We build the wall to keep us free” was inspired by Donald Trump. Mitchell penned that song in the first draft of the musical. Ten years later she wrote that both Trump and the song tap into the same folk archetype of making people scared.

And though it may be one of the least known smash hits of the last decade or more, Hadestown finally opens in Australia, in Sydney in February, followed by a May season in Melbourne, with the stellar cast that it deserves.

It's a musical of universal themes, and that allows for diverse casting. So, it was a delight to learn that the amazing Christine Anu is returning to the main stage to play the narrator of the show, the God Hermes. 

Image: Christine Anu in Hadestown. Photographer: Lisa Tomasetti

Although Anu is known to at least two generations as a pop singer (who hasn’t heard ‘My Island Home’ more times that they can count?), most of us can remember her lithe grace as a dancer with the original Bangarra company, or her appearances in Hollywood blockbusters like The Matrix or Moulin Rouge. And of course, Christine got to sing what is inevitably her theme song at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics.

“I can’t believe that’s almost a quarter of a century ago,” she says incredulously. “Of course I live with that song every day, and I am so grateful for all it has given me, but it just doesn’t seem that long ago.”

It was the chance to study dance that brought the Torres Strait Islander to Queensland nearly forty years ago.

“It was a revelation to me even being in Queensland,” she tells me. “So, when I first saw Sydney and Melbourne … well, it was just overwhelming. I knew I could dance – and I loved it – but it never occurred to me in the early days that I could sing.”

But sing she could, mainly as a back-up singer for the Warumpi Band in the days when Indigenous artists were still finding their feet.  Neil Murray had written ‘My Island Home’ back in the ‘80s, but it took Christine’s version to make the song part of Australia’s musical landscape.

“I didn’t know it then,” Christine confides, “but that song, plus my dance training, opened the door for me to the world of musical theatre, something I would never have had the confidence to pursue, but I love it with a passion.”

It was this unfulfilled desire that led Christine to attend an open audition for the musical Rent in 1998. Not only did she get the leading role of Mimi, but she also fell in love with Rodger Corser, now one of television’s favourite leading men.

“We had six amazing years together,” she tells me. “Who knows what the allotted time for any relationship is? No-one can predict it. All I know is that together we somehow created this miraculous being, our daughter Zipporah, and I will always be grateful for that.”

Christine turned down a chance to play Mimi on Broadway, because she couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her country.

“I suppose my life might have been very different but, honestly, no-one who knows me would ever think of me as a Broadway star,” she explains.

Anu is deeply spiritual, with a belief that how she lives her life is more important than fame or fortune.

Image: Christine Anu and Elenoa Rokabaro in Hadestown. Photographer: Lisa Tomasetti

“It’s about always doing the best work I can and being true to myself,” she says. “And family is always going to be more important than my name on a billboard. Yes, sometimes I do muse a little about how things might have turned out. But in the end, I believe I am where I am meant to be, doing what I am meant to be doing.”

Christine had no plans to do another musical, when Hadestown appeared out of the blue.

“I really didn’t know much apart from the title,” she confesses, “but when I started listening to the music and in particular reading the script, it just touched me so deeply and I thought the world needs this right now. We all need to remember that compassion and caring, and honesty are qualities that are slipping away from us, and we mustn’t allow that to happen. We need to make this world into the world we are proud to be part of. There will always be a darker underworld seeking to destroy all that is good, but we can stand up against it. I really believe that.”

I ask her how she feels working with a young cast, some of whom weren’t born when she reached stardom.

“They are so incredibly talented,” she tells me, “and I am in awe of their talent. When I first saw Abigail (Adriano – who plays Eurydice) and Noah (Mullins – playing Orpheus) I felt really humbled and I wondered, what is an old chook like me doing alongside these amazing young performers?”

I suggest that maybe she is there to impart all she has learned over three decades, as a teacher of sorts.

Christine thinks about it for a moment. “Maybe,” she concedes, “or maybe I am meant to learn from them. We never stop learning, and it is their world now - not mine. I hope I can learn just a little bit about how to make it a better place, a place of hope, for everyone.”

Christine Anu is a very special woman, and Hadestown is a very special musical. Put them together and we are promised a unique experience. There’s no doubt that Hadestown will leave the same mark on Australia as it already has on Broadway, in the West End, and in Canada.

Australian Production images by Lisa Tomasetti

Click here to read more about Musicals in Australia in 2025

Click here to read David Spicer's review