Broadway News

See Lillias White’s Broadway Debut as Hermes Hadesville

The Tony winner, who began performances on September 13, is the first female actor to play the role created by André De Shields.

Life tony winner Lillias White took on the role of Hermes in Broadway’s Hadesville September 13 at the Walter Kerr Theatre.

Broadway’s Favorite Original Actor Made It Happen T. Oliver Reid, which had followed André De Shields in the role of Hermès, the role he created with Tony-winning effect. White is the first female actor to play the role.

In the video above, watch White make his first entrance to a thunderous ovation from the crowd. Dressed in a newly redesigned 1950s-inspired costume, White then performed her opening number filled with her signature vocal tracks.

“I’m always thrilled to attend a Broadway opening, and see Hadesville Opening night in 2019 was a magical and unforgettable experience. Everything there was full of life. I sat behind Rachel Chavkin’s dad, who was overflowing with pride, and got to meet Rachel who was giving birth to a phenomenal show while carrying new life in her womb,” White said in an earlier statement. Beauty , love and promise, and I was moved to tears by my good friend, Dr André De Shields, and the whole company. I am delighted and honored to take on the role of Hermès and to be part of this beautiful production.”

“I am delighted that Lillias is stepping into this role. She is a total legend, has a smashing voice and will bring a grace and warmth to the role that is uniquely her own. Hadesville is a myth, and so we always felt that these characters could adapt to whoever plays them and take on new life and meaning with each new actor/spirit,” director Rachel Chavkin added. “I’m so proud to welcome a woman for the first time in the emblematic role of Hermès, our storyteller and guide. Like the Greek gods themselves, our actors change shape, size, color, tone, mood and doesn’t it makes the world more pleasant.”

Due to prior commitments, White will not perform in the Tony-winning musical from November 2-4, November 10-13 and November 17-20.

White was last seen on Broadway as Matron “Mama” Morton in the revival of Chicago. His additional Broadway credits include Life, Fela!, dream girls, Cats, Once on this islandand How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

The current Broadway cast is led by Jewelle Blackman as Persephone, Grammy winner Reeve Carney as Orpheus, Tony nominee Tom Hewitt as Hades and two-time Tony nominee Eva Noblezada as Eurydice. They are joined by Soara-Joye Ross, Jessie Shelton and Kay Trinidad as Fates. The Workers chorus is performed by Emily Afton, Malcolm Armwood, Alex Puette, Trent Saunders and Grace Yoo. The cast includes swingers Sojourner Brown, Tara Jackson, Sayo Oni, Yael “YaYa” Reich and Davis Wayne

The folk and jazz music of singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell superimposes the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice with that of Hades and Persephone, interweaving the actions and consequences of gods and mortals. Hadesville originally started as a theatrical concert performed by Mitchell.

The creative team includes Tony-winning set designer Rachel Hauck, Tony-nominated costume designer Michael Krass, Tony-winning lighting designer Bradley King, Tony-winning sound designers Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz, choreographer David Neumann and playwright Ken Cerniglia. Musical supervision and vocal arrangements are by Liam Robinson, with arrangements and orchestrations by Tony winners Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose.

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Revisit Dreamgirls’ 1987 revival with Lillias White

T. Oliver Reid began his journey through hell in Hadesville as an original cast member studying the roles of Hermes and Hades. He then became the first actor to take on the role of Hermès full-time after Tony winner André De Shields. Now, after more than three years with the musical, Reid is gearing up for his next departure from the show. (Tony winner Lillias White will play Hermes next.) Reid recently sat down with Broadway.com correspondent Charlie Cooper at the civilian hotel forThe Broadway Show to discuss stepping into the role of Hermes, his historical arc as Fate, Black Theater Coalition and more.

Reid knows exactly what made him want to be a part of Hadesville. “It was absolutely the music that drew me to it – once you put it on, you can’t not listen to it,” he said. “I was working with [Hadestown director] Rachel Chavkin on a workshop Lempicka, and they mentioned that there would be auditions because Hadesville was coming back from the West End to Broadway. I knew there was no choice – I had to do this show. At the very beginning, that’s what [composer] Anaïs Mitchell slept on the paper that hit me and kept me all this time.”

“I knew I wanted to be able to cover both the roles of Hades and Hermes because, for me, it was always about being able to play all of those things,” Reid said of his stint as lining. “Watch Andrew [De Shields] and Patrick Page seemed like the best of all possible worlds. The biggest thing was trying to get [André] out of my head [in order to play Hermes]. It’s about being able to take out as much as you need to and keep the andreisms, as I like to call them, which are actually amazing storytelling within the framework of the show. I found my own voice in the text that I know so well. I make sure what I say really feels the way I say it.”

The saying “the show must go on” is the basis for the one-liners and swings that often step into a role at the last minute. In March, Reid took the saying to a new level when he played Fate, a role he hadn’t heard of that was traditionally played by a female actor. “Coming out that first night, to me, I felt like a man in a dress made up because I identify as him/her/her, and that’s how I walked through this world as a cisgender man,” Reid said. . “There were people in the audience that night that when I walked out I saw their mouths open. There were people who saw there was an opportunity for them in the theater that they didn’t didn’t think I was there before. If I was as an understudy or cover, it shouldn’t be any different to the shows they see any other night with the normal cast on stage. But more and more because of the COVID and the lack of coverage, we see more exciting moments of things happening on stage than we might not have seen before.”

In addition to his work in Hadesville, Reid is also a co-founder of the Black Theater Coalition, an organization dedicated to eradicating racial inequality in the theater industry. “It was really about making sure there were opportunities for black professionals in this industry, he said. “There are a lot of black and brown bodies on the stages, but when you look in general management offices, producers and creative design areas, there are so few. We wanted to make sure that those early years were really about opening those doors as much as possible. So many people we contacted said, “We’ve been waiting for this. We know it has to happen, but there was no one to lead the charge. For us, that’s part leading the charge and part supporting our accomplices and partners so they can keep doing the job.”

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