On Stage: Hadestown comes to Kimmel

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times

The Kimmel Cultural Campus had to suffer through more than a year without productions from early 2020 through the fall of 2021.

Back in October, the Kimmel’s The 2021/22 Broadway Philadelphia season got off to a rousing start with a six-week run of “Hamilton” from October 20-November 28 at the Academy of Music.

The Broadway Philadelphia season, which is presented in partnership with The Shubert Organization, had to shift locations for the final three shows. With the Pennsylvania Ballet’s “Nutcracker” taking up residence at the Academy of Music in November and December, the Broadway series relocated to the adjacent Merriam Theater for three runs – “Rain – A Tribute to the Beatles,” “Anastasia,” and “Stomp.” The new year started with “Pretty Woman: The Musical” at the Academy of Music.

Now, things are getting heavy in February and March beginning with back-to-back blockbusters at the Academy – “Hadestown,” which is running now through February 20, and “Beautiful: The Carol King Musical,” which visits from February 22-27.

The schedule for March features “Rent” at the Merriam Theater (March 4-6), “Oklahoma!” at the Forrest Theatre (March 8-20) and “Waitress” at the Academy of Music (March 29-April 3).

It seems fitting that Valentine’s Day falls in the middle of the 12-day Philadelphia run of “Hadestown.” It is a story about lovers – especially one lover who goes to hell to rescue his girlfriend.

“Hadestown” is a musical with music, lyrics and book by Anaïs Mitchell. It tells a version of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, where Orpheus goes to the underworld to rescue his lover, Eurydice.

The original version of the musical premiered in the town of Barre, Vermont, in 2006. There was also a production in Vergennes in the same year and a tour between Vermont and Massachusetts in 2007. Then Mitchell, unsure about the future of the musical, turned it into a concept album, released in 2010.

In 2012, Mitchell met director Rachel Chavkin, and the two started to rework the stage production, with additional songs and dialogue. The new version of the musical, developed for the stage and directed by Chavkin, premiered Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop on May 6, 2016, and ran through July 31.

Following productions in Edmonton and London, the show premiered in previews on Broadway in March 2019.

The Broadway production opened to critical acclaim and received numerous awards and nominations. At the 73rd Tony Awards, Hadestown received a total of 14 nominations (the most for the evening) and won eight of them, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.

This acclaimed new musical by Mitchell and Chavkin is a love story for today… and always.

“Hadestown” intertwines two mythic tales — that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone — as it invites theater goers on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back.

Mitchell’s beguiling melodies and Chavkin’s poetic imagination pit industry against nature, doubt against faith, and fear against love. Performed by a vibrant ensemble of actors, dancers and singers, “Hadestown” is a haunting and hopeful theatrical experience that grabs audiences and never lets them go.

Nicholas Barasch plays the role of Orpheus and Morgan Siobhan Green is his lover Eurydice. Hades and Persephone are played by Kevyn Morrow and Kimberly Marable while the narrating role of Hades is played by Levi Kreis.

Six of the orchestra musicians are onstage the whole time and are integrated into the scenes. They are Maria Im (violin), Cody Owen Stiner (piano), Jacob Yates (cello), Michiko Egger (guitar) Audrey Ochoa (trombone) and Calvin Jones (double bass). Drums and percussion are provided by Anthony Ty Johnson.

“All of us are onstage except the drummer,” said Im, during a recent phone interview from a tour stop in Memphis, Tennessee.

“We do improvise. There is interaction between the band and the cast. Our trombone player does a solo dance.

“I got introduced to Anaïs Mitchell through my partner. He was a big fan of her music, and we listened a lot to her album. But I had never heard the cast album.

“I saw there was a Broadway audition for the show. I had studied classical violin at the Julliard School, so Broadway was a very new experience. I got a call from the tour’s music coordinator who said they needed a violinist. He had heard about me from friends in the Broadway community. This is my first time to do a Broadway show.

“I stated studying violin when I was nine. I played piano before that. Then, my piano teacher told me to try violin because my fingers were too short for piano. Later, I found out that it wasn’t true.”
The Philly run of “Hadestown” gave Im the opportunity to return to her recently adopted new hometown.

“I grew up in Queens and lived in New York most of my life,” said Im. “I moved to Philadelphia during COVID.”

Like audiences in New York and across the country, Im has fallen in love with “Hadestown.”

“It’s a very fictional story,” said Im. “It’s a familiar story but it’s told in a new way. ‘Hadestown’ is a world into itself. The music is so unique. No show sounds like it.”

Video link for “Hadestown” — https://youtu.be/P1i1NGJkVDU.

“Hadestown” is running now through February 20. Ticket prices start at $20.

“Beautiful: The Carol King Musical” tells the inspiring true story of King’s remarkable rise to stardom, from being part of a hit songwriting team with her husband Gerry Goffin, to her relationship with fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history. It has a book by and Tony® Award-nominee and Academy® Award-nominated writer Douglas McGrath, direction by Marc Bruni, choreography by Josh Prince, and took home two 2014 Tony® Awards and a 2015 Grammy® Award.

“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” is a jukebox musical. Here are some songs that you almost certainly know — “Some Kind of Wonderful,” “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” “It’s Too Late,” “You’ve Got a Friend,” and “I Feel the Earth Move.”

But you may not know what links these familiar songs together.

All these classic hits were written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin.

Do you know what bond links these familiar songs — “On Broadway,” “Make Your Own Kind of Music,” “Walking in the Rain,” “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling.”

All these classic hits were written by Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann.

These 10 songs and a whole lot of other all-time great pop songs are featured in the lively musical “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.”

“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” tells the inspiring true story of King’s remarkable rise to stardom — from being part of a hit songwriting team with her husband Gerry Goffin, to her relationship with fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history.

The hit show is a jukebox musical with a book by Douglas McGrath that looks at the early life and career of King using songs that she wrote with Goffin along with other contemporary songs by Mann, Weil, Phil Spector and others.

The original production of “Beautiful” had its world premiere at the Curran Theatre, San Francisco in October 2013. It made its Broadway debut at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre in January 2014.

In the national tour, Kennedy Caughell plays King, James D. Gish plays Goffin, Kathryn Boswell plays Weil and James Michael Lambert plays Mann.

“I joined the production in its fifth year – shortly before the pandemic,” said Gish, during a phone interview from Lubbock, Texas on February 9 (which coincidentally was King’s 80th birthday).

“I was lucky with the pandemic. I returned home to Arizona and spent a lot of time writing. I also bartended for a while.

“Starting in March 2021, I did regional theater in Phoenix. I did three shows back-to-back. Now, I’ve been back with this show from October until now.”

Gish may be a classically trained opera singer, but he is more than familiar with the music of King, Goffin, Mann and Weil.

“I was familiar with the show – and familiar with the music. It was he music I was raised on. It was all my parents listened to. I actually didn’t get into current music until I was in college.”

Gish grew up in the small town of Bullhead City, Arizona, where he discovered his passion for music and live performance. He then put himself through business school at the Barrett Honors College of Arizona State University by performing in productions culminating in over 400 performances.

Gish’s sound has taken him all over the U.S. in a variety of concerts and theatrical engagements alike. He moved to Nashville to produce his debut album with DW Music at Warner Brothers Studios – an album that featured a 53-piece orchestra and full supporting choir. His solo classical crossover album, “So In Love,” hit the Top 10 on iTunes for the full week of its release.

“My audition songs for this show were ‘Take Good Care of My Baby,’ and ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday,’” said Gish. “It’s really cool and special to sing pop songs because I’ve worked mainly with classical music as a tenor. My last show was the National Tour of ‘Les Miserables.’”

Audiences love Carole King’s music and love to hear it played live. On top of that, they get to hear the story of the pre-“Tapestry” Carole King. They learn a lot about a songwriter’s life in that era — going to an office building like the Brill Building every day to write songs. This show is based at 1650 Broadway.

On his website, rock music legend Al Kooper wrote, “The greatest writers of the early-’60s — Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Howie Greenfield and Neil Sedaka, Jack Keller and Helen Miller — were all signed to the same publishing company. It was called Aldon Music and it was named after its two partners Al Nevins and Don Kirshner.

“Songs like “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin,” and “Up On The Roof” poured out of this genius monopoly like water from the tap. The Brill Building’s finest moments were in the ’40s and late ’50s at best. The Brill Building was a throwback to the past and the original Tin Pan Alley.

“The rents were high, and so the embryonic music business minions of the early ’60s flocked to 51st and Broadway to the renovated building with the reasonable, competitive rents known as 1650 Broadway. That’s all it was called. It wasn’t “The ______ Building.” And while it was only 1650 Broadway, the brilliance of pop and soul music birthed there hides in revisionist anonymity.”

Gish said, “This show sheds some very due light on Carole King and these other great writers. Carole King was the backbone of pop music in her generation.

“I like playing Gerry Goffin because there are a lot more layers to him than a lot of other characters in musical theater. Gerry Goffin had a lot of inner demons.

“I had no idea that he struggled so much and that his life was so hard. He had electro-shock treatments for most of his life.”

Audiences of this show not only get to hear this array of great music but also have the opportunity to see what went on in the lives of the people responsible for it.

“This show is so uplifting,” said Gish. “It’s happy and energetic – and it has a great ending.”

Video link for “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” – https://youtu.be/dNlPWEA9Wes.

“Beautiful: The Carol King Musical” runs from February 22-27. Ticket prices start at $20.

There is plenty of live entertainment around the area this weekend and you can get a jump on it by attending a comedy show in Arden, Delaware tonight.

On February 17, the Candlelight Theater (2208 Millers Road, Arden, Delaware, www.candlelighttheatredelaware.org) is presenting the February edition of its monthly Candlelight Comedy Club with Andy Pitz as the headliner, Ankara Martinez as the feature and Ralph Antony as the emcee.

It will be the first show in the area for Martinez, a New York based comedian who has been plying her trade in and around New York City for almost a decade.

Around 13 years ago, Martinez moved from Florida to New York with dreams of being onstage – as an actress rather than a standup comedian.

“I came up here and got a degree in acting at the New York Film Academy,” said Martinez, during a phone interview Wednesday evening from he home in New York.

“I had already gotten a degree in health system administration from University of Central Florida in Orlando.

“When I was in college here in New York, I got a job as a hostess at the Comic Strip Comedy Club on the Upper East Side.

“I always wanted to work at a comedy club because I came from a family that always had a lot of comedy. It was a great gig. I’d go to school during the day and work at night.

“I pursued acting after college. I went to auditions and was always interested in the comedic roles.”

Martinez had a diverse family life before ending up in New York.

“I grew up overseas,” said Martinez, who has been known for her quick wit and charismatic personality her entire life.

“My dad was a commercial airline pilot, and I grew up in Dubai when I was young. Dubai was a lot different back then – three roads and a desert. We lived at the beach. Then, we came back to the states, and I went to high school in Florida.”

Many comedy shows have a headliner, a feature and a host/emcee.

“I wasn’t hosting comedy shows as an emcee,” said Martinez. “I was a hostess who greeted people at the door and took then to their seats.

“I did improv and lot of acting but I was too scared to do standup.

“It took me about five years to start doing standup – even though I had my set ready. One day, I decided to take a (standup) class. It was great.

“Seven years ago, I did my first show. It was at the Broadway Comedy Club. It was really cool. Playing the crowd was like conducting an orchestra.

“I talked a lot about my life – my family and my life with a little improv mixed in. It’s standup comedy.

“I do my routines. I don’t do a lot of crowd work and I stay pretty clean. I just focus on my set and my jokes. I bring a lot of family characters.”

Martinez is pursuing careers in both comedy and theater.

“Ever since the pandemic slowed down, I’ve been going faster,” said Martinez. “I’m doing more standup and getting more feature gigs. I still do theater auditions and I have my own podcast – ‘The Gone Girls.’”

“The Gone Girls” is a weekly podcast featuring stand-up comedians Shauna Lane and AnkaraMartinez.  These two performers are trying to get to the bottom of life while interviewing fellow comedians and anyone else they find interesting. Each episode includes a sketch written by one of “The Gone Girls” that’s then cold read by everyone on the show. It’s a traveling podcast as they meet their guests at different locations.

Pitz, who is the main attraction at tonight’s edition of Candlelight’s Comedy Club,

Pitz, who lives in New York City and grew up in Buffalo, has been doing standup professionally since 1990. His resume includes appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson as well as Star Search.

The topics he talks about change all the time with constant topics being marriage, fatherhood, technology/social networking and everyday things.

“I’m excited to be coming to Delaware to do a standup show,” said Martinez. “This will be my first time to play there. Andy Pitz, who is an amazing comedian, is bringing me down with him.”

Video link for Ankara Martinez — https://youtu.be/EX72W6CTgnQ.

Video link for Andy Pitz — https://youtu.be/x2KikoO13YQ.

The Show at the Candlelight Theater on February 17 will start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets, which include complimentary chicken tenders, ice tea, chips, lemonade and coffee, are $30. There will be a full-service bar open throughout the show.

The Candlelight Theater is heading into the homestretch of its first production run of 2022 — the hit musical “Mama Mia!”

“Mamma Mia!” is based on the songs of ABBA. Following the premiere of the musical in London in 1999, “ABBA Gold” topped the charts in the United Kingdom again. This musical was the brainchild of producer Judy Craymer.

In 1997, Craymer commissioned Catherine Johnson to write the book for the musical. The play is about a woman who does not know which of three men is the father of her daughter, now a young woman on the eve of her wedding on a Greek island.

The production at the Candlelight, which is directed and choreographed by Dann Dunn, features as Tina Delano as Sophie (the daughter) and Kaylan Wetzel as Donna (the mother) along with Candlelight veterans such as Anthony Connell as Pepper and Lindsay Mauck as Rosie.

“Mamma Mia!” is running at the Candlelight Theatre now through February 27. It will be followed by “Big Fish” from March 19-April 24.

What must be the best twin bill at any area venue this week will take place on February 18 when the World Café Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com) presents Neal Francis and Emily Wolfe.

Neal Francis makes music that is steeped in Chicago blues, 1970s rock with a southern influence and New Orleans R&B.

His music is also directly influenced by a lifestyle often associated with the blues and funky music – a lifestyle that included times of addiction to alcohol and being homeless.

“Living in Chicago, there were blues gigs to be had,” said Francis, during a phone interview last week from his home in the Windy City. “It was a great education in the blues – and the birth of rock and funk.”

When Francis was 18, he toured Europe with Muddy Waters’ son and backed other prominent blues artists coast-to-coast.

“I played in the blues scene in bars around Chicago a lot in my teens and early 20s,” said Francis. “I got exposed to a lot of blues. I got into funk and soul in high school. In college, it was more funk and progressive rock. Everything from Daft Punk to the Kinks to Funkadelic to Zappa. Later, it was jazz – groove music like Weather Report, Lonnie Smith and Jimmy McGriff.”

Francis’ initial exposure to music goes way back.

“I’ve been playing piano since I was three or four,” said Francis. “We had a piano in the house and my dad had a really good record collection. On piano, I was trying to figure out anything I heard – TV theme stuff, songs on the radio, classical to soul. I just tried to learn by listening.

“A family friend came over with a blues piano record. I was six when that happened. After that, my past time was teaching myself blues and jazz.  My dad taught me how to use his turntable and I was listening to Stevie Wonder, The Who and the Beatles. I also listened to my mom’s classical cassettes with music by composers like Bizet.

“I was given a blues compilation album with Otis Spann, Pinetop Perkins, Junior Wells, Magic Sam, Otis Rush. I listened to that on repeat in first and second grade.”

As Francis grew older, his immersion into music also grew.

In 2012, Francis joined popular instrumental funk band The Heard. With Francis at the creative helm, The Heard transformed into a national act, touring with boogaloo progenitors The New Mastersounds and chart toppers The Revivalists and appearing at Jazz Fest and Bear Creek. As The Heard’s star rose, however, Francis sunk deeper into addiction. Once a promising sideman, by 2015 he had been fired from his band, evicted from his apartment, and was perilously close to self-destruction.

“The Heard was my first band that toured,” said Francis. “It was the first time I wrote songs in a major way and the first that I played very much outside Chicago.

“After a year-and-a-half, I got fired from the band and had to deal with addiction. Thankfully, I didn’t have to deal with opioids. It was mainly booze and whatever I didn’t have to purchase. In 2015, I finally put that down. If you get close to death, you can feel it.

“I released ‘Changes’ in 2019,” said Francis. “I had to get on my feet after getting sober and maintain a job. No-one was calling me for gigs. I was working as a UPS shipping clerk. Eventually, I got wedding gigs was able to put enough money in my pocket to think about recording. I called Sergio Rios and set a date.”

After getting sober, Francis assembled a team of musicians including bassist Mike Starr (The Heard) and drummer PJ Howard (The Revivalists, The Heard). He enlisted producer Sergio Rios (Orgone, Cee Lo Green, Alicia Keys) and headed to Killion Sound in Los Angeles to record the initial batch of material that became that album Changes.

Francis finished recording basic tracks for “Changes” in Los Angeles in February 2018 and spent the following months doing overdubs in Chicago with engineer Mike Novak (who also recorded demos for the project.)

Francis signed with Karma Chief Records (a subsidiary of Colemine Records) in late 2018 and his first single, “These Are The Days,” was released on January 16, 2019. “Changes, Pt. 1” came out May 7, 2019, and both singles were released on a 7-inch on May 31, 2019.

The “Changes” album was released on Karma Chief Records on September 20, 2019 to critical acclaim. The album received Top 10 Album of the Year recognition from KEXP, KCRW, The Current, KDHX, Songpickr, WYCE, Radio Boise, Indie 102.3, Radar Radio (Portugal), and Across The Margin. Francis went on to tour North America with The Cat Empire, Lee Fields & The Expressions, members of The Members, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe and Black Pumas.

On his new album, “In Plain Sight,” Francis offers up a body of work both strangely enchanted and painfully self-aware, unfolding in songs sparked from Greek myths and frenzied dreams and late-night drives in the depths of summer delirium. True to its charmed complexity, the singer/songwriter/pianist’s second full-length came to life over the course of a tumultuous year spent living in a possibly haunted church in Chicago.

After breaking up with his longtime girlfriend while on tour in fall 2019, he returned to his hometown and found himself with no place to stay, then headed to St. Peter’s and asked to move into the parsonage.

That period in his life led to “In Plain Sight” – an album with impressively passionate instrumentals and emotionally powerful lyrics.

According to Francis, “I just wanted to be honest about everything, from my musical influences to my story.”

Video link for Neal Francis – https://youtu.be/bcpKxFHMK8o.

After releasing three singles and one EP from 2014-2018, Emily Wolfe released her eponymous debut album in 2019.

In June 2021, Wolfe released her second album, “Outlier,” on Crows Feet Records.

“Outlier” was produced by Michael Shuman of Queens of the Stone Age, who also received performance and co-writing credits on the record. That should give some indication that the LP is made for fans who are serious about rocking out hard.

“I’m touring with bassist Evan Nicholson and drummer Clellan Hyatt,” said Wolfe, during a phone interview last week from her home in Austin, Texas. “There is just the three of us in the band. It’s definitely a power trio. It’s pretty much what we’ve done for the last three or four years.

“I think it makes sense for me – a power trio. The format works best for me. One of the reasons I love it is because there is so much space for me.

“I like the freedom. Pretty much every one of my songs has one or two guitar solos. And it’s so much fun touring with Evan and Clellan. We’re all really good friends — and we’re laughing and having fun all the time.”

Wolfe’s most recent Philly show was last October at Kung Fu Necktie.

“After that tour, I did a short tour of the Midwest and then came home for the holidays,” said Wolfe.

“I started writing a lot of new stuff. I have a small room covered with instruments. I like having a little confined space to write and record. I have an electric drum set to my right. My computer to my right and a big, massive pedal board to my left.

“I’m pulling out a lot of stops to see what I can create for my next record. I like this beginning stage of recording. I have a ton of fragments. It’s like a big jigsaw puzzle.

“Some are more completed, and some are fragments. It’s a mix of both. I have a notes folder on my iPhone filled with random ideas – a word or a sentence. I also have a voicemail app that I use a lot.”

The 10-track “Outlier” album was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Michael Shuman of Queens of the Stone Age and Mini Mansions.

“We recorded ‘Outlier’ at Michael’s home studio in L.A.,” said Wolfe. “We were in the studio for a few weeks last November. Evan, Clellan, Michael and I were all vaccinated – and we had COVID tests. We finished with 10 songs for the new record and put it out his year.

“There were some other songs under consideration, but these were the 10 that we chose. Some were written before the pandemic – about half. The other half were written during peak COVID.”

Wolfe has been into rock music since she was a kid.

“Getting into music was just a natural thing,” said Wolfe, who was born in North Carolina. “My mom bought me a guitar at a thrift shop when I was little — but I didn’t really come from a musical family.

“After starting off with an acoustic guitar, I switched to electric. I just got tired of playing to crowds who were talking over my stuff. I figured I needed to play louder than them. I ended up loving electric guitar.

“We moved to Austin when I was eight. I love it here. It’s a great city. I went to high school and college in Austin.

“If I hadn’t been living in Austin, it would have taken me longer to get where I am musically. Being in Austin, it was just go play shows and get a foot in the door of doing music for a living.”

Wolfe is working “Outlier” and itching to get the next one out.

“I definitely want to have it out by the end of the year – hopefully by the fall,” said Wolfe.

“This tour will be my first this year. It will be exciting – especially to be supporting Neal. I listened to his record and loved it.

“This tour will be really fun. I don’t know how long my set will be. I just try to make the most of it. When I do support tours, I learn from the headliner.”

Video link for Emily Wolfe — https://youtu.be/llJjhn8ky9I.

The show at the World Café Live on February 18 will start at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $26.