Teen Performers Bring Hadestown to Life at St. John’s Prep

COLLEGEVILLE (WJON News) -- You can get a taste of Broadway right here in Central Minnesota this week. St. John's Prep (SJP) is putting on Hadestown: Teen Edition while the original show is still on tour nationally.

Director Brandson Anderson says they are fortunate to be able to do the show. He says it is one of the more complicated productions SJP has ever done:

"The cast is on stage pretty much the whole show, and there's always a movement that, our set is stationary, there's not a lot of set pieces that move in and out. It's really music and story, and it's very exciting."

He says the show is a modern adaptation of the classic Greek stories with some catchy music.

Orpheus & Eurydice and Hades & Persephone are the tales in Hadestown.

Anderson says the Teen Edition is almost the same as the Broadway production:

"The music, the lyrics, everything is exactly the same as the Broadway production. The only difference is that we had some options on whether or not we do a couple of the numbers. I think one of the last numbers is We Raise Our Cups which is kind of like this homage to Orpheus and some of the characters, so we didn't necessarily have to do that, but we are doing it."

Anderson says some of the parts have a range that can be difficult for youth to hit, but they have students who are stepping up to the challenge.

Hadestown runs on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m.  There are additional shows at 7:30 p.m. from the 16th through the 18th, with a 2:00 p.m. matinee on the 18th as well.  All shows take place in the Humphrey Theatre on the campus of St. John's University. Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for students.

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