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Singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco will make her Broadway debut as ‘Persephone’ in the hit musical Hadestown, performing the role she originated on the 2010 studio-concept album by composer Anaïs Mitchell.
DiFranco will begin performances at the Walter Kerr Theatre on February 9, 2024. The announcement was made today by producers Mara Isaacs, Dale Franzen, Hunter Arnold, and Tom Kirdahy.
DiFranco’s history with Hadestown began when she invited Mitchell to release the original studio album of Hadestown on DiFranco’s label Righteous Babe Records. DiFranco originated the role of ‘Persephone’ on the album, leaving what the producers’ announcement today described as “an indelible imprint on the character as the show evolved over the course of several years.”
“I could not be more thrilled to be joining the cast of Hadestown,” DiFranco said in a statement. “It’s like I get to rewind to my New York youth and follow the road not taken.”
Said Mitchell, “I can’t really overstate the influence of Ani’s music and example on me as a young songwriter. Poetic, bold, radically emotive and fun, she simply has been a mythic figure in my life, and I can’t think of anything more beautifully full circle than Ani playing the role of ‘Persephone’ on Broadway. Grateful and awestruck.”
DiFranco is sometimes referred to as the mother of the DIY movement, being one of the first artists to create her own record label in 1990. Known mostly for her folk stylings, she has also incorporated punk, funk, hip hop, jazz, soul, and electronica into her music.
Her most recent albums include 2021’s Revolutionary Love and the June 2023 25th Anniversary Edition reissue of her seminal album Little Plastic Castle, both on her own label Righteous Babe Records. Her memoir No Walls and the Recurring Dream was released in May 2019 by Viking Books.
Hadestown, which opened in 2019 and won eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, currently stars Betty Who as Persephone (through February 4), Jordan Fisher as Orpheus, Lillias White as Hermes, Phillip Boykin as Hades, and Solea Pfeiffer as Eurydice.
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