Anaïs Mitchell, nominated for Best Book of a Musical and Best Score for Hadestown. Photo: Erik Tanner

Many of the songs have grown and changed or gotten new bridges since the show was at New York Theatre Workshop. How did you approach changing the music?

I’m used to writing a three-and-a half-minute song that has three verses and a chorus and maybe a bridge, and it seemed like the actual architecture of a dramatic song was different than a radio song, and that was a long learning curve. “Wedding Song” I’ve been living with for years and years, and when I hit upon the idea that Orpheus could introduce his “la la la” “Epic” theme [a repeated refrain in the musical] in the middle of that song, I just felt like, Oh, now there’s been an event. He really has shown his magic.

Eva Noblezada, nominated for Best Actress in a Musical in Hadestown. Photo: Erik Tanner

Rachel Chavkin and Anaïs Mitchell have talked about spending a lot of time changing the relationship between your character, Eurydice, and Reeve Carney’s Orpheus. What’s different this time around?

Orpheus’s character has changed tremendously, and I couldn’t put it into profound enough words working with Reeve Carney. The fact that he’s been able to switch his character to almost the complete opposite of what he was doing in London has allowed me to open up doors for my character, so really what I’m saying is that I would not be here without him.

Then it’s too bad he wasn’t nominated.

It fucking is. Pardon my French, but it is one of the most upsetting things of the year besides climate change. It pissed me off that he wasn’t nominated. I’m using every step I take of this — I hate the word “campaign,” but it’s what they use now — dedicated to the people in my circle, and that includes him.

Rachel Chavkin, nominated for Best Director of a Musical for Hadestown. Photo: Erik Tanner

In the staging of the song “Wait for Me,” there are these big swinging lamps that are so distinctive and popular online. I’ve worried about them colliding into each other.

When we were at the National Theatre in London, we had the lamps in the room, which helped us, but the main thing that we’ve learned is that it’s just gonna take several hours when we get to tech. It’s a lot of physics, and definitely a number of people have gotten hit in the head. It’s extraordinary watching an American audience receive “Wait for Me,” which was a huge showstopper in London, but which is at a different caliber at the Walter Kerr on Broadway. I think finally the set and the whole show look the way we wanted them to look in our dreams. Anaïs Mitchell said to me, “I feel like the lamps finally look the way you first described them to me.”

Amber Gray, nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in Hadestown. Photo: Erik Tanner

You get a great big Act Two number as Persephone with the solo “Our Lady of the Underground.” What is it like to perform?

That song is so fun to sing and has gotten more and more exaggerated over time. I get into the gravelly part of my voice, I like to play around with certain sounds. Movement-wise, it’s like whatever brings me personal joy, whatever tickles me, is usually the stuff that works. It’s like a real clown exercise in that way, and I deeply enjoy that as a performer.

Patrick Page, nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Hadestown. Photo: Erik Tanner

Playing Hades, you have to hit these incredibly low notes when you sing. What’s the lowest note?

It’s a G below the staff, the lowest G on the keyboard.

You’ve played this role for several years as the musical has developed. How has your approach to the character changed?

I’ve focused as much as I can more and more on the fact that everything I do is driven by my love for Persephone, so even when I do things that may look from the outside to be dark or wrong, they’re done either to impress her or to get her attention. What makes it all possible is to have such a brilliant acting partner in Amber Gray. I’d never had to do the show without her, so I think my performance would probably fall apart. It’s not that I know what she will do, it’s that I don’t know what she will do, and the fact that I don’t keeps me alert and alive, and hopefully the same is true when it goes back across the way to her.