{"id":88614,"date":"2026-04-09T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/?p=88614"},"modified":"2026-04-09T09:07:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T16:07:25","slug":"theater-news-journey-to-the-underworld-with-eurydice-in-hadestown-at-cerritos-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/eat-see-do-2\/do\/theater-news-journey-to-the-underworld-with-eurydice-in-hadestown-at-cerritos-center","title":{"rendered":"Theater News: Journey to the underworld with Eurydice in \u2018Hadestown\u2019 at Cerritos Center"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to Theater News, a regular column by longtime reviewer Anita W. Harris. Look for it most Thursdays. Or\u00a0sign up<\/a>\u00a0for our Eat. See. Do. newsletter to get it in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hawa Kamara \u2014 who plays Eurydice in the touring production of \u201cHadestown,\u201d at Cerritos Center on April 27 \u2014 says she\u2019s been a fan of Ana\u00efs Mitchell\u2019s musical since she first heard its Grammy Award-winning soundtrack of soulful jazz, blues and folk music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSeeing it live on Broadway solidified my desire to be a part of a story like this,\u201d Kamara told the Long Beach Post<\/em> on playing her character. \u201cSo human, so raw and so universal \u2014 it\u2019s the type of theater that I\u2019m incredibly attracted to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHadestown\u201d borrows from Greek myth to tell the story of musician Orpheus following his love Eurydice into the underworld to bring her back. Only in this version, Orpheus is a poor singer-songwriter and Eurydice is a starving and cold young woman who goes to work in a hellish industrial factory called Hadestown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would describe Eurydice as someone incredibly practical and logical about the way the world works, almost to her own demise,\u201d Kamara says of her character. \u201cShe is a survivor of a cold and depleted world, with all intentions of putting herself and her needs first \u2014 until she meets Orpheus, who is a foil to everything she has built up.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Scene from the touring production of “Hadestown,” coming to the Cerritos Center on April 27. Photo courtesy of the tour.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The \u201csung-through\u201d musical is told completely through song and also features other characters from Greek myth, including Hermes as narrator, the three Fates, god-of-the-underworld Hades and his wife Persephone, who spends six months with him and six above ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner of several Tony Awards in 2019, including for best musical and best score, the show has themes of food scarcity amid climate change and labor exploitation. A key moment in the show is when Eurydice signs a fateful work contract with Hades she can\u2019t get out of.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the show\u2019s songs, \u201cIf It\u2019s True,\u201d has the lines \u201cIs this how the world is? \/ To be beaten and betrayed \/ And then be told that nothing changes?\u201d \u2014 which may echo feelings of uncertainty and powerlessness, especially among younger people today facing bleak job prospects<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow close we are in this world to that of Hadestown isn\u2019t lost on me,\u201d Kamara said. \u201cThe lyrics of \u2018If It\u2019s True\u2019 hit me every night. However, one of the show\u2019s central themes is to have hope in a seemingly dreadful world, so as I\u2019m brought to literal hell and back, I do leave the theater with a sense of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest challenge with playing her role has been the emotional vulnerability it requires, Kamara said, though that also makes it her most cherished performing experience among roles in \u201cPeter Pan\u201d and \u201cThe Great Gatsby.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGetting to be completely open and bare alongside my castmates \u2014 most of whom I met three months ago when I joined the company \u2014 was very scary at first,\u201d she said. \u201cBut as I became more comfortable with the story and gained more trust in myself as a storyteller, I look forward to the challenge of living the tale every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She usually takes a moment alone before the show\u2019s second act to recalibrate her emotions, Kamara said, and needs to wind down afterward, both physically and mentally, to calm the adrenaline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The musical is a daily reminder of how we live in the world and how it works, Kamara said. Long Beach audiences can expect a \u201cbeautifully tragic story that pulls you in from the very beginning.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLaughter will be had, tears will be shed,\u201d she said. \u201cBut most importantly, you\u2019ll walk away feeling changed, with new thoughts about the world we dream of, and the world we live in now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as a self-described \u201cqueer Black kid,\u201d Kamara wants to tell others like her who don\u2019t often see themselves represented in performing arts, \u201cNo matter what mold or stereotypical gender roles theaters set up, you belong in these spaces!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHadestown\u201d will perform on Monday, April 27, at 7:30 p.m. at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 18000 Park Plaza Dr., Cerritos<\/em>. For tickets and information, call the box office at 562-916-8500 or visit <\/em>CerritosCenter.com<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHadestown\u201d borrows from Greek myth to tell the story of musician Orpheus following his love Eurydice into the underworld to bring her back. Only in this version, Orpheus is a poor singer-songwriter and Eurydice is a starving and cold young woman who goes to work in a hellish industrial factory called Hadestown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":88615,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32367],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32310],"class_list":["post-88614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-do","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88614"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88617,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88614\/revisions\/88617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88614"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=88614"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=88614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}