Before filming, Patrick Page ruptured his Achilles tendon, rendering him unable to perform at full capacity. He assured fans that he would be able to perform for the recording, and that he would be working very diligently in therapy to be able to perform his very best. He and Stage Director Rachel Chavkin collaborated to make room for this injury. They were able to fashion a boot that went along with his character Hades' wardrobe, and gave him a cane to help him move around on stage. Choreography and blocking were also adapted to best accommodate his performance.
The cast includes one Tony winner: André De Shields. It also includes three Tony nominees: Amber Gray, Eva Noblezada, and Patrick Page. All of them won or were nominated based on their performances in the Broadway production of "Hadestown" in 2019.
The performance was filmed at the Lyric Theatre in London's West End, with several original Broadway cast members reprising their roles.
Reeve Carney and Eva Noblezada, who play married couple Orpheus and Eurydice in this musical respectively, met when they first performed in the Broadway premiere of "Hadestown" in 2019. They have been married since 2025.
During the filming of this performance, Patrick Page was suffering from a ruptured Achilles tendon. Like the plot of Hadestown itself, that tendon's name is drawn from ancient Greek mythology. The main character in Homer's epic poem The Iliad, Achilles was a mighty warrior and hero of the Trojan War. Legends have it that Achilles was almost completely invulnerable and could only be injured in or killed via one of his heels because when his mother dipped him in the river Styx as a baby, she did not fully immerse the heel she was grasping him by. In 1693, the Flemish anatomical scientist Philip Verheyen dubbed the tendon (also known as the heel cord or the calcaneal tendon) the "Achilles tendon" after observing the importance of the connector to the structure of the ankle, foot, and leg during his dissection of his own amputated leg. About 150 years later, the idiom "Achilles heel" entered the language; it means any (usually metaphorical) vulnerable point, area of weakness, or cause of a downfall.
