Namisa Mdlalose Bizana stars as Persephone in the current tour of “Hadestown,” which Davenport native Molly Goodwin manages backstage. (Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)
By Michael Morain
Every night for months now, Molly Goodwin has gone to hell and back. She’s the production stage manager for the North American tour of “Hadestown,” the musical that returns to town for five shows this weekend at the Des Moines Civic Center.
The show retells two tales from Greek mythology — that of the young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and King Hades and his wife, Persephone — and sets it in America during the Great Depression, with plenty of blues and jazz from Harlem and New Orleans.
With a pile of 2019 and 2020 Tony and Grammy awards, it’s a far cry from Goodwin’s theatrical debut, as a nun, back in a high school show in Davenport. She studied theater production at Luther College and has since enjoyed a successful career as a stage manager for national and international tours of “Pretty Woman,” “Tootsie,” “West Side Story” and many other shows on Broadway, on Holland America cruises and in Las Vegas (where her favorite was Celine Dion’s “New Day”).
When we recently called her about “Hadestown,” she was with the tour in Pensacola, Florida. The following answers have been lightly condensed.
Since this tour has a lot of one-nighters, we’re moving at a faster rate. We can get in, set up and take down in 18 hours. We don’t have any automation, and no scenic elements are computer-driven, so there are a lot of manual elements and hand props. The bulk of my cuing is lighting. There are almost 500 light cues, which are fun for me. We really have to focus during two particular sequences, when we go down to the underworld and when we come back up.
One of the things I love about stage management is calling a show. We tend to be backstage in a dark corner, out of the way. Calling the show is a very performative act, as well. Being in sync, being able to jump ahead or catch somebody if they do something different, that’s something I’ve really come to enjoy.
These myths are thousands of years old. Why do they still resonate in 2025?
At their base, these are stories about love, about some people who choose each other and others who kind of get thrown together — and the fates are part of the equation. With the two main couples, it’s touching to see a very young representation of love (Orpheus and Eurydice) and a very old, wizened version (Hades and Persephone). You get a great dichotomy. Their sturggles are similar to what a lot of people go through. You’re navigating the world, you meet someone who becomes important to you, and then you try to navigate with that other human.
What do you hope audiences take away from the show?
There’s no place to hide in “Hadestown,” because it pulls on your heart so much. If you’re feeling something, you’re going to feel it. I’ve cried through the calls because something hit me in a way it hadn’t before. There’s this lovely forced catharsis where maybe you’re not ready to actually identify what you’re going through or what’s causing you hurt or frustration, but something in the show allows you to have an emotional release. When you go through that together, it’s so different than going through it alone. There’s a whole audience of people who are in the same boat with you.
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