Submitted photo From left, Bella Barber, Cadence Treich, Kai Green and Maeve Law are shown in a scene from the Top Hat Productions’ and Tri-City Drama Club’s staging of the musical “Hadestown.”

“Hadestown” won eight Tony Awards in 2019, including best new musical.

It’s still running on Broadway nearly seven years and 2,200 performances later, and it opened in London’s West End in 2024. It’s not available to regional and community theaters, but the producers have licensed a teen edition, which Top Hat Productions and its Tri-City Drama Club will stage at Fairview Arts & Outreach Center in Struthers for a two-weekend run.

Being the first area production of the popular musical gave director Melanie Lucas plenty of talent from which to pick.

“I had people come from West Virginia to audition,” Lucas said. “We had people from Pennsylvania, all over the place. It was really fun to do a show that is a big draw like that.”

Lucas directed last year’s Tri-City production of “Six: The Musical,” which already had been selected when she was approached about doing it. With “Hadestown” she was involved in the selection process.

“I love ‘Hadestown,” she said. “I love the story. I think it’s beautiful. It’s definitely powerful, and it’s also challenging. And I really thought Top Hat would be a great place to take on a challenging show like this … Their tech is just unbelievable, and their costumes are so beautiful. It is beautifully and thoughtfully designed from top to bottom.”

Written by Anais Mitchell, “Hadestown” is a retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, who accepts a deal with the devil to escape poverty by living and working in Hadestown. Orpheus tries to rescue her, but he must pass a test of faith in order to do so.

Except for changing the key of some of the songs to make them easier for young performers to sing, Lucas said the teen edition doesn’t make any changes in the original work.

The cast features Abagayle Kane, Alex Pappalardo, Charlotte Ward, Kai Green, Marissa McKenzie, Maeve Law, Cadence Treich, Bella Barber, Ellie Kistler, Sammy Harberson, Regina Miller, Danilo Pappalardo, Lucia Pappalardo, Starr Rudolph and Lily Smiley.

“It’s been a lot of work, but man, these kids are here for it,” Lucas said. “They are so impressive. I would not want the teen edition to scare anybody away from thinking it’s going to be amazing.”

Lucas described the musical as a show that’s open to a lot of artistic interpretation, and they decided to draw on local inspiration for the look of the show, particularly the post-industrial landscape of Hadestown.

“On Broadway, it was set in New Orleans, and the music is pretty jazzy, but we decided that Hadestown is like an industrial city and the people who are suffering from poverty are basically selling their souls to not be poor anymore. They become enslaved in Hadestown, so we wanted to do a Rust Belt-industrial vibe. We keep joking it could be Struthers, Ohio, as a 1940s industrial steel town.”

Lucas called the production a team effort with Keith Stepanic, Evan Barrett and Michelle Robbins Jones all handling music director responsibilities. Choreography is by Charity Pickup, Raquel Allison and Stepanic and tech design is by Jeff Chann.

Brian Palumbo did sets and costumes, and Lucas said she enjoyed collaborating with him.

“Brian and I just kind of talked about the setting and what I was looking for, and then he took my ideas and put his own spin on them. The characters, they are gods. How are we going to interpret what the gods look like in our production? That’s been fun. I get to see all of the costumes tonight (Monday), but so far everything has been beautiful. I never had any doubt that it’s going to work.”

If you go …

WHAT: Top Hat Productions / Tri-City Drama Club — “Hadestown: Teen Edition”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday through Feb. 15

WHERE: Fairview Arts & Outreach Center, 4220 Youngstown-Poland Road, Struthers

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $18.75 and are available online at tophatproductions.thundertix.com