The Tony Award winning Hadestown at the Overture Center: To Hadestown and Back
Above: The Three Fates: Dominique Kempf (l-r), Nyla Watson and Belén Moyano
Below: Dominique Kempf
By Jonathan Gramling
Hadestown, now being performed at the Overture Center as part of its Broadway on Tour series, is a modernized version of Greek mythological tales about love and tragedy that also add subtle modernized perspectives on contemporary issues like the wealth gap, immigration and climate change.
While the focus of the story is the love stories of mortals Orpheus and Eurydice and Greek gods Hades and Persephone, outside of the narration of Hermes, the stories are put into context by the Three Fates.
“The Fates are three sister gods who work as one,” said Dominique Kempf, who plays one of the Fates. “We kind of think of them as a three-headed monster. Fate One plays the violin. Fate Two plays the tambourine and Fate Three, me, plays the accordion. We don’t play the entire show. We play 5-6 songs. We basically know everyone’s destiny: past, present and future. We sing the doubts in the back of someone’s mind. They sometimes let you see your fate. Sometimes it is whispered in your ear. We do that a lot. And sometimes we push you towards your fate.”
Performing as one of the Fates has taken a lot of preparation both in terms of her own performance and acting in concert with the other Fates.
“I’ve done the tour for four months, Kempf said. “I definitely have lived in my character for a little bit now. And I know her very well. It is a very challenging experience because I have these two amazing women by my side, Nyla Watson and Belén Moyano, who play the other two Fates. We have amazing understudies who also do an incredible job. With them, it is very easy to be able to create a sisterhood because one cannot exist without the other. Being a unit is very important. And we do that very well. Things that are challenging for me was definitely playing the accordion. I had never played that before this show. I had to learn a whole new instrument to do this show. And now the accordion and I are like one. I really, truly enjoy playing it. We have a lot of physical elements in the show. We have a turntable that everyone at some point in the show is revolving on. That was a little bit of a challenge. But I got to know the show physically very fast. And that helped me succeed in the show. We sing the whole show. It’s entirely song. It is basically an opera in that way. It is a challenging piece. It’s a beast of a show. It’s incredibly beautiful and I am so honored to be a part of it.”
And during the show, if it appears that Kempf is streaming the late Eartha Kitt to give a little individuality to her character, it is no accident.
“Eartha is someone who has revolved within and shown up in different aspects of my life,” Kempf said. “It’s not that I met her. But it’s funny how she has popped up a lot and I actually before the show — I didn’t even know when I booked the show that I got this piece from an artist that I met of Eartha Kitt to have in my living room. And I always felt a connection to her. So I use that for my space. And actually our bass player on the show toured with her for years. So it was funny to hear that when I told him I based some of my stuff off of Eartha, specifically her Cat Woman. I drew a lot of her faces and physicality from that and also my own experience with music and dance. I had to create my own physical vernacular for my character to just separate a little bit. We all have our own quirks and gestures that we’ve developed just from workshopping the show. I brought an outside perspective along with my own new development that I think is made constant into a ravishing goddess if you will.”
Kempf has been performing, it seems, her entire life.
“I started actually dancing first when I was three-years-old,” Kempf recalled. “I did ballet and all of the classics like tap and jazz. Then I moved into Irish dancing around middle school. And then I kind of adopted all of these dance styles when I got more into competition dance. And then I realized I was actually a decent singer in high school. So I tried out for the musicals. And then I kept on doing musicals from that point on. I went to Fredonia with an idea of what I wanted to do. I had a couple of different majors. So I just fell into it during high school really. I got serious about it and I could see myself doing it even if it was just a hobby. But the hobby turned professional very quickly. In college, I had a big turning point where I was, ‘Well this is where I am supposed to be.’ As the Fates would say, ‘Any way the winds blow, the wind just takes you there.’ I did have some big theater ‘Aha’ moments, but the wind just took me where I was supposed to be. And then I started working professionally in Buffalo after Fredonia. I got a lot of regional theater experience. And then I booked ‘Tootsie,’ the first national tour. Right after that, I booked Hadestown.”
Several times during our interview, Kempf referred to Hadestown as a “beast,” because it is a physically-demanding show as well as a very deep play with many layers of meaning.
“Both of the love stories mirror each other in many different ways,” Kempf said. “The show revolves around so many topics. It is very layered and very deep. Some of the topics involve workers’ rights, immigration, climate change, will power, love, sacrifice and choice. You’ll notice when you see the show that we reference the show as an old song. The power of the old song is we sing it again and again. We tell the story again and again and we always find a new meaning. There are many different themes in this story. But ultimately what happens is Eurydice is a hungry young girl. She falls in love with this boy. They have something very special like they have always known each other. And she has to make a choice. And ultimately she signs her soul over to Hades in exchange for immortality and never having to be hungry again. But the show revolves all conflicts and themes around her choice. Obviously her lover wants to get her back. And Persephone sees a great deal of herself in young Eurydice, so there is a lot of mirroring. There is so much that surrounds that choice. It’s about her signing her soul over and everything that surrounds that choice.”
Kempf has a long-term perspective on what her dream job could be. Especially at her age, life is ever changing and so she knows that her thoughts on a dream role will evolve over time as her life evolves as well.
“It’s hard to say what my dream role is,” Kempf said. “It’s constantly changing. I envision theater and myself in film. I truly would love to originate a role for a comedy series. I think that would be amazing. It’s something that I always wanted to do. I see myself accomplishing that. I’m not sure definitely when. But it is in my timeline. I would love to be on a funny, heartfelt series on Netflix, Hulu or CW. I just see that happening to myself. I can’t really tell you what that role is because it doesn’t exist yet. One of the top things on my list is Eliza in Hamilton. The music in that show is truly incredible. Since that show came out, I’ve been in awe of the music and to be able to sing those songs would be a blessing. There are a lot of shows that I haven’t done that I would love to be in. I’m not sure what role. And as I get older, my idea of roles will probably change. I’ve never done The Addams Family. I would really love to do that. I would love to do the show Fun Home. There are just a lot of bucket list shows. My dream roles are forever changing. Every season, I will have a different answer.”
Kempf is excited about Hadestown and hopes that Madison will fall in love with it.
“This is an art piece that is incredibly layered,” Kempf said. “You will find something new each time that will challenge your mind. I do the show eight times a week. And I have that experience and so, I am confident that the audience has that experience as well. It’s unlike any other musical that has been written. Obviously it’s the winner of eight Tony Awards including best musical and the 2020 Grammy award for best musical theater album. There is a lot to be said there. The show is one of a kind. If you enjoy musical theater or just enjoy the telling of a good story, this show is for you.”
Hadestown plays through Sunday, January 29th at the Overture Center. Visit https://www.overture.org/tickets-events/2022-23-season/hadestown/ for tickets and more information.