Why The Summer I Turned Pretty Star Lola Tung Is the Perfect Songbird for Broadway's Hadestown

One month from now, The Summer I Turned Pretty star Lola Tung will be traversing the underworld as the latest Eurydice in Anaïs Mitchell’s Tony-winning musical Hadestown at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Originated on Broadway by two-time Tony nominee Eva Noblezada (and assumed this past summer by Solea Pfeiffer), Eurydice is one of Broadway’s meatiest characters—a woman who literally travels to hell and back, all while singing every hill and valley of Mitchell’s soulful score. This role will not only be the 21-year-old actress’ Broadway debut, but her short run (scheduled for February 9 through March 17) will also mark just the second professional role of her young career.

In 2020, when Tung was a freshman in Carnegie Mellon’s acting program, she landed the part of the Isabel “Belly” Conklin in The Summer I Turned Pretty—the hit coming-of-age Amazon series based on Jenny Han’s trilogy of novels. With two seasons out and a third in the works, Tung has amassed a zillion fans and the show itself rallies internet battle cries of #TeamConrad versus #TeamJeremiah—a teen drama is legally obligated to include a love triangle, obviously.

Throngs of Belly lovers are probably already planning their trips to see her on Broadway. But beyond her convincing portrayal of a tormented high schooler balancing youthful optimism with internal strife—there’s already a whiff of Eurydice, no? —Tung has already showed off Broadway-level chops.

Exhibit A: Tung covers songs on social media by well-loved singer-songwriters Lizzy McAlpine and Phoebe Bridgers, naturally leaning toward artists whose musical sensibilities jell with the textures of Mitchell’s Grammy-winning score—a jazz-folk-rock blend that requires as much in mood as it does in technical skill.

Exhibit B: Among her most-viewed YouTube videos is a 2021 duet with fellow Laguardia High School alum Aaron Syi (see above). In a prescient display of Broadway synergy, Tung and Syi harmonize to “What Are We Waiting For,” a single from Tony winner and Purlie Victorious star Leslie Odom Jr., featuring his wife and fellow Broadway alum Nicolette Robinson. It’s a fitting preview of the harmonies Tung will share with current silver-voiced Orpheus, Jordan Fisher.

Of course, Hadestown, like The Summer I Turned Pretty, isn’t all angst and sentiment. To be a truly great Eurydice, who is optimistic enough to think music can conjure the return of spring, you need to be able to muster pure, unadulterated joy. You know, sing like no  nobody’s watching—specifically your mom and brother in the car. She's a Broadway star in the making. Case closed.