Lola Tung Is Never Looking Back
Lola Tung first descended into Hadestown with her dad. The two trekked to the Walter Kerr Theatre in early 2020 and waded down the road together. They gasped at that moment and saw the sung-through Anaïs Mitchell musical come to life on stage. “I remember there was a moment towards the end of the show where I turned to [my dad], and he was crying,” Tung says. “The music is so beautiful, and he sings and plays guitar, so he’s really into the music of it all.”
The show, which tells the classic Greek tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, was first a concept album by Mitchell in 2010, then turned into a Rachel Chavkin-directed musical, and won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2019. It follows the tragic pair as Eurydice enters a bargain to work for Hades, while Orpheus ignores her to write a song he promises will change the world. Realizing his mistake, Orpheus travels to Hadestown to save Eurydice and, with Persephone’s help, Hades allows for the couple’s escape. But there’s a catch: Orpheus must walk in front of Eurydice, in a single-file line, as they return to the surface of the Earth without looking back at her.
Tung, 21, makes her Broadway debut tonight as Eurydice opposite Jordan Fisher’s Orpheus. She plays the same role that turned Eva Noblezada, the first Eurydice, into a bona fide star. Noblezada left the show in late 2023 and handed the rose Solea Pfeiffer, who is now departing the production. Tung will star until March 17.
“Solea has been so kind to me and given me so many tips,” Tung says. “I sort of got to trail her the other day, and she shared with me all of her little secrets to staying hydrated and this and that.”
For Tung, this journey to the stage has been a long time coming. She grew up in New York City, did a production of Little Shop of Horrors in middle school, attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, and then did a watered-down production of Rent with her outside theater group. “It was a really magical experience because that’s another one of those shows that kind of just brings people together,” Tung says of the Jonathan Larson musical. “I don’t know. It is just, if you’re in that cast, you kind of just immediately bond with everyone there.”
But after high school, while attending Carnegie Mellon University, the proud thespian turned in the stage for the screen. She was cast as Isabel “Belly” Conklin in the Prime Video hit The Summer I Turned Pretty, based on the Jenny Han book series of the same name. The show has already been renewed for a third season, but production has not started yet.
In the dreamy summer series, Belly finds herself in a love triangle with brothers Conrad (played by Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (played by Gavin Casalegno). Beyond the puppy love of it all, the characters are also dealing with defining themselves, grief, and financial struggles, all of which would put pressure on any young high schooler. While facing these battles, Belly isn’t shy about her feelings and often makes bombastic choices. She’s known for her fire—something Eurydice has in her, too.
“I think Eurydice has been through more, in a different way, than Belly and is a little older and a little different in that way,” Tung says. “But they both are people who have big hearts and are not afraid to say what they’re going to say, because they’ve got a lot of emotions and have been hurt in different ways.”
“I’m not as direct as they are all the time,” Tung adds. “It’s been really cool to learn from them because communication is key, and they’ll say it like it is.”
Tung shares her love of musical theater with a dear friend, Reneé Rapp, star of The Sex Lives of College Girls and Mean Girls, who just released her debut album Snow Angel last year. When Rapp learned Tung would be at her Brooklyn Halloween show on her Snow Hard Feelings tour, she invited the young star on stage and sang Justin Bieber’s “One Less Lonely Girl” to her in full Bieber drag. “I was genuinely fangirling up there. Everyone’s like, ‘oh, she’s just acting.’ No, I was fangirling hard,” Tung says of the experience, which was splattered across TikTok immediately. “She is just an incredible performer and lovely person. She’s just so cool.”
That is not the only moment Tung recently went viral for, either. This past year, she gave an interview where she was asked what Taylor Swift era Belly is in. She, in a melodic, sing-song voice, went, “Oh my goodness, I love this question!” and soon, celebrities including Scarlett Johansson, Olivia Rodrigo, and more were using the sound on TikTok. And yes, Tung saw Swift’s Eras Tour in May with Jenny Han, and has been a long-time fan. “It’s amazing that she’s able to have as long of a run as she’s doing with this show because it’s such a long show, too,” Tung says of the three-hour set. “When I was there, [one of my surprise songs] was ‘False God,’ which was really cool.”
Tung is about to have her own marathon of performing herself, doing eight shows a week at the Walter Kerr. This is very different from the up-close-and-personal approach to filming TV. Every night she has to be on, in every performance she needs to hit the notes, and every day she has to take care of herself. Thankfully, she’s surrounded by an all-star cast and mentors. Lillias White, Tony Award winner for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for The Life, is currently on as Hermes, and Fisher is now a Broadway veteran too, having starred in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Dear Evan Hansen. And then there’s Grammy-winner Ani DiFranco, who is also making her Broadway debut as she begins performances as Persephone tonight. “Ani, who’s such a freaking powerhouse in rehearsal, is just so cool,” says Tung. “I think we both learn from each other because she’s sort of entering the theater world for the first time. It’s just so cool to watch her completely make this character her own and inspire me to do the same with my character. I think that’s the beauty of the show, too. Everyone’s iteration of the characters is completely different, and that’s how the show thrives. It’s the beauty of the individuality of everybody and everyone’s version of it.”
As for her version of Eurydice? “It’s something that I’m even still discovering every single day, because I’m just bringing myself to her,” Tung says. “I love being able to figure out the moments where things can be more heightened and then the moments that are more soft and internal.”
Tung won’t give too much away, however. “I mean, I think you’ll just have to come and see,” she says. “I’ve seen shows on Broadway, and I’ve been through Times Square many, many, many times, not always willingly through the crowds. But every time I walk up to the theater and go in through the stage door, it’s like this magical portal into this incredible world.”
Lola Tung stars as Eurydice in Hadestown at the Walter Kerr Theatre until March 17. Tickets can be purchased here.
