Living His Teenage Dream: Jack Wolfe Talks Hadestown, Next to Normal, Shadow and Bone

Age: 30

Hometown: Wakefield, England

Current role: Jack Wolfe plays lovestruck artist Orpheus in the Tony-winning musical Hadestown on Broadway.

Previous roles: Wolfe received an Olivier Award nomination for his performance as Gabe in London's Donmar Warehouse transfer of Next to Normal, which was preserved for PBS' Great Performances. His additional stage credits include Pinocchio, The Magician's Elephant, The Unlikely Pilgrimmage of Harold Fry and more. He played Moritz in the Spring Awakening 15th anniversary concert at the Victoria Palace Theatre. On screen, he led Florian Sigl's feature film adaptation of Mozart's The Magic Flute and joined Netflix's fan-favorite fantasy show Shadow and Bone for its second season. His additional TV work includes Inside No. 9, Father Brown, Hetty Feather and The Witcher.    

The Play's The Thing
Hearing Wolfe's heavenly vocals bounce between gorgeous "la la la" lilt and wallop-packed "Wait for Me" inside the Walter Kerr, it's difficult to believe the performer was ever shy. "I was a very high strung, anxious child who didn't say very many words," he shared. Wolfe credits growing up with a regular Saturday morning acting class with inspiring his line of work. "It cost one pound 50, which is insane! Theater was really my first outlet to, I guess, express myself, find my voice, make friends, find a community," he recalled. As part of these Saturday morning classes, Wolfe was introduced to the National Theatre Connections scheme, the U.K.'s largest annual youth theater festival. "I remember doing a play by Philip Ridley and one by Molly Davies. It was no longer just playing drama games and doing improv," he explained. "You show up to rehearsals, and you know your lines. I remember that really changing my relationship to it." Wolfe went on to join the National Youth Theater at the age of 14.

On Repeat
Growing up, Wolfe kept Broadway close the way countless fans do: watching YouTube videos. Specifically, performances from Tony Awards broadcasts past. “Broadway was so far away from where I was in Wakefield. I just loved watching them," he recalled. "I specifically remember the Next to Normal Tony Awards performance. A huge one for me was Spring Awakening—to the point where I remember Zach Braff introducing the cast." Wolfe would go on to see the original London cast of Spring Awakening as a teenager at the Lyric Hammersmith. "15 years later, through incredible luck and some sort of seismic universe full circle moment, I got to play Moritz in the [London] 15th anniversary concert. It’s my favorite literary role of all time," he said. "I lived that entire day as my teenage self."   

Something Next to Normal
Watching those award show numbers certainly paid off, without diluting Wolfe's own takes as a performer. Playing Gabe in the Michael Longhurst-helmed production of Next to Normal alongside Caissie Levy's Diana earned him his first Olivier Award nomination and put his chops on the map in a whole new way, especially with the release of the filmed version, now forever preserved on Great Performances. “The response to our production has been so special," Wolfe said. "I love meeting and talking to people about it because it meant so much to me too." Nowadays, Wolfe is taking the stage less than 20 blocks down from Ragtime star Levy and only a few blocks up from Next to Normal's original Gabe, Aaron Tveit. "I can't believe that we're on Broadway at the same time. That's a wild thing to say. We haven't met yet. His voice was in my ears for so many years. I can't wait to meet him," he said of the Tony winner and Chess king. “I touched down on the plane and had a text from Caissie Levy asking how my flight [to New York] was, how was I, did I need anything, which speaks to the kind of friend she is.”

British Invasion
Wolfe also gets to enjoy making his Broadway debut alongside some fresh-faced peers from across the pond. “What’s funny is that people I know from back home are also on this journey with me. Sam Tutty’s just moved in across the street from the Walter Kerr. We were texting each other tips and tricks of navigating New York life: where to go, where to stay, where to eat," he said of the Two Strangers star. "We get to all bump into each other, whether it’s Jak Malone or Tom Francis or whoever. It’s a really special thing.”

Ta-Da After Tudum
Wolfe has also won fans stepping into Netflix's second season of Shadow and Bone, a fantasy series based on the books by Leigh Bardugo. He played Wylan Hendricks, the love interest of Jesper Fahey, played by Kit Young. The project was shot over the course of six months in Budapest following the COVID pandemic. "It was quite a wild thing to do straight after the lockdowns," Wolfe recalled. "I can’t help but understand what it’s like to be a fan of something: to care about how it’s made or revived or exists in any sort of new form.” The experience certainly made the cast close. "The WhatsApp groups are still popping off daily," he revealed. "I’ve had friends from Shadow and Bone come to see me in Hadestown: Ben Barnes, Danielle Galligan."

Hey, Little Songbird
Wolfe joined the cast of Hadestown alongside fellow principals Morgan Dudley, Kurt Elling, Paulo Szot and Rebecca Naomi Jones this past September. Now headed for a lucky seventh year on Broadway, the moving production, which spotlights Greek mythology's ultimate "will they, won't they" romance, has always featured strong casting. In addition to the ultra-talented original five principals, Hadestown has since touted theater mainstays like Phillip Boykin, Jordan Fisher and Lana Gordon and welcomed music industry fixtures like Allison Russell, Yola and Betty Who with open arms and raised cups. Wolfe previously told Broadway.com he started off as and remains a dedicated fan of the show. “I grew up in that early 2010s era where Rebecca Naomi Jones, to me, was iconic in American Idiot. To be on stage with people I've looked up to so much—it's a recurring theme I guess," Wolfe said. "What's beautiful is that you can see Anaïs Mitchell and Rachel Chavkin's handprint on Hadestown all the way through. Their work is so beautiful, and Hadestown has remained raw and interesting and challenging through all of its iterations through all of these years. Getting to play within that is a really special thing that I do not take for granted ever."

Show The Way
Numerous talents have held Orpheus' guitar and Eurydice's hand playing the role, which demands both sincerity and seismic singing eight times a week. “I love the idea of him being someone who maybe isn’t cut out for the job he has to do in changing the world," Wolfe explained. "That’s the way I like to see his songwriting: that it’s like he isn’t aware of the power of it. He isn’t necessarily ready to perform. By planting these seeds throughout the show, it means by the end, there’s huge stakes at play.” Just as Orpheus uses his singing to transform winter to spring, so has Wolfe used his talents to transfigure his admiration for projects as an audience member to taking the stage as a star. "It's not lost on me how wild it is—from how scared I was as a kid—to do something so scary every night in front of an audience," he shared. "The way through for me has been to always think about what this means to him. I think we all should bring that person to everything. Nothing can go wrong or be a wrong decision or a wrong turn because it means something. You get to sort of collect the dreams that they had."

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