Members of the Major League Baseball community and cast members of Hadestown, Broadway’s Tony Award winner for Best New Musical, have released a pair of exclusive videos celebrating the start of MLB’s spring training and the eventual return of Broadway.
New York Yankees legend Bernie Williams, Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith, Sharon Robinson, the daughter of Jackie Robinson, former Yankee Nick Swisher, Pittsburgh Pirates All-Star first baseman Josh Bell and his teammate, starting pitcher Steven Brault were joined by Hadestown composer Anaïs Mitchell, Grammy Award winner Reeve Carney, Tony Award winner Andre Dé Shields, Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer, Kay Trinidad and the musical’s band for the project.
Brault, who has spent portions of the last four seasons in the majors with Pittsburgh, was the inspiration for the project as the southpaw hurler is also an established singer, releasing an album “A Pitch at Broadway,” which featured some of the greatest songs from the top Broadway musicals including Hadestown anthem “Wait for Me.”
Both he and Bell appear in a special version of the song, which helped headline the project:
Broadway was hit with the difficult news on Monday that their doors would remain closed until at least Jan. 3, 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Baseball, however, is trying to work its way back to salvage the 2020 season with a 60-game schedule that is set to begin on July 23. Players will begin reporting to their respective clubs on Wednesday with the second edition of spring training beginning at the end of the week.
For sports fans, the other song Brault and the cast of Hadestown worked on was far more familiar:
“I’ve always loved Broadway and when I heard that my cover of ‘Wait For Me’ had caught Anaïs’ attention, I was floored.” Brault said.
