Interview: Wendell Scott Jr. of HADESTOWN at The Fox Theatre

Atlanta native Wendell Scott Jr. returns home as a swing in the national tour of HADESTOWN, which plays at The Fox Theatre for a limited run as part of the 2025/2026 Regions Bank Broadway in Atlanta season November 14th – 16th. I caught up with Wendell to talk about his unique journey from the corporate world to the stage, the magic of HADESTOWN, and what it means to perform for his hometown crowd.

BWW: Wendell, thanks so much for taking time to chat with me. We're really excited to hear more about you and HADESTOWN and its Atlanta run at the Fox!

Wendell Scott Jr.: Yeah, I'm very excited to talk to you all too. It's a very cool opportunity. So, I'm excited.

To start, I'd love to hear more about your journey in the theatre. I hear you have a really interesting origin story.

Yeah, I'm actually a very late bloomer to my theatre career. It's just now starting for the most part. I began my career in 2022 as Lola in KINKY BOOTS at Out Front Theater Company in Atlanta. And from there, I just trained with various people, both in Atlanta and New York. In Atlanta, I trained with the Atlanta Institute for Musical Theater and then a couple of personal coaches as well. And then from there, I worked with Kristine Reese and Billy Tighe on bridging the gap between Atlanta Theatre and New York Theatre. They introduced me to my trainers in New York, who I trained with at The Broadway Studio. They're the ones who helped me really understand how to navigate auditions in New York.

I started auditioning and HADESTOWN was actually my first audition in 2023. And I didn't get it that first time. I was like, okay, I need to figure out what to do to get into this show. This is my one big dream. I want to make it happen. So, I trained a little bit more and asked for feedback on my auditions and callbacks. And here we are. We've made it. And right now, I'm a swing. And of course, we all know as a swing, I am juggling several different roles, but it's so great because you get to tell the story in so many different ways from so many different angles. And that's something I'm so thankful for. So it's been a really fun journey.

I come from the corporate world. I work at Delta Airlines as a production coordinator, so I basically handle all of our large-scale video and photo shoots. I'm in charge of the logistics—finding an aircraft if we need to film on an aircraft, finding space in any of our major airport hubs to do the shoots. I also handle our talent. Any employee you see in any of our photo or video shoots, they're real, and my responsibility is to make sure that they are comfortable on camera, that they speak well, they're able to read scripts, so on and so forth. So, I've kind of been able to bridge both the entertainment and corporate world together while I'm on this journey to get into the theatre space. It's been a very unique and fun path for me.

That's so exciting and so interesting. I'd love to talk a little bit more about that—so with Delta, do they give you a leave of absence and you go on tour? Are you still working for them?

So, the first time, when I did the TINA tour this previous year, I was able to get a leave of absence. They've always been supportive first and foremost. One quote that my manager always says is "We know at some point, you're going to be on Broadway, it's completely fine." And I'm like, okay, as long as we all know. When this came up, it was a little bit longer than my tenure on TINA, roughly nine to ten months, so I had to leave this particular time. However, when the tour ends, I'm going back to my role, or if there's something else different within the company, I am able to go back, which is great. So, it's a great support system. I've always been thankful for that. They've always said "You've got something special. We don't want to thwart any of your dreams," and they're like that with anyone. I'm just one of the first people on our team to actually go for that passion directly.

Let's talk about HADESTOWN. It's probably familiar to a lot of our readers due to the Tony and Grammy Awards as well as previous tours, but for those who don't know the story, how would you describe it?

It is a beautiful mythological journey of gods and men — of Orpheus and Eurydice and the gods Hades and Persephone. It's about inclusion, diversity, and really understanding that love takes a bit of tenacity. That's the basic crux of it for me, because love can mean so many things. It doesn't have to just be romantic. It can be about self-love, really understanding who I am, getting back to who I am, and knowing that despite all of the noise and what's built around us, there is the core of ourselves that's still available. It just might take a journey to get there, and I think that's the crux of HADESTOWN for me.

Orpheus and Eurydice, they're very vulnerable, and with the guidance of Hermes and their own decisions, their journeys become very beautiful. There are obstacles along the way, but they're able to get past them. I don't want to give away too much of the story, but yes, they're able to get through these obstacles. However, even if something does become a struggle, you are able to tell the story again and you are able to rewrite your own story.

And that's what I love about HADESTOWN. Any time we tell this story, it is always fresh. There's always a different perspective that you can see. I think that is so unique to this particular musical. I mean, yes, I love a lot of shows, but this show is my favorite because of that. Because I'm always able to see or feel something different each time. Whether it's me looking at a worker, or looking at Orpheus, or even looking at Hermes, the perspective will always be different.

Speaking of different perspectives, I wanted to hear a little bit about your experience as a swing in this show. I know as a swing you have to be ready to go on in a lot of different roles. Which roles do you cover and which of them get you the most excited when they give you the call and say, "We want you to go on”?

This is my first time being a swing. Coming into it, I was like, OK, there is a lot to do, but I love being challenged. I currently cover seven roles. I cover all of the workers, one through five, and then I understudy Hermes and Hades. This has been such a beautiful journey. This is where you lean on your crew and you lean on your fellow castmates, especially our dance captains, Julia [Schick] and Michelle [Carter]. They have taught me how to organize and how to prioritize the roles based on how I learn. As I said, I'm a little late to the theatre game, so I didn't grow up with the foundation of dance and having an opportunity to learn three to five or even seven roles before. So, this is my first time doing it.

What’s great is that the entire team gives me grace and they understand and they're able to accommodate the way people learn and the way people are able to inhabit these roles in their own ways. When it comes to the roles that I cover, Hermes is the one that I'm super excited about. That's what I went in for in 2023, and just being able to put the feathers on my feet is going to be fantastic. Also, just having a more parental perspective when it comes to my Hermes to Orpheus specifically, just because I appreciate the guidance. Knowing Orpheus is the son of a muse, there's not really a lot about the father figure in Orpheus's life. I think that's something that's incredibly important to have, especially as he goes through this very vulnerable journey. My Hermes is a reflection of that guide, that fatherly guidance that he would need. So yes, I am super excited—and I get to wear silver, so yay.

Have you gotten to go on for Hermes yet?

Not just yet. I'm actually in rehearsals for it right now. Today we have our final rehearsal with the creative team, and hopefully in Atlanta I'll be able to do at least one show as Hermes. It would be such a full circle moment, especially at The Fox.

Which is great because you have a history with The Fox.

Yes. I host the Fox's holiday show every year. I’ve been doing that for the past 10 years. I work very closely with Broadway in Atlanta, where I create my own personal content on my social. Being able to do that role or even just be on the stage in general in this show and allowing my family and friends to see me perform at The Fox for the first time in a Broadway show, it would be tremendous. So hopefully that will happen. That's why this moment is so special - being able to "play it pretty for Atlanta". Have you heard that quote before?

No, I haven't heard that. What is that from?

“Play it pretty for Atlanta" is what is above the door frame that goes from backstage onto the stage of the Fox. It came from Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd, in 1976. He said it as a message to the band to give their best performance. It's just something that stuck. It's like a neon sign that's above the stage door, basically. I always think about that. I'm like, OK, I'm going to play it pretty for Atlanta. Let's do it. I'm very excited to be able to do that, just because it's almost in a sense giving back to the city. I love the arts. I love the art scene that we have in Atlanta. It's so important to have a local connection in such a large production like this, because it shows what's possible, right? It shows that we don't have to be stuck in the city in order to perform. There are opportunities to expand our wings.

What advice would you have for others who have aspirations to perform and to get in the theatre world but maybe haven't done that yet? What advice would you give to them?

I say take the risk. It's cool to play it safe and it's smart to play it safe. But I think also we get so caught up in being comfortable, we don't give ourselves the opportunity to even say "what if the journey will work?" right? For me, taking this risk at 35, I was like, I have to see what this journey is going to be. I have to see if my dream will be fulfilled. And it is. I speak to a lot of my peers back in Atlanta. They don't know the avenues to take, right? I just say seek out the information and be persistent about it. Really get into a class, get into training. Still, even on this journey, I'm still in my vocal lessons every week, still doing self-tape work just to make sure that my stuff is sharp, because you never know. You can't find opportunities in your comfort zone. So just getting out of it, taking the risk—that is what makes the change for you.

Is there a dream role that you'd like to play one day? I like to ask to put that out into the universe so maybe that can come full circle one day.

Yeah, I would love to be Coalhouse Walker Jr. in Ragtime. That's one of my biggest dream roles. Seeing Joshua Henry do it in New York, I saw the final performance at the New York City Center before they closed, and oh my goodness, it was beautiful. Yeah, that is the one. It's such a powerful role.

Yes, it really is. Is there anything we haven't covered that you'd like readers to know?

Just that I am so thankful to The Fox, thankful to Atlanta just for being my home in so many ways and being my comfort, if you will.

HADESTOWN will play for a one-weekend limited engagement at the Fox Theatre Friday, November 14th through Sunday, November 16th as part of the 2025/2026 Regions Bank Broadway in Atlanta season. Tickets are available at the Fox Theatre box office at 660 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30308 and by visiting https://foxtheatre.com/hadestown or by calling (855)-285-8499. Group orders of 10 or more may be placed by contacting sales@foxtheatre.org. Performances are Friday, November 14th at 8PM, Saturday, November 15th at 2PM and 8PM, and Sunday, November 16th at 1:00PM and 6:30PM.

Lead Photo: Megan Colton (Eurydice), Namisa Mdlalose Bizana (Persephone), and Hadestown North American Touring Company, 2024. Photo by: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.

Top Photo: Wendell Scott Jr.

Mid Photo 1: Jose Contreras (Orpheus) and Hadestown North American Touring Company, 2025. Photo by: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.

Mid Photo 2: Hadestown North American Touring Company, 2025.  Photo by: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.