The love story of Eva Noblezada Carney and Reeve Carney—actors, entertainers, musicians, artists—began (where else?) on the stage, in a “weirdly lit” little rehearsal space on Manhattan’s 8th Avenue. It was June 29, 2017, and Eva was there to audition for the lead role of Eurydice in the then-Broadway debut of the now-musical phenomenon Hadestown. Reeve had already secured his part as Orpheus.
“Reeve was just so cool, confident, and kind. [He was] so beautifully locked into the moment, and it really influenced me to be as present as possible,” remembers Eva. They finished singing their duet, “Wedding Song,” and Reeve returned to the back of the room to watch her finish the audition—which she nailed. (Two weeks later, she found out she got the part, and screamed down the Equinox at Columbus Circle) The couple would go on to propel Hadestown to major, Tony award-winning success.
“I feel blessed to have been a part of the epic that is Hadestown—and doing it all next to the man and artist who inspires me the most,” says Eva. After the Broadway stint that sparked their relationship, they took the tortured young lovers they originated to London in 2018, for a run at the National Theatre.
Reeve and Eva’s courtship unfolded alongside their intertwining theater careers—and their engagement had to be staged accordingly. “I had been planning it for years!” says Reeve. The pandemic slowed the process—Reeve had a specific location in mind and wanted their families to be present—but when they received the call to reprise their roles in Hadestown on the West End, the timing felt perfect. Eva had an extra day (March 10, 2025) in between Hadestown and her first day of rehearsal as Sally Bowles in Cabaret on Broadway. “That’s the day I chose to propose to the love of my life and my best friend, on Blackfriars Bridge; the bridge we had walked across together every day to and from the National Theatre, as we were becoming best friends,” says Reeve. As Reeve got down on one knee, the ZHL string quartet was there to soundtrack their proposal. (The group had played during one of their date night dinners at Sarastro Restaurant in Covent Garden, and Reeve sneakily grabbed their business card with this plan in mind.)
Choosing New Orleans as the wedding destination also reflected the arc of their romance. Reeve had long wanted to take Eva to the city, where he had been performing regularly for 15 years. Two years into their relationship, and before they were officially engaged, on June 29, 2021, they drove across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway into the city together. “I realized later that day that it marked the four-year anniversary from the day we met,” says Reeve. Within a few hours of setting foot on the French Quarter’s cobblestones, Eva and Reeve knew: ‘This is where we needed to have our ‘celebration…’” (Which is what they were calling their wedding, in advance of an official engagement.) “We FaceTimed our families and told them as much, to which they replied, ‘Is there something you want to tell us?’ We said, ‘Oh no, not yet… but this is where we want to do it!’”
