On July 9, 2016 Hamilton’s Tony Award-winning star and creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr. and Tony nominee Phillipa Soo will “be in the room where it happened” “one last time.” If you are somehow unaware of the 11 Tony Award-winning musical, the story of “Hamilton,” was inspired by a best-selling biography, “Alexander Hamilton,” written by the historian Ron Chernow. Today, award winning musical has shaped the way Broadway and the world not only looks at history but theater! While it is sad to say goodbye to these original Broadway legends, like George Washington’s resonation, these stars will “Teach ‘em how to say goodbye!”
He is the “A-L-E-X-A-N-D-E-R.” Lin-Manuel Miranda is the mastermind behind Hamilton. With music, lyrics, and book all composed by Miranda, he has “rised up” as a premier American actor, composer, rapper and writer winning a Pulitzer Prize, two Grammys, an Emmy, a MacArthur "Genius" Award, and three Tony awards, among others. The idea for Hamilton came to Lin-Manuel at the airport. Bored from his vacation of the Broadway show “In The Heights,” Miranda decided to pick up and read “Alexander Hamilton” by Ron Chernow. After finishing the first couple of chapters, Miranda quickly began envisioning the life of Hamilton as a hip hop musical. This idea became a project entitled “The Hamilton Mixtape.” On May 12, 2009, Miranda was invited to perform music from "In The Heights" at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music and the Spoken Word debuting the future of the smash “Hamilton.” Fast forward six years, the show premiered on Broadway in August 2015 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. On Broadway, it received enthusiastic critical acclaim and unprecedented advance box office sales with tickets being sold out and third parties selling them for easily over $2000 a seat! So with all the success, why is the Tony Awards winner looking to “turn the world upside down”?
While Miranda certainly isn’t “not throwing away his shot,” he pronounced future plans at a press conference on June 20, 2016. “I’m leaving because I have other opportunities that are going to need my mental real estate,” he reported to a New York Times reporter. Mr. Miranda said he would turn his attention to other projects, including finishing work on the score and songs for “Moana,” an animated Disney film, completing an album of “Hamilton,” covers and “Hamilton”-inspired songs called “The Hamilton Mix tape” and preparing to begin rehearsals for a live-action sequel of “Mary Poppins,” which he will star in alongside Emily Blunt. He said he expected to rejoin the cast of “Hamilton” at times, either in New York or elsewhere. The show has just announced productions in Chicago, London and two North American tours . However, he is not sure when, where or for how long he would do that. “This is a role I am going to be going back to again and again…I plan to revisit this role a lot.”
But Lin-Manuel Miranda isn’t the only Hamilton star who is “Non-Stop.” Phillipa Soo (Eliza Schuyler) and Leslie Odom Jr. (Aaron Burr) will also take their final bows that night. Like Miranda, both have big plans. Phillipa Soo will star in the Broadway adaptation of ‘Amelie’ the stage adaptation of the 2001 French indie film, Amélie. According to Deadline, the plan is for the show to have a pre-Broadway run in Los Angeles in December before opening in New York next spring. The 26-year-old actress will also reunite with her on-stage husband Miranda on Disney’s “Moana” as the voice to a villager of Motunui, Moana’s home island, according to Entertainment Weekly. And don’t forget “Aaron Burr, sir.” Leslie Odom Jr. will serve as the host of Philadelphia’s Wawa Welcome America! free concert on July 4. He will also perform music from his new self-titled album, which features Odom singing show tunes and jazz classics, and sing “America the Beautiful” with the Philly Pops. The smash actor doesn’t have any other on-screen or stage roles lined up and told the Wall Street Journal that he plans to keep performing his music until he gets a call. “Every day I can pour energy into this music. I can go out and meet people and connect with people, which is what I love to do most. And so that’s what I’m going to do and I’ll let the phone calls come in as they will, God willing. But if nobody’s calling, I’m going to be around the country and around the world with this music.” Be on the lookout for these “young, scrappy and hungry” stars in their future roles!
Fans hoping to catch Miranda and company one last time have been clamoring to find tickets for the 8 PMJuly 9 performance at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. Tickets are being resold at prices ranging from $8,000 to a whopping $22,495 on Ticketmaster. But at the end of the day, those who are “Ham-For-Ham” only have one thing to say to Lin, Leslie and Phillipa: “You’ll be back!” (please!)
