U.S. HISTORY MEETS HIP HOP IN HAMILTON
National tour of award-winning stage production coming to Alberta
The wait is over. Albertans will finally get the opportunity to see live Lin-manuel Miranda's Hamilton, the most heavily awarded and universally praised musical of the 21st century.
Hamilton plays at the Jubilee in Edmonton from June 21 to July 10 and in Calgary from July 12 to July 31.
Hamilton's off-broadway run, which began in February 2015 with Miranda playing the title character of Alexander Hamilton, garnered eight Drama Desk Awards. When it transferred to Broadway six months later, it swept the 2016 Tony Awards by winning a coveted 11 awards. That year it was also awarded the Pulitzer Prize for drama and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album.
Hamilton began its first American touring productions in 2017 with two shows zigzagging across America, and it was scheduled to play the Jubilee Auditoriums in both Calgary and Edmonton in 2021 but was postponed due to the pandemic.
In January 2019, Miranda took a third touring company to Puerto Rico for two weeks. His stand-by for that run was Julius Thomas III, who would then take the new company to San Francisco for an extended run and eventually to Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary as part of the current national tour.
“I got to rehearse with the new cast and then handed them over to Lin-manuel. I remember telling him to take care of my folks and then watching him raise tons of money for charity. It was such an honour to know the producers felt I was capable of leading the newest company,” says Thomas, who is no stranger to Hamilton the musical or Hamilton the character.
In 2017, he was cast as an understudy for the roles of Hamilton, Aaron Burr and King George III. Two years later, he assumed the role of Hamilton and has held it ever since.
Thomas had never seen a production of Hamilton before he auditioned for the musical five years ago.
“I wasn't consumed by the musical as so many artists and audience members were because ever since I began working in the industry I considered myself a singer and not a rapper and Hamilton is a sungthrough, rapped-through musical.
“When I was cast, I had to call in favours from people to let me stand at the back of the theatre so I could watch it and it worked its magic on me just as it has worked its magic on everyone who sees it.”
Straight out of theatre school in 2006, Thomas landed a role in the first professional production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in Chicago and would make his off-broadway and Broadway debuts in 2010 in the Kander/ Ebb musical The Scottsboro Boys, and three years later starred on Broadway in Motown: The Musical.
“The big difference between all those other musicals I've been in is that you have to win over the audience, but with Hamilton we don't have to do that. When people sit down in the theatres they are excited and ready to have a good time. They're already on our side. That's something special, and as performers we're grateful for that.”
Hamilton is the story of Alexander Hamilton, an American revolutionary, statesman and Founding Father of the United States. Miranda turned Hamilton's story on its head, not just by having it told through rap, hip hop, R&B, soul and pop tunes, but by having all of the characters played by actors of colour. He says his musical is the story of the people who founded America as told by Americans of today.
Thomas admits he knew very little about the historical character before he was cast.
“I know most of the people who come to the musical don't really know the history, but that's what we're giving them in a very different, very exciting way. I keep learning more by being in the musical, which is why I've stayed with it for all these years. What we do with Hamilton is we take these largerthan-life, history book people and make them real. We take them off their pedestals. We make them human.”
He said he thinks Canadians will find Hamilton enthralling because “it's essentially about wanting to have a legacy. It's about wanting to make the world a better place than how we find it. It's about making life better for our friends, family and neighbours and we can all identify with that goal.”
Thomas, whose father is a minister, always aspired to be a humanitarian.
“I wanted to do something in medicine, which is why I was studying biology. I didn't really like my courses and then I saw a production of Rent. I watched the people around me laughing, crying and having so many cathartic moments and realized that's what I wanted to do for people.”
“I feel I am doing that through Hamilton. You feel the joy you are bringing to people. My parents and sister say I have brought joy and fun into their lives. I did that for my father when I was starring in Motown: The Musical. My father was always a huge fan of Motown music and its creator Berry Gordy. When I was starring in Motown, I got to introduce my dad to Berry.”
Thomas says one of the things lost through the pandemic is stage dooring, where people wait outside the stage door to get pictures and autographs of the performers they've just seen.
“This wonderful tradition has been placed on hold because we are so worried that if one of us catches COVID we could be shut down.
“For three hours the performers are staring out into darkness. We can't see the faces we're trying to affect. Before COVID, when we could meet with audience members after the show, we got to see what our art did for people. I can hardly wait until it's safe again.”