Hamilton bringing people together
Show's star says humanizing America's founding fathers reminds us about making world better
Since premièring off-Broadway in early 2015, Hamilton has become the must-see musical of the last decade. Outside of Come from Away, it's difficult to recall another recent stage production that's had as much cultural impact.
But Hamilton is much more of an American story, one that utilizes a multiracial cast and rap to tell the tale of the founding of the country.
For the man who plays the title character in the touring production coming to Vancouver, the prospect of rapping almost an entire show was intimidating.
“I consider myself to be a singer, especially before Hamilton came along,” Julius Thomas III, who plays Alexander Hamilton, said.
“Ninety-nine per cent of what I did in this business was coming out and singing pretty. There's not a ton of
singing pretty in Hamilton. It was daunting to think the thing I do very well was something we were not going to touch at all. But the rap came a little more naturally than I expected it to. I realized it was just liking tapping, which is a thing I was into, especially early in my career.
“It's just about learning rhythms, the same way you put the rhythm into your feet you put into your lips.”
Following its Broadway debut, Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical swept the American theatre awards. The show won eight Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical, 11 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for drama.
Miranda based the musical on an acclaimed 2004 biography of Hamilton by Ron Chernow. Hamilton was a New York attorney, self-made man, and scandal-ridden politician. Chernow called him “the father of the American government.”
“This musical humanizes the founding fathers,” Thomas said. “We learn about the platitudes, the chopping down of the cherry tree and the cannot tell a lie, and all these things that have placed these people on pedestals.
“This show brings them down off of those pedestals and talks about their lives in a way that reminds us they were just humans trying to figure things out.”
Thomas has been in the touring company for five years and played the eponymous character for nearly three. He was previously the standby for the eponymous character, his arch rival Aaron Burr, with whom Hamilton engaged in an ill-fated duel, and King George III.
Thomas hadn't seen the show before he was asked to audition.
“I steered clear of it because I didn't think it was something I'd ever be in. I didn't consider myself a rapper, I didn't see where I could fit in until they asked me to audition. Then I realized I had to call in favours and ask people if I could stand in the back of the theatre just to get a glimpse of what this thing actually was.”
His appreciation grew as he understood what Miranda “was trying to say with the show and hearing the complicated rhythms he came up with and the rhymes and delivering the genius of the piece itself. That's when my love for it blossomed. That's when I got to know it in an intimate way with the idea of telling the story on a nightly basis.”
Thomas says that he's not bored with it, “not even close.”
Some of his favourite scenes to play are with Darnell Abraham, who plays George Washington.
Another is the musical number It's Quiet Uptown, which finds Hamilton and his wife Eliza grieving their son's death. In the seven years since the play's debut, the country it celebrates has grown more polarized.
Thomas believes the show can bring people together.
“I've travelled this country seven times over in different tours and we hit all kinds of places with all kinds of audiences who laugh at the same jokes or get upset over the jokes,” he said.
“I think audiences are polarized regardless of what the show is. But I do think it brings folks together in that we're all learning about history, and we're all very much interested in what Lin-Manuel Miranda is doing, because he's a genius. And telling the founding of our nation's story is something I think most of us can get behind, especially when we're turning it on its ear and not just sticking to the platitudes I mentioned earlier.”
Hamilton has a message for Canadian audiences, too.
“It's about legacy,” Thomas said. “It's about striving to create something for those coming behind you and about leaving the world better than you found it and learning from mistakes. I think it's something every last one of us can dig into and glean something from because we're all out here trying to be our best selves and make the world better for our kids and not leave a flaming trash pile for them to clean up.”