Chicago’s passionate theatergoers may have been surprised Wednesday morning when news of initial casting of many of the lead roles was announced for the Chicago sit-down production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton,” and not a single musical theater actor from this city was on the list.
Karen Olivo, who received a 2009 Tony Award for her performance as Anita in the Broadway revival of “West Side Story,” and played Vanessa in the Broadway production of Miranda’s “In the Heights,” will play Angelica Schuyler. Miguel Cervantes, whose Broadway credits include “If/Then” and “American Idiot,” will play Alexander Hamilton. And another Broadway veteran, Alexander Gemignani, who has appeared in “Les Miserables” and many Stephen Sondheim musicals on Broadway, will play King George III. Afsar Ari has been cast as Hamilton’s wife, Eliza Schuyler, and Chris Lee will play the dual roles of Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette. The cast also will include Joseph Morales (as an alternate Hamilton), Jose Ramos (he is an alum of the Chicago Academy for the Arts), Wallace Smith and Samantha Marie Ware.
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When contacted about the lack of Chicago talent in the lineup, a number of creative powers in town — including directors, performers and a talent agent (all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, as things are still in play for a number of roles) — said there was less a sense of surprise than a general feeling that, as one source noted: “We know what we have in terms of talent here, but the creative team for this show is from New York, and people tend to want to work with those they know and have worked with before.”
As a veteran musical theater actress, who often goes to auditions for such productions “just to learn the choreography and other aspects of the show,” explained it: “The community here doesn’t really expect to get cast for those big tours, though hope springs eternal when the extraordinary few make it through — people like Jessie Mueller [who forged her career in Chicago, was plucked for a role in a Broadway musical revival, later went on to win a Tony Award for “Beautiful – The Carole King Musical,” and recently received raves for her performance in “Waitress”]. The few calls I’ve gone to have felt pretty perfunctory. And it’s an even bigger bummer for us to see local theaters like the Goodman using fewer locals.”
Denise Schneider, a spokesperson for the Goodman, noted that “in a typical season, between 80 and 90 per cent of the actors we hire are from Chicago.”
As it happens, although rehearsals are to begin in early August, a couple of major roles are still to be cast in Chicago’s “Hamilton,” including those of Aaron Burr (a lifelong “frenemy” of Hamilton, who ultimately killed him in a duel), and George Washington (who chose Hamilton as his assistant during the Revolutionary War, and later named him the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury). And, according to an agent at a major Chicago talent agency: “Many of our actors went in to audition for the show both in Chicago and New York, and we do have people very much still in the mix, and are hopeful things work out for them.”
One busy Chicago musical theater director recalled how a group of actors in rehearsal for his show this past winter were given time off from rehearsal to attend the “Hamilton” audition here, and at least one of them got a callback.
“Of course those of us who work here know the amazing skills set and talent level, so we scratch our heads asking ‘Why?’ But if you have a New York creative team, that New York/Broadway pedigree is very important. And ‘Hamilton’ does require a very specific skills set, and even very specific physical traits, including height. The show’s movement, in particular, is very classically based [Tony Award-winner Andy Blankenbuehler’s choreography makes everyone and everything move in the most organic way, much like Steven Hoggett’s did in “Once”]. It’s a rigorous dance show, and frankly, that classical training, and the way it prepares people to sustain a schedule of eight movement-heavy performances a week, is difficult to find in Chicago.”
Another musical theater director observed: “I know a number of actors who did go to the auditions, but I also was told that the room was surprisingly empty. It might be that the demands of this show — being able to do hip-hop, and street dance, and Broadway, and ballet level movement, and act — scared people away. But this was a show with so many opportunities for ethnic actors, and it’s always important just to be seen, even for openings down the road.”
