On July 11, 1804, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr engaged in their deadly duel – recreated nightly on Broadway for the foreseeable future.
Four members of the original cast of Hamilton have now left (Hamilton Farewell). The show goes on:
The New Alexander Hamilton: Javier Munoz
Javier Muñoz, dubbed Javilton, grew up in the Linden Houses in East New York, Brooklyn. He first wanted to become an actor while a student at Edward R. Murrow High School going on school trips to shows. “I just fell in love with the idea that theater can be a mirror, theater can be a commentary, theater can be powerful and can start a conversation that needs to happen.”
Munoz was Lin-Manuel Miranda’s alternate, and then replacement, in “In The Heights,” and he was the alternate for Miranda from the beginning at Hamilton.
He is 40, gay, HIV positive, and a cancer survivor.
More on Munoz
The New Hamilton Alternate: Michael Luwoye
A 2013 graduate of the University of Alabama, Luwoye garnered attention last year portraying the main African student in the Off-Broadway production of “Invisible Thread.”
“Been a fan since seeing him in a workshop of Invisible Thread! Tremendous talent, AWESOME Hamilton,” Miranda Tweeted. Luwoye will perform as Alexander Hamilton once a week.
The New Aaron Burr: Brandon Victor Dixon
Born in Gaithersburg, Maryland and graduated from Columbia University, Brandon Dixon is a versatile mainstay of the New York stage, as both producer and performer. (He won a Tony as a producer of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.) Dixon is currently continuing his Tony-nominated portrayal of Eubie Blake in the musical Shuffle Along, which is closing July 24. He played Simba in the national tour of The Lion King in 2003 and was nominated for a Tony for his Broadway debut as Harpo in the original production of The Color Purple in 2005. Dixon starred as Berry Gordy in the original Broadway production of Motown in 2013. Off-Broadway he starred as Haywood Patterson in The Scottsboro Boys (leaving it before it transferred to Broadway in order to play the starring role of Ray Charles in a Broadway musical that didn’t happen.) Before he assumes the role of Burr, he will be taking on Coalhouse Walker Jr. in the Ragtime concert taking place on Ellis Island on August 8.
“…The material in Hamilton is not so alien from other things I’ve done. It’s essentially Les Misérables meets Rent in a modern vernacular, and those are two of my favorite shows, ones I know intimately…My brother’s been texting me like, Fool, you can’t rap, what they gonna do? Okay, calm down.”
Until Dixon assumes the role sometime in mid-August, Burr will be portrayed by one of the role’s three understudies at any given performance: Andrew Chappelle, Sydney James Harcourt, or Austin Smith.
The New Eliza Hamilton: Lexi Lawson
Lexi Lawson, who is making her Broadway debut, grew up in the Bronx, the daughter of two musicians. “I was only around performers and music, so I didn’t really know that anything else existed.” She’s portrayed Mimi in the national tour of Rent and Vanessa in the national tour of In The Heights.
Week in New York Theater Reviews
Runaways
To create Runaways, which got an exciting and revealing revival at New York City Center, Elizabeth Swados talked to hundreds of street kids, and gathered together a cast of twenty ranging in age from eleven to twenty-three; five of them, like Swados herself, had run away from home. ..Now, 38 years after that its Broadway run – and six months after Swados’ death at the age of 64 – Runaways has been revived as part of Encores Off Cente
Week in New York Theater News
RIP stage & screen actor John McMartin, 86, vet of 24 Bway shows (Follies, Sweet Charity), 5x Tony nominee pic.twitter.com/xZ9dyYCDhq
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) July 7, 2016
McMartin obituary:
“a favorite of the director and choreographer Bob Fosse, the producer and director Harold Prince and Stephen Sondheim,” who named his performance in Follies as one of his two favorite star performances in a musical.
Broadway to dim lights on Wed in memory of John McMartin
(Scroll for obit https://t.co/jT9cpU2J4c) pic.twitter.com/N08Z1OmPS9— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) July 11, 2016
Ben Brantley talks to James Houghton, founder of Signature Theater on his last day after 25 yrs.
The Signature Theater idea: To do for theater what we do for art, dance, music – place playwrights in context of their whole career
#BwayintheBoros in Ft. Greene Park FREE this Friday, w/ @BeautifulOnBway. Brought to you by @MadeinNY pic.twitter.com/394w2u3zqO
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) July 11, 2016
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Joining #DianeLane in @RTC_NYC‘s #TheCherryOrchard @joelgrey @tavitulle @celiakb
Opens Oct 16 pic.twitter.com/ng4kuRVpaO— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) July 7, 2016
Leaker/fugitive Edward Snowden makes his New York stage debut in Public Theater’s production of “Privacy” – on video in scene with live Daniel Radcliffe
One way to stop abuse in a theater company is to stop hiring “geniuses,” writes Melissa Hillman. How We Stop Abuse in Theater
