- I remember walkingin that rehearsal roomfor the first time never havingrehearsed a musical ever in my life,and there's Lack sitting at pianoand you and Anika NoniRose are in the roomjust warming up, and Iwas like, I'm [beep],I'm actually [beep], I don't knowwhat the hell I'm doing here.
[laughing]- My name is Lin-Manuel Miranda.- My name is Thomas Kail.- I'm Daveed Diggs.- Christopher Jackson.- I'm Renee Elise Goldsbury.- I'm Leslie Odom Jr.- I'm Jasmine Cephas Jones.- My name is Oke.- I'm Anthony Ramos.- I'm Philippa.- And this is-- [All] Hamilton Support.[energetic music]- From @marie_rebeccaaa."What are some of yourfavorite backstage momentsfrom 'Hamilton' and why?"- Man, it's a lot.- My favorite backstagemoments are always sort ofmoments of connection thatthe audience doesn't see.- The wig moment was my fave,the wig moment is hands downone of the best moments of my life.- Anthony had to wear a wig'cause he had cut his hair,and he had this wonderfullyhilarious wig that-- It was Renee's wig from Off-Broadway.- I wasn't trying to do himdirty like that, Anthony,but yes, it was Renee's wig.- They cut Renee's wig from Off-Broadwayand just fluffed it up and they were like"Yo, put that on your headuntil you you leave the stage."- And no one knew, I didn'tsee it until I got onstage,and then I was like, "What's happening?"And we just laughed hystericallyand had so much fun.- Our stage managercame out of the shadows,and I'm talking like, whoosh!She's like, "Get it together."[laughing]- One of my favoritemoments is with you, Leslie,at one time, we would start gadding.- We would, you would!You would.- Well, it started with me.I would just have these like,improv scatting sessions.- Oh, it got me through,those were beautiful and rough monthsat the public theater, yo.We were making no money.- You know, things start to grow.- One of my favoritemoments backstage alwayswas in "The Room Where It Happens,"there was a moment where Daveed and Iwere both offstage stage left,and we would freestyle together just untilthe moment where he hadto emerge as Jefferson,and we would always just fit inat least two or four bars,and it was our littlemoment of connection,at a moment when our characters areas adversarial as they can be.- I kinda walked around mad all the time,'cause George Washingtonwas kinda mad all the time.- Because Chris was inangry mode all the time,here's Chris, andAnthony Ramos.
[laughing]Just going at it, just like, backstage,like, going at it, justlike screaming matches.- If I never hear AnthonyRamos, I know he's thinking,"Chris, would you just stop talking?I'm over here talking to Daveed,I don't, I didn't ask youfor your opinion, man."- I didn't ask you for your opinion.- I didn't ask you.
[laughing]Just around and aroundand around and around.- @ali_luv_39."What was the most surprising thingwhen you read 'Hamilton'script for the first time?"#AskLeslieSu.First thing I did was Isaw the very first meetingof "The Hamilton Mixtape"in Poughkeepsie, New York.I saw the very first meetingin a 99-seat black box theater.I saw the most, the boldest, freshest,most literate, exciting piece of theaterI had ever been given thegift of seeing that early.I tell you the song that I left,that left the biggest impression on me,was not a song you might expect.It was "The Story of Tonight."As a fan of the theater, asa casual fan of the theater,of the genre of this form,I had never in my life, you see,seen four men of color ona stage singing togetherabout friendship andbrotherhood in my life.And so to me, that was the revolution,the image of that packed such powerthat I committed in that moment to like,being the first Hamil fan that there was.I was like, I was gonnabring everybody in my lifeto see this thing, because it was worthy.- This is a question fromSam Middleton via Twitter,and he is @ImSmammy."@ Lin_Manuel If you hadfinished writing #Hamiltonafter viewing the eventsthat have unfoldedin the US in 2020 so far,would you have written it any differently?Any guess at how it may differ?"- That's a fantastic question.One of the sort of greatsurprises of "Hamilton"is that it doesn't change.We haven't changed the textof this show since 2015,and yet it feels like it changes becausethe world around it changes so fast.Things that popped outwhen Obama was presidentmay not be the things that get a reactionwhen Trump is president."Immigrants, we get the job done"certainly gets a different reaction.If there's anything politicalabout the show "Hamilton",its thesis is everything good or badthat was present at the founding,at the roots of the birth of this country,are still present.The fights we had then arethe fights we are having now.Conversations we're havingabout systemic racismand abuse and police brutality,and about revolution,those are all still present.I'm gratified andhumbled when I see lyricsfrom the show at BlackLives Matter protests,but because we are dealing withthe origins of this countryand how it's based onideals that we fell short ofthe moment we wrote them down,I'm well aware that everysingle one of these characters,even though they sing songs you love,are complicit in theoriginal sin of slavery,whose legacies are stillbeing felt to this day.The lyrics about that in theshow I think hit differentlyin this conversation thanthey may have in 2017,or 2016, or 2015.I think one of the biggestthemes of the show is,you don't get to controlhow you're remembered.You don't get to controlhow you're remembered or who survives you,and the show doesn'tescape that fate either.And so different thingswithin it will rise or fallbased on where we are.- @RealTboneGaming asks,"I have a question about 'Hamilton'.When you're Lafayettesinging in the ensembledid you sing with a French accent?"The answer is yes, to thedegree that I did anythingactually with a French accent.My best approximation, yes.You know, the real reason is becauseanything I can do to act through singingis gonna be helpful for me,because I am so uncomfortable singing.Alex Lacamoire gave mea note one time that wasto stop worrying about the singingand just act with the right pitch.As soon as he said that,I did everything from thereon out with the French accent.- This is a question viaTwitter from Kristen Queen."Saw @HamiltonMusical in Chicagoand can't help but wonderwhat happened to Peggy Schuyler?Surely @Lin_Manuel,"oh, are you on Twitter?"Is planning a sequel,'Hamilton 2: Peggy's Revenge.'#youknowyouwonderedthesamething#whathappenedtopeggy #Hamilton."Lin, you're all over this thing.- I'm not planning a sequel to "Hamilton".I don't know on Earth howI could follow that up.It's good that you wonderwhat happened to Peggy.She doesn't continue in ourstory into the second actbecause sadly, Peggydidn't live that long.The broad outline of Peggy's story isshe married a very rich youngman and died pretty young.And as you can tell with "Hamilton",we have so little timeto tell a lot of story.And so if you don't survive the act,you're not getting togo to the second act.We're keenly aware that we only havea limited amount of timewith you in our theater,and so things that happen are things likeyou don't find out where Peggy ended up.But it's just a Google click away.- @TarynStickrath.Man.- "Sometimes I think aboutthe OG cast members of 'Hamilton', like-"- "How did they even get involved?Talk about a cultural reset!"- How did we get involved?- From all different angles, I think.- It's a long and winding path to howwe find ourselves in these positions.- I think Lin and Tommy came to see mein "Natasha, Pierre,"which was my first gigout of drama school, andI did a reading of Act IIthat Tommy asked me to be a part of.And I met Daveed then, I met Leslie then.- I auditioned as well, and I do a lot,I audition a lot and I don't getmost of the jobs I audition for.To this day.You get what you're supposed to have.So I hope people realizethat and remember,you know, you keep showing up,and know that if you're, you know,if you stay prayerful, that which is yourswill be called to you.- Can I get a amen?- Amen.- I was one of the lastpeople to get cast.I didn't do the workshop.I did theater before,I was very involvedwith the theater world,but not the musical theater world.So it was a very, like,new process to enterand I was kind of one ofthe new kids at school.So I was like, extremely nervousour first day of rehearsal.- My involvement in Hamilton came throughmy involvement withFreestyle Love Supreme.- Freestyle Love Supreme is a hip-hopimprov comedy theatrical experience.We are kind of like a jazz band,using jazz and hip-hop and R&B and justwhatever form comes to mind.- And I am only in FreestyleLove Supreme because,due to a clerical error,I was substitute teachingthe same class with AnthonyVeneziale, our friend Anthony,who was one of the foundersof Freestyle Love Supreme.So we met teaching kids,substitute teaching kids,which is just making sure kidsdon't die while you're there.- Yeah, which is a scary prospectthat you and Anthonywere substitute teachers.- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.The two of us were like-- That's a whole other question.- And we were doing a show in New Orleanswhen I found out about theexistence of "Hamilton".We were doing a freestyleshow, and Tommy was like,"Hey, Lin is writing this rap musicalabout Alexander Hamilton."I was like, "That's a terrible idea."And he said, "Do you wanna do it?"And I said, "Are you gonna pay me?"And he said "Yeah," and I said "Yeah."- Yeah.
[laughing]- As far as cultural resets isconcerned, time will tell us.- @advodude."How many other Hamiltonshave you seen perform?And do they intentionallycast them to sound like you?Saw it in Denver and if I closed my eyes,I would've thought it was you on stage."Tommy, do you wanna speak to your ethoswhen it comes to castingsubsequent Hamiltonsand other cast members?- We cast Hamilton lookingfor essential qualities,not as any sort of replication process.Lin played Hamilton the waythat he played Hamilton,just like Michael Luwoye played Hamiltonthe way that he did, or MiguelCervantes, or Jamael Westman.Joseph Morales, and on and on and on.So the idea is to try to make sure thateach cast member in every role is ableto bring all that they are,and find out where thatintersects with the character,but that's the only thing that guides us.- This question is from @mingarla.- "What was the most difficult part of-"- "The rehearsal process for 'Hamilton'?"- All of it?- Learning "Helpless" and "Satisfied".- Right about to say that.- On the turntable, on a moving floor.- There's a big part of theshow where the floor moves,and it's in a circle.- We learned "Helpless",and then they said,"Oh, can you do what youjust did in that last song,but backwards, in this next one?"And we were like, "Excuse me?"- And like, my brain hurt.- When I tell you thatmy brain hurt for weeks.- It messed us up on twofold,'cause the first time we did it,we didn't have a turntable.Remember that, and thenwe got to the theater,and then got the turntable.- Right.- So we figured it outwithout the spinning thing,and then we get to thespinning thing, and it's like,"Why are you doing this to us?"- After that first day on the turntable,I literally felt like Ihad been on a treadmillfor like 24 hours, andevery time I took a step,I just felt like I was moving.- I used to be so emotionalthrough the number of "Satisfied",it was always really hardfor me to sing the end.I was trying to figureout how I could kind ofride the waves of the emotion,and I think just in general,like, I was just kind of so flabbergasted,I was just kind of so dumbfounded byso many of the momentsthat were happening,it was always hard to come inafterwards and follow them.Especially if you had tosing after somebody died.- I really wanna do that number again now,like, I want us all togo together right now,no prep, no rehearsal, no refreshing.- You're gonna be by yourselfon that one, brother.That's a solo.That's a solo for you, Oke.I'll be like this with my popcorn.- It's the most frightenedI've ever been in the theater.For me, I was sort of likethe last principle to join,so when we started rehearsals,I felt like I didn't have aclue as to what was happening.When we were Off-Broadway, Ihad literal blocking sheetsposted at every entrance and exits,and then like, three downstairs,so every time I would come offstageI would frantically look at a list, like,every time I moved through the theater,through the pass-through underneath,to make sure that I was goingto the right side of the theater.I had to constantly ask folks like Daveed."Daveed, am I in the right spot?'Cause I really don't know."Right, man, I'm definitelythe right personto ask that question.- No, he was really not,but I asked anyways.Desperation makes you doa lot of crazy things.- Our next question isfrom Sarah Lichtblau,hashtag at exactly the same name.Good for you for using your own name."Hamilton question thatI need the answer to,"all caps for need."What does Eliza's gasp atthe end of the musical mean?Please answer!"I wish I could give you a simple answer,but that would be like tellingyou where Godot has beenthe whole time they're waiting for Godot.I think it's different for each Eliza.I've had different conversations.It's heart-stopping, isn't it?And I do think that ittraverses time in some way.Whether that thing she'sseeing is Hamilton,whether that thing she's seeing is heaven,whether that thing she'sseeing is the world now.I think those are all valid and all fair.I do think she is seeingacross a span of time in that moment.Tommy, what do you think?
You staged it.- Again, that conversation,which is distinct with each Eliza,as I'm not answering thequestion because I'm not going tobecause I feel like that is actuallybetween Eliza and Eliza.It just was something thatcame out of a very natural,organic process in rehearsal,and in performance,and Lin was one of our greatest advocatesfor that moment existing.And it's a testament to Linand the generosity of spiritthat that's not written in the script.The show ends with both thefinal lyric that he has writtenand the final notes, andyet he had the understandingthat there maybe was another momentthat could extend beyond that.It's something that alot of folks talk about,and I'm happy that there's a dot dot dotat the end of our show, as opposed tosome sort of definitive statement.#notananswer.- From @katcheshire.- I think that's how that'spronounced, or Cheshire,or, anyway, you know who you are.- "How does the 'Hamilton'cast perform that showevery night without cryingbecause I cried like five timesjust watching today I'm justcurious please let me know."- We do cry.- I cried almost every night.I cried during "Quiet Uptown"pretty much every night.- I remember the first timeI heard "Quiet Uptown,"I was like, a mess.And then like, we kept being a mess.And then after a while, Idon't mean to ruin anything,but then it's work, you know?We go to work, we dothe show, we enjoy it.- The play moves!There's no time for pausesor, really, the thing moves.You have to move with it,you have to keep up with it.- When you do a show as a theater actorover a long period of time,it's beautiful to seehow the show changes,the things you hear, thethings that move you,the things that motivate you.- I literally some nightswould say "Please, God,let there be a tear!Let there be something in there tonight!"Because you know, everybody's like,♪ Never gonna be president now ♪Having a good time, running around, like,"My shot," woo woo woo!And I'm like.[humming]Like just so sad.[sighing] Poor Eliza.- @bfaythe, because, oh, Bethany!- "After seeing the show,my biggest question is-"- "How does the 'Hamilton' cast have timeto snap/tweet/make videos during the show?#superpowers"- All caps.- I don't mean to spoilthe Broadway experience,but if you ever wonder whatpeople are doing backstage,they are texting their friends back,they are making businesscalls between scenes.- They're figuring out whatthey're gonna get for dinner.- If the show's about to end and they knowthat the order is gonnatake about 36 to 45 minutesto get to their home, andthey will be home in 30,they know that at this particular song,I'm gonna make my dinner order.- Some people are even doing it onstage.- Some people.
[laughing]- I know some people, Oke,who had no problem havingtheir phones onstage.- Oh, snap.- You won't even know it,but they're going throughtheir grocery listwhile they're like, straight up like.All that stuff, it's like, dinner.- I wasn't even on social mediabefore I started the show.I think Philippa Soo put me on Instagram,and Lin grabbed my phone oneday and put me on Twitter.Fortunately with "Hamilton", you know,the leader, Lin, hereally, I just used to jokehe texts the world, that'swhat he does with Twitter.He texts the world.He's in a constantconversation with the world,and so he really, he's avery interesting geniusin that he's extroverted in that way,he feeds off of that energy,and so we were reallyencouraged in a unique way to,and we needed to, 'causewe were desperately tryingto find a way to givepeople access to the show.So the way that we made it not exclusive,because we hated the exclusivity of it,was to use social media toshare as much of the showas we possibly could withas many people as possible.- #falsefakefaux says,"Does 'Say No To This' from 'Hamilton'belong on a sexy playlist?Debate."- Yes, yes!- What's the debate?I mean, yes.- Yeah, deny that like,bass that comes in,and the way that Lin wrote it,it's like a slowed downkinda like R&B jam.- Controversial.- I loved singing that song,because it was such a jam.It was such a jam.So yeah!
Why not?- @chrisgeidner."OK, serious #Hamilton question." Ooh!"Can 'Dear Theodosia' bejust an incredibly loving,sweet song, or do we haveto think about their fates?"I never think about theirfates in that moment.I'm always thinkingabout their motivation.And now when I watch the movie,I'm thinking about the factthat these two young menhave each had a daughter and another son.- There is no better answer than that.I will say that watchingthe movie gave me probablyone of the most specialmemories to me of that timethat I hadn't thoughtabout in a long time,'cause I had never seen it.I remember the 52nd Street Project,that was one of the early workshopsthat we did of the show and we were justputting the whole thingup for the first time.There was no lights or anything like that,so in "Dear Theodosia"now, the way it's staged,the light goes down onBurr and the light comes upon Hamilton when it's his section.And you know, at 52nd Street,I had to figure out what am I going to do,literally, 'cause I'm here on stage,and so what am I gonna do while Lin sings?We're not in the same space.And I bowed my head one day,and I was like, "Oh, he can pray."Burr can pray for his daughter.And I didn't have any kids yet,but I was able to findthe connection with it,because I said "I believe my daughtercan hear me somewhere,"which, she's not hereyet, she's not here yet,but I'm singing to her still.And so I said, by the end of that show,I had said over 500prayers for my little girlbefore she ever got here.And you see that in this movie,I had never seen it before.I bow my head and I say aprayer for my little girl.- Thank you for joiningus for Tech Support.- Thank you for your incredible questions.- Thank you guys so muchfor always supporting ussince day one.- Keeping us honest, keeping us inspired,always showing your love for the showand being a part of this family.- Thank you for introducing me to Twitter.Didn't know I could tweet.- Thank you guys forsending your questions.I can't wait for you to see this movie.I just got a chance to see it.- "Hamilton", July 3rd.It's on Disney+.It's streaming in your living room,however you wanna watch it.- Hopefully you feel evenmore inside of this familythan you already do.- I'm really excited tohear from people on placessuch as Twitter theirexperience watching the film.- Make art.Let's use this to fuel us.- Make sure that they'reregistered to voteand their friends are registered to vote,and that they, if they are of age,to participate in the upcoming elections,because it's very importantnot only for the world at largebut also for yourself.- In our current climate today,after we've all watchedGeorge Floyd murderedfor eight minutes and 46 seconds,I think it's very, veryimportant for peoplewho are seeing that, especially young,all the younger folks who are watching it,the importance of utilizing your voicein the way that Pippa said.Registering to vote.Hamilton's platform washe wasn't just yelling itin the streets, he thenwent home and like, drafted.He drafted how he thoughtthe country should change.He not only pointed outwhat was wrong with it,but he went home and he said"This is what I think is wrong with it,this is how I think we can change it,"and then he went out andshouted it for everyone to hear.And I think that is a messagethat every human being,regardless of your race,needs to do right now.- That's what's up.Same.- Love you all.Thanks for being with us on this journey.Black lives matter.
