- I remember walking
in that rehearsal room
for the first time never having
rehearsed a musical ever in my life,
and there's Lack sitting at piano
and you and Anika Noni
Rose are in the room
just warming up, and I
was like, I'm [beep],
I'm actually [beep], I don't know
what 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 your
favorite backstage moments
from 'Hamilton' and why?"
- Man, it's a lot.
- My favorite backstage
moments are always sort of
moments of connection that
the audience doesn't see.
- The wig moment was my fave,
the wig moment is hands down
one of the best moments of my life.
- Anthony had to wear a wig
'cause he had cut his hair,
and he had this wonderfully
hilarious wig that-
- It was Renee's wig from Off-Broadway.
- I wasn't trying to do him
dirty like that, Anthony,
but yes, it was Renee's wig.
- They cut Renee's wig from Off-Broadway
and just fluffed it up and they were like
"Yo, put that on your head
until you you leave the stage."
- And no one knew, I didn't
see it until I got onstage,
and then I was like, "What's happening?"
And we just laughed hysterically
and had so much fun.
- Our stage manager
came out of the shadows,
and I'm talking like, whoosh!
She's like, "Get it together."
[laughing]
- One of my favorite
moments 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 months
at the public theater, yo.
We were making no money.
- You know, things start to grow.
- One of my favorite
moments backstage always
was in "The Room Where It Happens,"
there was a moment where Daveed and I
were both offstage stage left,
and we would freestyle together just until
the moment where he had
to emerge as Jefferson,
and we would always just fit in
at least two or four bars,
and it was our little
moment of connection,
at a moment when our characters are
as adversarial as they can be.
- I kinda walked around mad all the time,
'cause George Washington
was kinda mad all the time.
- Because Chris was in
angry mode all the time,
here's Chris, and
Anthony Ramos. [laughing]
Just going at it, just like, backstage,
like, going at it, just
like screaming matches.
- If I never hear Anthony
Ramos, 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 you
for your opinion, man."
- I didn't ask you for your opinion.
- I didn't ask you. [laughing]
Just around and around
and around and around.
- @ali_luv_39.
"What was the most surprising thing
when you read 'Hamilton'
script for the first time?"
#AskLeslieSu.
First thing I did was I
saw the very first meeting
of "The Hamilton Mixtape"
in Poughkeepsie, New York.
I saw the very first meeting
in a 99-seat black box theater.
I saw the most, the boldest, freshest,
most literate, exciting piece of theater
I had ever been given the
gift 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, as
a casual fan of the theater,
of the genre of this form,
I had never in my life, you see,
seen four men of color on
a stage singing together
about friendship and
brotherhood in my life.
And so to me, that was the revolution,
the image of that packed such power
that I committed in that moment to like,
being the first Hamil fan that there was.
I was like, I was gonna
bring everybody in my life
to see this thing, because it was worthy.
- This is a question from
Sam Middleton via Twitter,
and he is @ImSmammy.
"@ Lin_Manuel If you had
finished writing #Hamilton
after viewing the events
that have unfolded
in 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 great
surprises of "Hamilton"
is that it doesn't change.
We haven't changed the text
of this show since 2015,
and yet it feels like it changes because
the world around it changes so fast.
Things that popped out
when Obama was president
may not be the things that get a reaction
when Trump is president.
"Immigrants, we get the job done"
certainly gets a different reaction.
If there's anything political
about the show "Hamilton",
its thesis is everything good or bad
that was present at the founding,
at the roots of the birth of this country,
are still present.
The fights we had then are
the fights we are having now.
Conversations we're having
about systemic racism
and abuse and police brutality,
and about revolution,
those are all still present.
I'm gratified and
humbled when I see lyrics
from the show at Black
Lives Matter protests,
but because we are dealing with
the origins of this country
and how it's based on
ideals that we fell short of
the moment we wrote them down,
I'm well aware that every
single one of these characters,
even though they sing songs you love,
are complicit in the
original sin of slavery,
whose legacies are still
being felt to this day.
The lyrics about that in the
show I think hit differently
in this conversation than
they may have in 2017,
or 2016, or 2015.
I think one of the biggest
themes of the show is,
you don't get to control
how you're remembered.
You don't get to control
how you're remembered or who survives you,
and the show doesn't
escape that fate either.
And so different things
within it will rise or fall
based on where we are.
- @RealTboneGaming asks,
"I have a question about 'Hamilton'.
When you're Lafayette
singing in the ensemble
did you sing with a French accent?"
[laughing]
The answer is yes, to the
degree that I did anything
actually with a French accent.
My best approximation, yes.
You know, the real reason is because
anything I can do to act through singing
is gonna be helpful for me,
because I am so uncomfortable singing.
Alex Lacamoire gave me
a note one time that was
to stop worrying about the singing
and just act with the right pitch.
As soon as he said that,
I did everything from there
on out with the French accent.
- This is a question via
Twitter from Kristen Queen.
"Saw @HamiltonMusical in Chicago
and can't help but wonder
what 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 how
I could follow that up.
It's good that you wonder
what happened to Peggy.
She doesn't continue in our
story into the second act
because sadly, Peggy
didn't live that long.
The broad outline of Peggy's story is
she married a very rich young
man and died pretty young.
And as you can tell with "Hamilton",
we have so little time
to tell a lot of story.
And so if you don't survive the act,
you're not getting to
go to the second act.
We're keenly aware that we only have
a limited amount of time
with you in our theater,
and so things that happen are things like
you don't find out where Peggy ended up.
But it's just a Google click away.
- @TarynStickrath.
Man.
- "Sometimes I think about
the 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 how
we find ourselves in these positions.
- I think Lin and Tommy came to see me
in "Natasha, Pierre,"
which was my first gig
out of drama school, and
I did a reading of Act II
that 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 get
most of the jobs I audition for.
To this day.
You get what you're supposed to have.
So I hope people realize
that and remember,
you know, you keep showing up,
and know that if you're, you know,
if you stay prayerful, that which is yours
will be called to you.
- Can I get a amen?
- Amen.
- I was one of the last
people to get cast.
I didn't do the workshop.
I did theater before,
I was very involved
with the theater world,
but not the musical theater world.
So it was a very, like,
new process to enter
and I was kind of one of
the new kids at school.
So I was like, extremely nervous
our first day of rehearsal.
- My involvement in Hamilton came through
my involvement with
Freestyle Love Supreme.
- Freestyle Love Supreme is a hip-hop
improv comedy theatrical experience.
We are kind of like a jazz band,
using jazz and hip-hop and R&B and just
whatever form comes to mind.
- And I am only in Freestyle
Love Supreme because,
due to a clerical error,
I was substitute teaching
the same class with Anthony
Veneziale, our friend Anthony,
who was one of the founders
of Freestyle Love Supreme.
So we met teaching kids,
substitute teaching kids,
which is just making sure kids
don't die while you're there.
- Yeah, which is a scary prospect
that you and Anthony
were 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 Orleans
when I found out about the
existence of "Hamilton".
We were doing a freestyle
show, and Tommy was like,
"Hey, Lin is writing this rap musical
about 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 is
concerned, time will tell us.
- @advodude.
"How many other Hamiltons
have you seen perform?
And do they intentionally
cast 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 ethos
when it comes to casting
subsequent Hamiltons
and other cast members?
- We cast Hamilton looking
for essential qualities,
not as any sort of replication process.
Lin played Hamilton the way
that he played Hamilton,
just like Michael Luwoye played Hamilton
the way that he did, or Miguel
Cervantes, or Jamael Westman.
Joseph Morales, and on and on and on.
So the idea is to try to make sure that
each cast member in every role is able
to bring all that they are,
and find out where that
intersects 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?
[laughing]
- Learning "Helpless" and "Satisfied".
- Right about to say that.
- On the turntable, on a moving floor.
- There's a big part of the
show where the floor moves,
and it's in a circle.
- We learned "Helpless",
and then they said,
"Oh, can you do what you
just 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 that
my 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 then
we got to the theater,
and then got the turntable.
- Right.
- So we figured it out
without the spinning thing,
and then we get to the
spinning thing, and it's like,
"Why are you doing this to us?"
[laughing]
- After that first day on the turntable,
I literally felt like I
had been on a treadmill
for like 24 hours, and
every time I took a step,
I just felt like I was moving.
- I used to be so emotional
through the number of "Satisfied",
it was always really hard
for me to sing the end.
I was trying to figure
out how I could kind of
ride 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 by
so many of the moments
that were happening,
it was always hard to come in
afterwards and follow them.
Especially if you had to
sing after somebody died.
- I really wanna do that number again now,
like, I want us all to
go together right now,
no prep, no rehearsal, no refreshing.
- You're gonna be by yourself
on that one, brother.
[laughing]
That's a solo.
That's a solo for you, Oke.
I'll be like this with my popcorn.
- It's the most frightened
I've ever been in the theater.
For me, I was sort of like
the last principle to join,
so when we started rehearsals,
I felt like I didn't have a
clue as to what was happening.
When we were Off-Broadway, I
had literal blocking sheets
posted at every entrance and exits,
and then like, three downstairs,
so every time I would come offstage
I 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 going
to 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 definitely
the right person
to ask that question.
- No, he was really not,
but I asked anyways.
Desperation makes you do
a lot of crazy things.
- Our next question is
from Sarah Lichtblau,
hashtag at exactly the same name.
Good for you for using your own name.
"Hamilton question that
I need the answer to,"
all caps for need.
"What does Eliza's gasp at
the end of the musical mean?
Please answer!"
I wish I could give you a simple answer,
but that would be like telling
you where Godot has been
the 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 it
traverses time in some way.
Whether that thing she's
seeing is Hamilton,
whether that thing she's seeing is heaven,
whether that thing she's
seeing is the world now.
I think those are all valid and all fair.
I do think she is seeing
across 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 the
question because I'm not going to
because I feel like that is actually
between Eliza and Eliza.
It just was something that
came out of a very natural,
organic process in rehearsal,
and in performance,
and Lin was one of our greatest advocates
for that moment existing.
And it's a testament to Lin
and the generosity of spirit
that that's not written in the script.
The show ends with both the
final lyric that he has written
and the final notes, and
yet he had the understanding
that there maybe was another moment
that could extend beyond that.
It's something that a
lot of folks talk about,
and I'm happy that there's a dot dot dot
at the end of our show, as opposed to
some sort of definitive statement.
#notananswer.
- From @katcheshire.
- I think that's how that's
pronounced, or Cheshire,
or, anyway, you know who you are.
- "How does the 'Hamilton'
cast perform that show
every night without crying
because I cried like five times
just watching today I'm just
curious 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 time
I heard "Quiet Uptown,"
I was like, a mess.
And then like, we kept being a mess.
And then after a while, I
don't mean to ruin anything,
but then it's work, you know?
We go to work, we do
the show, we enjoy it.
- The play moves!
There's no time for pauses
or, 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 actor
over a long period of time,
it's beautiful to see
how the show changes,
the things you hear, the
things that move you,
the things that motivate you.
- I literally some nights
would say "Please, God,
let there be a tear!
Let there be something in there tonight!"
[laughing]
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 time
to snap/tweet/make videos during the show?
#superpowers"
- All caps.
- All caps.
- All caps.
- I don't mean to spoil
the Broadway experience,
but if you ever wonder what
people are doing backstage,
they are texting their friends back,
they are making business
calls between scenes.
- They're figuring out what
they're gonna get for dinner.
- If the show's about to end and they know
that the order is gonna
take about 36 to 45 minutes
to get to their home, and
they 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 having
their phones onstage.
- Oh, snap.
- You won't even know it,
but they're going through
their grocery list
while they're like, straight up like.
All that stuff, it's like, dinner.
- I wasn't even on social media
before I started the show.
I think Philippa Soo put me on Instagram,
and Lin grabbed my phone one
day and put me on Twitter.
Fortunately with "Hamilton", you know,
the leader, Lin, he
really, I just used to joke
he texts the world, that's
what he does with Twitter.
He texts the world.
He's in a constant
conversation with the world,
and so he really, he's a
very interesting genius
in that he's extroverted in that way,
he feeds off of that energy,
and so we were really
encouraged in a unique way to,
and we needed to, 'cause
we were desperately trying
to find a way to give
people 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 to
share as much of the show
as we possibly could with
as 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 down
kinda 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' be
just an incredibly loving,
sweet song, or do we have
to think about their fates?"
I never think about their
fates in that moment.
I'm always thinking
about their motivation.
And now when I watch the movie,
I'm thinking about the fact
that these two young men
have each had a daughter and another son.
- There is no better answer than that.
I will say that watching
the movie gave me probably
one of the most special
memories to me of that time
that I hadn't thought
about in a long time,
'cause I had never seen it.
I remember the 52nd Street Project,
that was one of the early workshops
that we did of the show and we were just
putting the whole thing
up 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 on
Burr and the light comes up
on 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 find
the connection with it,
because I said "I believe my daughter
can hear me somewhere,"
which, she's not here
yet, 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 500
prayers for my little girl
before she ever got here.
And you see that in this movie,
I had never seen it before.
I bow my head and I say a
prayer for my little girl.
- Thank you for joining
us for Tech Support.
- Thank you for your incredible questions.
- Thank you guys so much
for always supporting us
since day one.
- Keeping us honest, keeping us inspired,
always showing your love for the show
and being a part of this family.
- Thank you for introducing me to Twitter.
Didn't know I could tweet.
- Thank you guys for
sending 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 even
more inside of this family
than you already do.
- I'm really excited to
hear from people on places
such as Twitter their
experience watching the film.
- Make art.
Let's use this to fuel us.
- Make sure that they're
registered to vote
and their friends are registered to vote,
and that they, if they are of age,
to participate in the upcoming elections,
because it's very important
not only for the world at large
but also for yourself.
- In our current climate today,
after we've all watched
George Floyd murdered
for eight minutes and 46 seconds,
I think it's very, very
important for people
who are seeing that, especially young,
all the younger folks who are watching it,
the importance of utilizing your voice
in the way that Pippa said.
Registering to vote.
Hamilton's platform was
he wasn't just yelling it
in the streets, he then
went home and like, drafted.
He drafted how he thought
the country should change.
He not only pointed out
what 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 and
shouted it for everyone to hear.
And I think that is a message
that 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.
