My name is Daveed Diggs
I'm in Hamilton playing Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson
and I am an Observer
[Music playing: Hamilton’s “My Shot”]
I got involved in Hamilton by knowing Lin Manuel Miranda for a number of years
I'm a part of his,
uh, another project that him and Tommy and Chris Jackson and a bunch of us are also part of
called Freestyle Love Supreme
which is sort of an improvised rap event
umm, so I've known him for a long time
so when he first started to work on Hamilton him and Tommy called me up
told me about this new thing Lin was working on
this rap musical about Alexander Hamilton
I told him that's a terrible idea, please send it to me, of course I want to me a part of it  [laughter]
and... uh...
He did, and it was immediately the best thing I'd ever heard
[Music playing: Hamilton’s “My Shot”]
I'd never done Broadway before and I didn't really think I was doing Broadway
I didn't aspire to be on Broadway
so when opening night happened
I did not expect to be as emotional as I was
but... [clear throat]
we had worked for so long, and
my mother was out there
and my girlfriend was out there
and my best friend was out there
and we were at places and I just started crying
so many people had done so much to allow me to be an artist
you know, my parents had sacrificed so much
and my friends had supported me in so many ways
and so this kind of benchmark
ending up being like a much more emotional thing than I expected it to be
and it probably took me all the way through the first number
to actually be able to get myself together and do this show  [chuckle]
The other most surreal moment I think is when we were performing for the President
and at the end of "One Last Time" which is George Washington's resignation speech in the show
umm
Chris Jackson is singing and we're all surrounding him
and the President is out there watching, and we know where he's sitting,
and it is this President, our first black President in his final term,
watching a black man play the first President in his final term
was a very like sort of surreal moment and the energy was crazy and all of us are like  [laughter]
singing like crazy, just like chest down, weeping  [laughter]
[laughter]
umm, so yeah that was another very surreal moment
[Music playing: Hamilton’s “My Shot”]
