The cast of Hamilton speaks with the press in the media room of the 70th annual Tony Awards. Lin Manuel-Miranda: Best Score, Best Book, Best Musical (Hamilton)
Q: You are now seen as a 21st c. Sondheim and Shakespeare. Do you have anything to say to the young artists of today who now look up to you as you looked up to Sondheim and Shakespeare?
A: Oh I’ve said plenty, it’s time for them to start saying things. I spent 7 years writing this, so I want to hammer that home a lot. But honestly, it takes a long time to get it into this kind of shape, and that’s an enormous act of faith isn’t it. We have tragic acts like today, when you realize that tomorrow is not promised, and yet you endeavor to write things that you know are going to take years. And so, that paradox and schism… but I want young people to start writing, that’s why we have 20,000 students seeing Hamilton every week, because I’m really excited about the future.”
Q: When did you write the sonnett and did it replace any previous speech you had written for today?
A: No, I hadn’t written anything going into today. We hadn’t heard about today’s events until after our Tony’s rehearsal, so… I always try to have this time between rehearsal and tonight to sit and think about what I would say if I was lucky enough to be called up. And it sort of, informed all of it. We live in this world where beautiful and horrible things exist at the same time. And so you can’t let that go by, you can’t let that moment go by, particularly when theatre is the cornerstone…theatre doesn’t exist without the LGBTQ community, it is the cornerstone of our industry. So it is heavy on my heart tonight.”
Daveed Diggs: Best Supporting Actor in a Musical (Hamilton- Thomas Jefferson and Lafayette)
Q: You told me a few weeks ago, that you brought some Oakland, California into your Thomas Jefferson, which was inspired from your grandfather and father. What would you like to say to them now?
A: I’ll say all the things to my dad, he’s upstairs, and my grandpa too. But, yeah, I think- I have always aspired to be my father, and I’m not, we are sort of fundamentally different in many ways. But I sort of try him on from time to time, this outfit right now, I feel great in this because this is some stuff my dad would have worn when he was younger. And he looked so much better than me. It’s not just his style, but it’s the kind of man that he is, the person, the kind of love that he exudes. And, getting to play a role where I get to take these things that I learned by just trying to walk around being my dad, is so great. And Thomas Jefferson? There’s no way that that should be real, that I should be saying lines that are written for Thomas Jefferson and be like ‘Yeah, that’s my father.”
“My family is throughout this entire work… it’s nice to feel that. My shot happens, and I don’t know when I started doing this, but there is a moment where everybody freezes. And whenever I had people from Oakland in the audience, I would throw up my W in the freeze, and see if anybody would notice. And now I do it every night, and I still haven’t gotten a note on it, so I probably shouldn’t have said that.”
Leslie Odom Jr. : Best Actor in a Musical (Hamilton- Aaron Burr)
Q: What does this award mean to you?
A: “Phylicia Rashad spoke the year that she won, I watched for a while, since childhood and since college, and one of the first things that Phylicia Rashad said that she’s wondered for years what would it take. And so, I’ve been doing the same thing. And I think the most interesting thing that I’ve learned, is that because only one person gets up to accept it, I thought that you get it for a solo effort. I thought that you get it because you’re just, so fabulous… I didn’t realize what a team of people, that it would take. It’s a lot of people that I’m leaning on for support.”
Q: What are your thoughts with Orlando?
A: “I feel like this happens, and immediately, all of this seems silly. You know, we were at rehearsal when we found out. We felt so futile, like maybe we should pack it up, maybe we should…what are we doing. And then we had a show today, a 2 pm show, and there are people in that room, who spent every dime they had to be there. There are people in that room who had been waiting for 9 months, they bought that ticket in December, for the day of the Tonys. So, that was refocusing because, we can’t let them take that from those people.”
Renee Elise-Goldsberry: Best Supporting Actress in a Musical (Hamilton- Eliza)
Q: I would love for you to talk about your deep faith, especially in light of your day today.
A: I didn’t have the opportunity to say, when I won this award, because they said 90 seconds from the time they called my name…is that, when I first went to audition for this show and since then, I had constant prayer in my heart, and that was just that I would hold onto this job. I knew, that it was the best job any woman, any person could get. And believing that I could get it wasn’t enough, I had to hold onto it, and be surrounded by a cast…the most talented people in the world and I just wanted to stay in the room with him. And when I think about my faith, and how it is always growing stronger, it is because I asked something, and what I received is so much greater than what I asked for. I asked to keep this job, and I got a Tony for it.”
Below are some incredible photos courtesy of fashion house Coach & Kevin Tachman. Coach weaved its modern interpretation of the American aesthetic into an exclusive behind-the-scenes space to create a signature Coach Green Room designed for the Tony Awards presenters, including Cate Blanchett, Oprah Winfrey, Carole King, Nathan Lane, Saorise Ronan, Steve Martin, Audra McDonald, Edie Brickell and Patina Miller.
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