Original Hamilton Cast: What Are They Up To Now
The voices of the original Hamilton cast have kept my husband and me company on many road trips. For example, when our youngest was in college in Pennsylvania, we discovered that the drive to her college campus was the same length as Act One of the Hamilton soundtrack.
Years later, when we bought a house in Maine, our trip included going over the Rochambeau bridge in Connecticut. That bridge is on Interstate 84, where it crosses over the Housatonic River.
If you’re familiar with the Hamilton score, then you know that Rochambeau was the watchword at the battle of Yorktown.
Anyway, once we crossed the bridge, that was our cue to ask Siri to play the soundtrack from the original Broadway show Hamilton, with that aforementioned original cast. We would just about get into Maine by the time we’d listened to the whole show–and sung along, of course.
Original Hamilton cast: what are they up to now
The original Hamilton cast is on my mind for two reasons. One, I recently learned that the show opened on Broadway on August 6, 2015.
While we didn’t get to see it until 2019, by the time we did, we knew the whole thing by heart. Also, we didn’t see it in New York but rather in Pittsburgh, with the national tour cast.
And, two, there is yet another Disney film with a former Hamilton cast member in it. A number of the original cast members have connections to recent Disney films.
Therefore, I thought it might be a fun exercise to take a trip down Hamilton memory lane and write this article about what the original cast is up to these days.
Did you know that Peloton has Hamilton classes as part of its Broadway series?
Hamilton original cast list
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As far as the original cast, here are the major performers I’ve been able to get information about with regards to their latest endeavors.
They’re listed here in alphabetical order:
- Daveed Diggs
- Renée Elise Goldsberry
- Jonathan Groff
- Christopher Jackson
- Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Leslie Odom, Jr.
- Okieriete Onaodowan
- Anthony Ramos
- Phillipa Soo
Daveed Diggs: Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson
One of the biggest movie moments of Summer 2023 is the release of the live-action “The Little Mermaid.” Daveed Diggs is part of that cast.
However, unlike his fast-talking characters in the original “Hamilton” cast, Diggs voices the animated crab, Sebastian. Sebastian sings one of my favorite lines from the movie, when he rhymes “water” and “hotter,” thanks to a Caribbean accent.
Renée Elise Goldsberry
Renée Elise Goldsberry, who played the original Angelica Schuyler–and won a Tony Award for her performance–has spent much of 2023 doing vocal performances.
This includes singing with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (she graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in 1993) and the Ann Arbor Summer Festival in Michigan.
Ann Arbor is home to ArtFest, one of my favorite outdoor art destinations.
Jonathan Groff
My introduction to Jonathan Groff wasn’t as King George III in the original Hamilton cast on Broadway but on the TV show “Glee.” There, he played high schooler Jesse St. James and, if my memory is correct, he wasn’t very nice.
This year he’s going back to TV. Groff is joining the cast of “Dr. Who.”
Groff has been back on Broadway since leaving “Hamilton,” including in “Merrily We Roll Along.” Also, you may know him as the voice behind Kristoff in the Disney movie “Frozen.”
Christopher Jackson: original George Washington in cast
In the show “Hamilton,” King George III (aka Jonathan Groff in the original cast soundtrack) sings about George Washington this way:
“There’s nobody else in their country who looms quite as large…”
Well, Christopher Jackson was an impressive figure when I was lucky enough to attend his talk at Slippery Rock University in 2022 as part of the university’s Black History Month speaker series. He spoke about not only his work in “Hamilton” but his first experience collaborating with Lin-Manuel Miranda in the show “In the Heights.”
This spring, Jackson released a new song on Amazon Music called “Forever.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda: Alexander Hamilton in original cast
Lin-Manuel Miranda had a hand in some of Disney’s most recent multicultural animated films. They are “Moana” and “Encanto.”
And speaking of the live-action “The Little Mermaid,” Manual co-wrote three of the movie’s new songs.
Leslie Odom, Jr.: Aaron Burr in original Hamilton cast
I feel like Leslie Odom, Jr. has been everywhere on the screen lately. Most recently, we enjoyed his character in “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.”
Also, last year, he and his gorgeous family partnered with Nordstrom for a holiday campaign. This included gift suggestions for both Christmas and Chanukah.
Speaking of his family, Odom and wife Nicolette Robinson co-authored a children’s book. It’s called “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know.” They have two children together.
Finally, in 2023, Odom is touring the United States, giving concerts with major symphony orchestras. You can find tickets on Stubhub for upcoming shows.
Okieriete Onaodowan
As Hercules Mulligan and James Madison, Okieriete Onaodowan has some of the best lines in “Hamilton,” including, in the song “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)” when he explains how his work as a tailor helped Washington’s spy ring:
“A tailor spyin’ on the British government!
I take their measurements, information and then I smuggle it”
This past spring, Onaodowan was a cast member of the “A Doll’s House” revival on Broadway.
Anthony Ramos
Anthony Ramos has been super busy since leaving the original Hamilton cast, where he played both John Laurens and Philip Hamilton. In fact, in 2023, he’s been especially in demand.
One, he’ll be back on Broadway soon, Playbill reports. He will be playing Mozart in the “Amadeus” revival. Two, he recently finished filming the tornado movie “Twister” sequel. And, three, he stars in the newest Transformers’ movie “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.”
Phillipa Soo
In the role of Elizabeth “Eliza” Hamilton (nee Schuyler), Phillipa Soo’s voice brings me to tears whenever I hear the show’s finale, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story.” I’m getting chills now writing these sentences and thinking about her singing about the orphanage she mentions in that song, among other tear-jerking moments.
Anyway, even though her voice lives on in the original cast soundtrack, I just discovered that she stayed with the show for under a year after opening on Broadway. Since then she’s been in other Broadway shows and has done quite a bit of television.
Most recently, she had a recurring role in the AppleTV show “Shining Girls,” which also stars Elisabeth Moss. It’s on my must-watch list now. The show is based on the 2014 book “The Shining Girls” by Lauren Beukes.
Where to see Hamilton now
Of course, you can continue to see Hamilton at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York City. However, other cities have permanent productions of Hamilton and/or are a stop on a Hamilton tour, much like Pittsburgh was for me a few years ago.
Hamilton in Chicago
Hamilton first opened in Chicago in 2016. At that time it was at a different theater than it is now. Currently, you can get Chicago Hamilton tickets on StubHub for the James M. Nederlander theatre.
Hamilton in London, England
If you happen to be visiting London to ride at the Peloton London Studios, you can try to see Hamilton in London, too. Like Chicago, Stubhub stocks Hamilton tickets for the Victoria Palace Theatre in London.
Hamilton Manchester, UK
There’s another location in England that has the show Hamilton. And it’s at the Palace Theatre in Manchester UK. Once again, you can find tickets to Hamilton on Stubhub.
Final thoughts on the original Hamilton cast
If I learn about any of the other original cast members doing interesting things, I’ll be sure to update this article.
On the other hand, if you represent any of these actors and have new information or images to share with me, please get in touch.