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monty likes to sit in front of an open window and tell the bin men he loves them (they cant see him)

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Hamilton Rap-Off w/ Mandy Gonzalez

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Exclusive: Denée Benton and Okieriete Onaodowan Talk Great Comet, Diversity & Artivism (Broadway Black):

[…] Onaodowan was quite busy playing the tailor-turned-spy Hercules Mulligan and soft-spoken James Madison in Broadway’s hit Hamilton when he received the call. “Rachel called on my second to last show of Hamilton. We were talking about the Ghostlight Project and she told me, ‘Actually I want you to be Pierre.’

“I learned ‘Dust and Ashes’ and I played some for the producers and then I worked with a piano teacher. The main thing was to make sure I could play the piano.” Now in early stages of preparations, Onaodowan commits to getting the technicalities and nuances of Pierre out of the way before deep-diving into his story. We look forward to seeing “Oak” on stage again, but this time on 45th street, the same street declared “Broadway Black Street” during the 2015-2016 season where The Great Comet plays nightly.

As the conversation progressed, we decided, this year’s line-up, although diverse, lost a bit of steam from what it once was. The question now is, “whose shoulders does the responsibility of equal representation lie?” For Onaodowan, “It’s tricky, but it’s not tricky. It’s really up to those who put on shows, who are responsible for what goes out and what we see. As an actor, I can do as much as I can, but until I start producing shows myself, there’s only so much that I can do or say right now.

“It’s just understanding. Broadway is in a weird spot because there’s only so many seats you can sell, and it’s a risk taking on something that may be culturally relevant or moving the needle along; but again, it’s business. It’s financially making your money back and making a profit.

”He adds the best part of the success from Hamilton isn’t its diversity, per say, but that Hamilton is “terribly profitable.” That “these people and this music, this style/genre of music is profitable so, hopefully, producers say ‘Hey I can make a dollar.’”

Similarly, Denée chimes in: “What I found is you have a lot of well-meaning creative teams who are liberal people, who have good hearts but haven’t necessarily done the research in what it means to break a system that was based on systematic racism.” That said, it will take creative teams like those of The Great Comet to step outside of the box, for there to ever be any true progress for actors of color.

Onaodowan is also aware it doesn’t solely fall on those who make the shows, but those who see the shows. “[Ticket-holders] buy tickets. If you see a show that is diverse, even if you’re not crazy about it, go out and support it because you’re saying ‘I support diverse theatre and there’s an avenue for this,’ it can be profitable.”

[…]

As the son of Nigerian immigrants, Onaodowan has remained outspoken about immigration rights, giving the keynote address to a crowd of new citizens naturalized in New York City last September.

He also stresses the importance of artists using their voices to uplift communities and speak out about what matters. “I think artists do have a [civic] responsibility at some point. I always say as artists, you are responsible. If you have that platform you are responsible for what you put out there, and as much as you would love to just do your art, when you reach a certain level there’s [sic] certain things that come with your job.

“I don’t know how to write grants or run a non-for-profit or anything like that. But, in my lane, what I can do is use this platform of how many thousand people listen to me to try to put something positive out in my own personal way. It’s important to use your platform to say something because people listen.”

Okieriete “Oak” Onaodowan joins Denée Benton in Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 on July 3rd.

more wonderful photos in the fabulous full article!

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Karen Olivo as Angelica Schuyler-Church in Hamilton Chicago.

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Photography by Josh Lehrer with a camera from the 19th century

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so has anyone else noticed that Dear Theodosia does this?

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Has this been done yet?

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Lin-Manuel Miranda the day of the Oscars 2/26/17 via (about that lean)

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jasmine cephas jones being the cutest cute to ever cute [x]

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Jasmine Cephas Jones for Lou & Grey

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I love Anthony Ramos

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daveeddiggs: #swimmingwithphones

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Hamilton + The Onion

(I know this has definitely been done before but this meme still makes me laugh) 

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Heard this was the hot new theatre meme o’ 2017 so you know what’s up

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stricola: Daveed Diggs #outtake for Bust

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Phillipa in the Great Comet of 1812

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Hamilton + Onion Headlines [2/?]