Debut of the Month: Marcus John is Leaning Into to Poetry of HAMILTON

BroadwayWorld's July Debut of the Month is Marcus John, currently making his Broadway debut as the title role in Hamilton! After touring with Hamilton across three companies, five countries, and multiple years, Marcus is now bringing his interpretation of Hamilton to Broadway.

His International Tour credits include: Rent: 20th Anniversary (Benny), Mamma Mia! Farewell Tour (Ensemble, u/s Eddie & Pepper). His regional credits include: Chez Joey (Cat, u/s Joey; Arena Stage), and he has appeared on film in Dumb Money (Netflix), and on TV in Harlem (Prime). 

BroadwayWorld spoke with Marcus John about why the role of Alexander Hamilton is personal to him, which lyrics resonate most with him, 

Read the full interview and see photography from BroadwayWorld's Jennifer Broski!

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You played several roles in the Hamilton on tour before stepping into the title role. Can you tell me about that journey and how it prepared you to play Hamilton on Broadway?

I played several, so I feel like they kind of do this on purpose, where they train you up in Hamilton school with how to exist in the show, because it’s such a specific style! So, I don’t think I needed any help learning all the words, all the different parts, I think everyone knows that just from listening to the soundtrack a bunch, but you learn what it takes to exist in the world, the movement quality, all the different coats you wear… and the more comfortable you get, the easier it is to do anything.

So, by the time they called for Broadway it was like, ‘Oh, okay, that’s just the track I have now,’ it doesn’t feel much different than when I was swinging. So many people do the tour and then Broadway, and vice versa. And because it’s a constant rotating door of coming in and out of the show, no matter which track you play, I feel like you’re always ready to be back on the timetable.

So, I loved it. I would tell them all the time that I didn’t want to be one particular part because I had so much fun swinging all the different Sons of Liberty, but I’m very happy now to just be the guy [laughs].

Every actor brings something different to Alexander Hamilton. What aspects of the character have you been most excited to explore in your own performance?

Well, I think this character in particular, unlike all the other ones I swung, is very personal to me. I think a lot of the lyrics that he says relate to my personal life, from “I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory,” to “Where I come from some get half as many,” to the things he says coming from nothing and demanding more even when people say no. I really relate to all those things, and it’s wonderful that I can settle into a story that feels like I’m talking about myself, where, the other characters felt more like I was putting on a character.

What I really try to bring out each day that I think is different from some of the Hamiltons I’ve seen and admired, is the commitment to the poetry. Even more than the rap and the hip-hop, especially the soliloquies, when he’s just speaking by himself, it's a chance to read the songs’ lyrics in a way I haven’t heard before so it feels more like spoken words, it feels more like the line between rap, and music, and just monologue is a little more blurred—that’s kind of what I aim for each day.

You're making your Broadway debut in one of the most demanding and iconic roles in musical theater. What has that meant to you personally and professionally?

It’s a little weird, honestly! Personally it’s a huge accomplishment because I love the show, I respect the role, and obviously it’s been around a long time, so you want to do it justice, and honor all the things that have been in the last 10 years. I’m honored to be one of the maybe seven or eight to play Hamilton full time, this young, and in such an iconic show’s life.

But at the same time, because I’ve done the show for so long, and I’ve studied it, and rehearsed it for so long, from so many different angles, it really kind of feels inconsequential at times. Everyone is like, “Oh my god, how’s Broadway? You’re making your Broadway debut as Hamilton!” I’m like, “Yeah, or I’m just going back to work as playing this part,” [laughs]. So, nothing really changes for me, it feels a lot like it did on tour, it feels like I’m’ in another tour city, this one just happens to be New York.

And honestly, I love being around all the Broadway friends I’ve made over the years who also work in New York, and being a part of that community, so we can create outside of work. But sometimes when it comes to “Hamilton Broadway” quote-unquote, the Richard Rodgers is just another theater in America in which I get to do this show, versus the one in which I need to do this show, you know? I’m honored, and I hold it to a high regard, but it’s also kind of, “Eh, we’ve done this a couple times!”

How has it been working alongside your fellow cast members throughout this?  

It felt different for the first couple of days, because I have a huge respect for the show, and the history, and Broadway itself, so every single day just walking into work feels crazy. Not any pressure or any weight, but, ‘Look at where we are, look at where we started.’ I can’t help but take it all in and be grateful. Even just looking out at the house when it’s empty before anyone gets there is something I like to do every day if I can. So, it feels magical, like everything I’ve ever said since I was 14 coming to life right in front of me.

But, like I was saying before, it feels kind of commonplace and normal because I don’t know everyone in the cast, but I know a few from the tour days, and those I don’t know I’ve heard of before, they’ve been in the ‘Hamilverse’ as we call it. So, it feels like I’m right where I’m supposed to be. These guys are doing amazing work, no one’s really surprised or impressed particularly each night because we know what to expect; it’s going to be good, it’s going to be thoughtful, it’s going to be dedicated.

It feels like a furthering of everything I already had, and it’s one extra notch to be like, ‘You should definitely be proud of this.’ But beyond that, it’s exactly what we’ve been doing. I'm lucky enough to be in a show that I love that just so happens to be the big one. Because even if Hamilton wasn’t the most blockbuster show that’s out, it would still be my favorite because of the poetry, the genre, and the style. I’m just happy to be doing the work, is the short answer.

Your Hamilton is a poetic Hamilton, the way you interpret, the thing that you enjoy most. Do you have a favorite lyric in the show?

It changes all the time. I think right now it’s still “I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory," and that whole section into, “Where I come from some get half as many.” The thing that I’ve thought about the most in this first two months on Broadway is, there are so many people I’ve met along the way, who can do, and have done, what I’m doing, and aren’t in this position right now. I know people who are better poets than I, better rappers, better freestylers, and they’re chasing it in a different way, whether that’s through albums, or music videos, or social media content. And a lot of them will never get the chance to see some of the things I get to see in this position, simply because I took the musical theater route when we all came out, and we were just artists wanting to create. A lot of them will never get some of the recognition I’m getting because it’s ‘Hamilton,’ so therefore I am being exalted as if I am in a different position.

But the way I see it, we are all the same, we are all just as good, and we all have the same story to tell. And the area that we come from wasn’t the roughest or the most dangerous, but it definitely had its hurdles. And I know so many people who will never get the chance to walk down Times Square with the feeling that I get, even though they’re doing the same work and pushing out the same art. So, I think that’s the one, Where I come from some truly get half as many opportunities.

Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to share?

So many! I think another thing I’ve gotten recently that goes into the conversation we’re having, is a lot of kids want to know, “How do you get there? What do I have to do to be on Broadway?” And I always start by telling them, “Every single path is different, from people who go to arts school, to people who never study, or study law and then decide, ‘actually I want to follow my dreams.’” There’s no one way to get there, is my thought. And the key is similar to what I was saying about how Hamilton, for me, is more about the poetry, and the music, and those people who I know that have always done that style, who don’t get to do this thing that I’m doing.

Do what it is that you do. Find the thing that you love and you do the best, and study to do it better, and continue to do that thing, and it might so happen that the thing you love to do is also the vehicle which pushes forth the lead role in the big show. Or, or it might be something else, it might be a dance studio you open in the Midwest, it might be a circus show that comes out next season that no one’s heard of yet. But because you’re finding your thing, everything else will fall into place. That’s what’ I’ve been ruminating on the most recently, is doing your thing.

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