Jonathan Groff on Starring in Broadway's HAMILTON: 'I Felt Like I Won The Lottery By Accident'

As BWW reported yesterday, Broadway fave Jonathan Groff will reprise the role of King George III on Broadway in Lin-Manuel Miranda's original new musical Hamilton, beginning performances July 13 at the Richard Rodgers. (Click here for full story)

In an interview for The Joe D Show podcast, Groff commented on how his casting came about. "They asked me before I'd heard any of the music for 'Hamilton,'" explains the 'Looking' star. "It hadn't opened yet. But they knew in advance that Brian [d'Arcy James] had to leave. They called me," and were like 'Do you want to do it?' And I was like 'Yeah, for two months. I don't even know what it is. But they're like 'You just have one song' and I was like, great. Whatever."

After seeing the show at its off-Broadway run at the Public, Groff knew instantly that he wanted to be a part of the magic. "I was like 'Oh my God.' I couldn't believe it," he exclaimed. "Lin was making fun of me because I couldn't stop crying through the whole thing. I felt like I won THE LOTTERY by accident. Yeah, I want to do this for long. It's so fun. I'm not in the show that much so I'd just watch the show because I was like, 'What the f--- is happening right now.' It's just so good."

Groff will star in Hamilton opposite Lin-Manuel Miranda, Christopher Jackson, Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo, Anthony Ramos, Daveed Digs and Renee Elise Goldsberry.

The ensemble will include Jasmine Cephas Jones, Okieriete Onaodowan, Carleigh Bettiol,Andrew Chappelle, Ariana DeBose, Alysha Deslorieux, Sydney James Harcourt, Neil Haskell,Sasha Hutchings, Thayne Jasperson, Stephanie Klemons, Morgan Marcell, Emmy Raver-Lampan, Javier Munoz, Jon Rua, Austin Smith, Seth Stewart, Betsy Struxness, Ephraim Sykesand Voltaire Wade-Greene.

The world premiere production of Hamilton, inspired by the book "Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow, with book, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and directed by Thomas Kail, will start performances on Broadway on July 13 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.

From the creative team behind the Tony Award-winning In The Heights comes a wildly inventive new musical about the scrappy young immigrant who forever changed America: Alexander Hamilton. Tony and Grammy Award winnerLin-Manuel Miranda wields his pen and takes the stage as the unlikely founding father determined to make his mark on a new nation as hungry and ambitious as he is. From bastard orphan to Washington's right hand man, rebel to war hero, loving husband caught in the country's first sex scandal to Treasury head who made an untrusting world believe in the American economy, Hamilton is an exploration of a political mastermind. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Eliza Hamilton, and lifelong Hamilton friend and foe, Aaron Burr, all attend this revolutionary tale of America's fiery past told through the sounds of the ever-changing nation we've become. Tony Award nomineeThomas Kail directs this new musical about taking your shot, speaking your mind, and turning the world upside down.

Photo Credit: Simon Luethi

Source: The Daily News

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