VIDEO: Sydney James Harcourt and Sara Botkin Release 'Vaccinated' Parody Music Video
Harcourt shared, “Being vaccinated is worth celebrating, and if we can make people laugh along the way, even better.”
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jun. 09, 2021
Hamilton star Sydney James Harcourt and Sara Botkin release "Vaccinated," a parody music video for the Peaches and Herb 1978 hit "Reunited."
Harcourt shared, "Being vaccinated is worth celebrating, and if we can make people laugh along the way, even better."
watch!
It's been a difficult year for every citizen of the world with the onset of a global pandemic which killed millions. Sydney fled New York City to Interlochen, MI, where he purchased a lake house to ride out the storm that was raging in Manhattan. Sara lost her beloved mother- in-law, who cared for her children and was an invaluable part of her family's life, to COVID in October, and kept her children out of school for over a year, concerned for her mother, who survived lung cancer in 2017. When news of a highly effective vaccine broke in November, Sara was elated, and began counting down the days until she and her loved ones could receive it. She helped her parents, neighbors and clients book appointments and drove many of those folks to the clinic. "It was so exciting and emotional to watch my friends get vaccinated, and I could not wait until my turn in line." That day finally arrived and, two days before Sara's second shot, lyrics to a song celebrating the joy of being vaccinated and the potential end of the pandemic came to Sara. "I texted my lyrics to Sydney," she recalled, "and asked him if he'd consider singing it with me. I wasn't sure if he would, or could, given all of his other engagements and commitments, but he immediately texted back saying, 'Of course I will! If you'll make a public declaration that I am the King of Ratscrew,'" referring to the card game the pair played nightly in high school.
A music video accompanies the song. Sara enlisted the help of Point Park University film student Zach Reed, while Sydney filmed his portion in Michigan.
About Sydney and Sara:
Sara Botkin and Sydney James Harcourt had similar dreams of stardom when they met as high school students at Interlochen Arts Academy, the performing arts boarding school in northern Michigan. And the two quickly formed a tight bond over their shared sense of humor and love for music. After college graduation, both moved to New York City to pursue their performance careers, but Sara's plans came to a halt on September 11, 2001. "I was auditioning and doing a lot of choral work, but it wasn't enough to make ends meet," she recalls. "So in the summer of 2001, I took a day job working for AON insurance on the 105th floor of the south tower of the World Trade Center." She was in line for the elevator in the lobby that fateful morning when she heard and felt the first plane strike the north tower. She escaped the building unharmed but, shaken, made the decision to move back home to Pittsburgh, pursuing an entirely different path. She returned to school at Duquesne University and earned her Certified Financial PlannerTM designation. Today she is president of Botkin Family Wealth Management, a financial planning and investment firm in Peters Township, and the mother of three young children.
Sara and Sydney maintained their close friendship over the decades, and she watched with pride as he made appearances on television shows including Blue Bloods, NCIS, Elementary, Younger, The Good Wife and Law and Order. She traveled back to New York to watch him perform on Broadway and in off-Broadway shows, and shared his excitement when he won a place in the original cast of Hamilton, an opportunity which changed his life and catapulted him to a new level of success. Sydney also appeared in the Hamilton film in 2020.
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