I thought I was just going to do Hamilton for fun; I didn’t realize that I was stepping into a historic piece of theater. I mean, President Obama came to the fifth preview of the show– we hadn’t even opened yet! We had heard three days before that he was going to be in the audience, and everyone received an email saying, “Please show up to Hamilton as though it was airport security.” We were on lockdown until the president got there. When he came backstage, he said, “A lot of people make really great things and they never get recognized. You guys should really enjoy that you’ve made something great and it’s being embraced from the very beginning.” He shook everyone’s hand. We were in awed silence. The only two times that someone of note has come backstage and it’s been that silent was for Obama… and Beyoncé, who came with Jay Z. Everyone rushed to meet her, so I was like, “Okay, I probably won’t get to shake her hand, but as long as I can, like, breathe the same air, it’s fine.” And then she looked at me and said, “Were you the king? You were f–––ing incredible!” She told me she was going to steal my walk, and did an impersonation of the walk I do when I enter the stage. And then she looked me up and down and said, “I saw everything.” That’s when the ground opened up and I fell into my grave and died. A tombstone went up and it said, “Cause of Death: Beyoncé.”
Jonathan Groff for EW’s Best & Worst issue of 2015: This was the year that… “I played the king in front of the president– and Queen B”
9 years ago +4030 |