Christopher Jackson, one of the original cast members of the megahit Broadway musical \u201cHamilton,\u201d is coming back to reprise his George Washington.<\/p>\n
Jackson, who earned a Tony Award nomination playing opposite Lin-Manuel Miranda\u2019s Alexander Hamilton, will return to the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Sept. 8 through Jan. 3.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to touch the thing that I feel turned me into an artist in a way that nothing I\u2019d ever done had done,\u201d he tells The Associated Press. \u201cI wanted it to touch this thing again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jackson is the second original cast member to return, following Leslie Odom Jr., who reprised his Aaron Burr last year, pushing the show to the top of the box-office charts again and bringing in over $4 million in one week for the first time since 2018.<\/p>\n
Jackson says he was inspired to return while reconnecting with his fellow actors during the 10th anniversary events last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a feeling of being alive in a different kind of way in this show. The timing was right and, quite honestly, I needed that infusion and that challenge again,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Before landing \u201cHamilton,\u201d Jackson played Simba in \u201cThe Lion King,\u201d Benny in \u201cIn the Heights\u201d and Delray in \u201cMemphis.\u201d He also was in \u201cAfter Midnight,\u201d \u201cBronx Bombers\u201d as Derek Jeter and \u201cHoller If Ya Hear Me,\u201d the musical that used Tupac Shakur songs. He was a composer and songwriter for the children’s television programs \u201cThe Electric Company\u201d and \u201cSesame Street.\u201d<\/p>\n
After \u201cHamilton,\u201d Jackson had a role in the CBS drama \u201cBull\u201d and HBO Max’s \u201cAnd Just Like That,\u201d returned to Broadway in \u201cHell’s Kitchen\u201d and \u201cFreestyle Love Supreme,\u201d and sang in the hit animated movie \u201cMoana.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t stopped working since I left \u2018Hamilton.\u2019 I\u2019ve been very fortunate,\u201d Jackson says. \u201cBut there\u2019s nothing that I have done that has challenged me in the way that show does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jackson left the show in November 2016 after having been with \u201cHamilton\u201d since it began performances in early 2015 off-Broadway. The Broadway show won 11 Tony Awards, including best new musical, best book and best score. The cast album was a blockbuster and the show has toured to packed houses.<\/p>\n
Jackson calls the Richard Rodgers Theatre his \u201cfavorite building in New York\u201d and the site of the \u201cgreatest, most profound artistic moments of my life. I want to see if I can go in there and have new ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many in the cast alongside Jackson were relatively unknown to the wider world when they hit the stage: Daveed Diggs, Ren\u00e9e Elise Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff, Okieriete Onaodowan, Anthony Ramos and Phillipa Soo. Even Miranda wasn\u2019t yet a brand name.<\/p>\n
Jackson \u2014 the subject of the song \u201cWashington on Your Side\u201d \u2014 will return to sing such songs as \u201cRight Hand Man,\u201d \u201cHistory Has Its Eyes on You\u201d and \u201cYorktown.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says he’ll have to recapture the muscle memory of the show but there are benefits, like that his children can see him play the role as young adults. Plus, he knows his way around the theater.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just don\u2019t have to look for where the bathrooms are. I know where all the bathrooms are. I know how to get into the stage door. I know where to park, how long it takes me to go from Point A to Point B.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christopher Jackson, one of the original cast members of the megahit Broadway musical \u201cHamilton,\u201d is coming back to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-268647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}