Hamilton Australia: Jason Arrow to lead cast for Sydney musical premiere
The cast for the long-awaited Australian production of the musical Hamilton has been announced, with the production set to hit Sydney stages next March.
NSW
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Sydney theatre producer Michael Cassel today announced the full cast for the premiere Australian production of Hamilton, the award-winning musical theatre sensation where non-white actors take the roles of the founding fathers of America with a rap, soul and R&B score.
Jason Arrow will take the lead role of Alexander Hamilton, after graduating in musical theatre in Western Australia in 2016. Arrow has appeared in Disney’s Aladdin, and in Cassel’s critically acclaimed Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.
Seasoned performer Chloe Zuel, who was brilliant as Anita in Opera Australia’s West Side Story, will play the role of Eliza Hamilton.
Lyndon Watts, who starred alongside Zuel in West Side Story, will play Aaron Burr in Hamilton. Watts’ father immigrated to Australia from the Carribean.
New Zealand-born but Sydney-based Akina Edmonds – who was also in Beautiful and appeared on The Voice last year – will play Angelica Schuyler.
New Zealander Matu Ngaropo will be George Washington, while Melbourne-based Victory Ndukwe will be Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson.
Shaka Cook, who toured to Edinburgh Festival in Sydney Theatre Company’s The Secret River, will play Hercules Mulligan/James Madison. Cook was in the Australian film, Top End Wedding.
Marty Alex will play John Laurens/Philip Hamilton while Elandrah Eramiha has been cast as Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds.
The only non-coloured actor in the production will be Brent Hill as King George III. Hill led the cast in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s School of Rock last year.
Apart from Shaka Cook, two other indigenous Australians are in the cast. Callan Purcell and Tainga Savage will both be in the ensemble.
Two African-Americans were cast in Hamilton. Jimmie “J.J.” Jeter played numerous roles in Hamilton on Broadway and will be standby for various lead roles here.
And Jeffery Duffy, a graduate of the Dance Theatre of Harlem and New York’s The Juilliard School, is in the ensemble. Duffy also appeared in Hamilton in the US.
Hamilton opens at the Sydney Lyric on March 17 next year.
The driving force behind the show is Lin-Manuel Miranda, who based Hamilton on a biography by Ron Chernow.
Miranda said he was “incredibly excited” by the cast assembled for Hamilton in Australia.
“Led by Jason Arrow as Alexander Hamilton, this cast has such incredible talent, warmth and power,” he said.
“I know they will thrill and move audiences in Sydney when it’s safe to return.”
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