None of us wants to be judged by our worst act on our worst day, and we consistently judge Burr for that. He was not a perfect man, but he's not a villain. He's a dude, just a guy.
Leslie Odom, Jr.
My dad was always in sales. My mom had a heart for the ages. Worked in recreation, doing rehabilitation in nursing homes. Very nice, practical folks who were very proud of me but had no inclination toward the stage in any way.
Josh Gad was in my class. Katy Mixon. Griffin Matthews. Josh Groban - he ended up leaving to become a huge star, but he was in our class in freshman year. I remember Josh was this nerdy kid in a turtleneck with a voice from heaven.
I've been fortunate in my life. It hasn't been easy, but there has been a focus on the positive, and it has reverberated. Eventually, the outlook mirrors itself back to you in the friends you have, in the partner that you choose.
It is said an artist spends their whole life trying to get to the place where their heart was first opened up. 'Rent' was that place for me.
I'm the nap champion.
I'm glad things worked out the way they worked out.
You need to put your head down and... try not to lose hope.
I remember when I was in 'Rent,' Daphne Rubin-Vega threw a party. At the time, she had a loft in TriBeCa, and the elevator opened right into her apartment. I was like, 'I've never seen anything like that.' I didn't know it was possible.
For most of your career, what you're trying to do is to step into other people's shoes.
People are coming to you at their most vulnerable; they're showing you the parts of themselves that they're afraid to show: the parts that they're not so sure about, not so secure in. And so it's a really holy profession I think, teaching. If you do it right, it can change somebody's life.
Sometimes I think of creativity or art as this well that we all draw from.
Donny Hathaway's 'For All We Know' is the song that I've sung the longest. It is a beautiful song about living in the moment and appreciating this very second. That is the song I did for my 'Rent' audition.
Making $1,260 a week at 17 years old? That was a million dollars a week to me!
You gotta prove yourself. I'm not above that. I will never be above that. Bring it!
We're reminded yet again: we are stronger, we are smarter, we have more fun when we include each other - when we include as many perspectives as possible.
You must be an artist and a citizen of the world. You must speak to this stuff that's happening. You must do what you can to shine a light on it, help people through it.
I don't want to leave anything offstage.
There are certainly people who have committed horrific, evil acts in the history of humanity. I don't think Aaron Burr's one of them.
None of us get to divorce ourselves from the world. We walk into the theater and bring all of our grief and our pain and our joy with us.
I haven't gotten hundreds of jobs that I've auditioned for.
I grew up in Philadelphia in a time where we took it for granted that we were supposed to be young and gifted and black. It was a culture of excellence - and all my friends were more talented than I was.
I know what not being able to pay your bills feels like real well... I know that way better than a room full of beautiful people and Tony awards and Grammy awards.
There's this Frank Wildhorn tune 'Sarah' - it's not a widely known tune, but it's my favorite song to sing.
I grew up in the Canaan Baptist Church.
I studied at Carnegie Mellon. I went there with a bunch of really, really talented kids.
'Rent' opened up my heart, my senses. I was never the same. I hadn't been back in that place in the same way since. 'Hamilton' put me back in that place.
When we go and cheer Cynthia Erivo on in 'The Color Purple,' it's because we've elected her to be our voice. She sings 'I'm Here' for all of us.
I'm an artist, and I like art that gets people talking, good or bad. Criticism is good, too.
The only reason to keep talking about history is if you are juxtaposing it with the world that we live in today, if you are learning something about our world by looking at the way they shaped their world.
I think it was, my parents got me a karaoke machine when I was about 9 years old. Even before that, they got me a tape recorder that I used to walk around my life with. And there was something about recording and then hearing myself back.
I've been involved with 'Hamilton' for about two and a half years. I've learned so much. I came into it a young man. Now I've dropped the 'young.'
When I see the black experience - there's not one, but it is specific, and you can't ignore it.
I feel like every night, when you see a really good production of 'Romeo and Juliet' or something, you should hope that it ends differently. That's why we watch our favorite movies again and again.
The bad guys have way more fun, in my opinion. 'Bad guys' in quotes.
I don't have any control over the offers that are going to come to me or not come to me. But I can't go backward, and so that's what's tricky.
I think I spent most of my childhood, and my early years as a performer, in student mode. And I think that's OK - I mean, it led me to where I am.
Until you make a name for yourself, they're like, 'Be a little more Denzel,' 'Be a little more Wesley Snipes.'
I wanted to make an album that was hopeful and encouraging and inspiring. That was the goal.
I know what it's like to be ignored; when I got to L.A., I longed for somebody who looked like me to show me the ropes.
What a casting director does is they're a connector.
As an artist, I'm very used to waking up and sort of not knowing what my day's going to be and not knowing where my next paycheck is going to come from.
What goes up must come down; I'm not going to be in 'Hamilton' forever. Everything I work on won't have this kind of success.
Nothing lasts forever in my profession.
When I step on the stage and sing 'Wait for It,' I'm singing that for everybody. I don't mean I'm singing it for them; I mean, you are their voice.
I know what feeling broke feels like real well. I know that real well.
That was the bat signal for me - 'Rent' changed my life. It took me years before I got beyond that show.
I got my Equity Card with my Broadway debut when I did 'Rent.' I was in high school, and I came to New York to do that show.
I kind of think we sort of subconsciously draw things into our lives, whatever we're trying to work through.
I think art, at its best, happens on a conscious and a subconscious level.
