Inlander Guide to Hamilton by The Inlander

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To inhabit his role, Julius Thomas even learned to mimic Alexander Hamilton's signature. JOAN MARCUS PHOTO

2 INLANDER GUIDE TO HAMILTON APRIL 28, 2022

JULIUS THOMAS AS

FINALLY GETTING YOUR SHOT

Hamilton’s arrival puts a spotlight on the success of Spokane’s Best of Broadway series BY E.J. IANNELLI

espite night after night of empty houses, WestCoast Entertainment CEO Justin Kobluk and his staff had never worked so hard as they did during the pandemic. Nearly two years’ worth of shows — a total of 109 performances — ended up having to be moved or canceled before the official resumption of live performances with Cats last October. And even now, with their doors fully reopened and a successful three-week run of Wicked recently wrapped up, the toil isn’t over. Sure, 70 performances have managed to be rescheduled, and Hamilton is about to kick off a blockbuster 2022–23 Best of Broadway season, but there’s still plenty to keep them much busier than usual.

HOW TO GO!

Hamilton runs Tue, May 3-Sun, May 22, for 24 performances total thanks to weekend matinees. Tickets range from $39-$249, and are available at broadwayspokane.com or ticketswest.com. Performances run two hours and 25 minutes, including intermission. There will also be 40 $10 tickets available via lottery for all 24 performances, with winners selected each week for the following week’s performances. Download the Hamilton app (hamiltonmusical.com/app) and enter a new lottery each Friday of the run. Winners will be able to buy two tickets for $10 each. Only one entry allowed per person. “We’re back, but it’s a tremendous amount of work. Hamilton is a perfect example of that. This was originally a 2020 show. Trying to re-create it, to re-cover it, to recommunicate it, to redo everything just takes an awful lot of effort and an awful lot of people,” Kobluk says. Lots of effort by lots of people is the story of Best of Broadway in a nutshell. The series launched in 1987 (with the very same show that marked its post-pandemic return — Cats) as a way of bringing top-tier entertainment to the Inland Northwest. Its initial funding came from a group of local hoteliers with the hope that it would provide a reliable and regular boost to business.

Three-and-a-half decades later, that educated wager has paid off. “Visit Spokane tracks all the drivers of tourism in the city,” Kobluk says. “And by far, year in and year out, Broadway events are the single largest driver of room stays in this whole region. That’s including Hoopfest, Bloomsday and all the others. Those are monster events, but they’re over in a weekend. Broadway brings in weeklong or multiple-week runs throughout the year.” The economic impact of Best of Broadway isn't limited to hotels and restaurants. Based on historic tallies up to the 2018–19 season, WestCoast Entertainment estimates that it’s generated somewhere in the neighborhood of half a billion dollars for the wider regional economy. Using industry metrics and ticket-sale multipliers, Kobluk is predicting that an individual show like Hamilton will bring an economic boost of $16 to $20 million because of all the ancillary spending associated with it. Just the Hamilton admissions tax alone will total around $300,000. That money is channeled back into the Public Facilities District, the organization that manages the Spokane Arena and the First Interstate Center for the Arts. It’s also used to fund local arts-related activities. But, as Kobluk notes, “It’s not just a dollars-and-cents thing. It’s a community thing. And that’s important. “As I’m dealing with agents out of New York, looking to negotiate shows and bring them to Spokane, I don’t have to spend a lot of time explaining who we are. Every agent in New York knows us. We punch above our weight because we have a wonderful facility that can attract the biggest productions out there and a 35-year history of selling these shows because we’re so supported by the community. We’re on the radar almost as a primary stop even though we’re a secondary market. That’s a great place to be in.” Along with Hamilton, upcoming shows like Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown are proof of that outsized influence. Originally anticipated to reach Spokane “a couple years after it was touring,” the award-winning musical is now coming to town this July — even as it’s still running on Broadway. “I’ve got five titles that we can put on in any given season, but I’ve got much more than five titles fighting for those spaces,” says Kobluk. “As an event promoter, it’s a good problem to have.” n

ALEXANDER HAMILTON

“To be honest, I’m not a huge history buff,” says Julius Thomas. When he was tapped to take center stage as Alexander Hamilton, he drew largely on the courses he’d taken in high school and college for character context. “I found that in this show, everything I really needed was on the page. They did such a good job of fleshing out these characters and giving us all the information that we needed to embody these characters. It was all there, so it didn’t require a ton of historical research.” Well, except for one thing. Thomas felt compelled to find out what Hamilton’s signature looked like. He then practiced writing it himself. “I sign a lot of things in the show,” he says, chuckling. “There are lots of little moments where I’m giving my John Hancock — marriage papers, things of that nature — and I just wanted to have that extra layer. It’s not something that anyone would ever know or see, but it helped me deepen my connection to the work we were doing.” While Hamilton could be seen as an homage to its title character, Thomas says that he’s discovered a lot of self-doubt bubbling beneath Alexander Hamilton’s impetuous, self-assured exterior. “I think a lot of his actions stem from a lack of confidence, sort of a need to prove to himself and other people that he is knowledgeable and capable and a top dog. And so a lot of his actions are driven by insecurity. Which is a fun thing to play.” And for all those who, like Thomas, don’t identify as history buffs? What does Hamilton hold for them? “This is a cultural phenomenon that, at this point, millions upon millions of people have seen,” he says. “It has literally changed the face of theater — how we do theater, who sees theater, how we consume theater. It really is a watershed moment, a changing of the guard to a new style. If nothing else than to witness a shift in our culture, I think it’s worth seeing.” FAVORITE SONG: “Satisfied” (Angelica and Company, Act I) THE HISTORY BOOKS SAY… It’s no wonder that Lin-Manuel Miranda was so inspired by the biography of Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757– 1804). The future Founding Father was born out of wedlock in the Caribbean and later orphaned, only arriving to make his way in the growing city of New York when he was a teenager. Even as a young student, though, he showed a keen insight into colonial politics and a gift for oratory. As an adult, in addition to showing skill as a military commander during the Revolutionary War, he was instrumental in establishing the United States Coast Guard, the Federalist Party and, while he was leading the Treasury Department in George Washington’s Cabinet, a minor institution known as the American financial system. He married Elizabeth Schuyler in his early twenties and died in his late forties, killed in a duel by Aaron Burr. — E.J. IANNELLI

APRIL 28, 2022 INLANDER GUIDE TO HAMILTON 3

DONALD WEBBER AS

AARON BURR

Donald Webber plays Aaron Burr, one of the most complicated villains in theatrical history.

PREPARE THYSELF!

JOAN MARCUS PHOTO

How to get ready for your Hamilton experience before going to the theater

BY WILSON CRISCIONE

here is a lot going on in Hamilton, from its multilayered historical backdrop to its showcasing of a wide variety of musical styles, including hip-hop and pop. It all comes at you fast. Some prefer to take in the onslaught all fresh and new, but many people have found even more satisfaction from studying up ahead of time to enjoy the show and all its facets. LISTEN TO THE HAMILTON SOUNDTRACK . You know how when you first hear a song, you’re still trying to get a feel for it? That’s sure to happen with Hamilton, since each song jams in so much history. Listen to the soundtrack with the original cast, so that by the time you actually see the show, you’re not trying to figure out the songs. Instead, you’re celebrating the music like you’re seeing a concert of your favorite artists. WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEOS. There’s the cast performing songs at the Tony awards. There are celebrities performing their own covers of Hamilton songs. There’s LinManuel Miranda and co-star Daveed Diggs having rap battles. But I especially recommend watching the original Hamilton cast performing songs at the White House for President Barack Obama, if for no other reason than the fact that there are few

4 INLANDER GUIDE TO HAMILTON APRIL 28, 2022

things as entertaining as Obama bobbing his head to rap as everyone else in the room nervously looks at the former president and wonders if their own body movements are sufficient. Also, maybe I’m not supposed to tell you this, but sometimes you can find bits of the original broadway show on YouTube. WATCH THE FILMED VERSION ON DISNEY+. You probably won’t ever get another chance to see the original cast perform Hamilton live on Broadway. Thankfully, Disney+ released the filmed version on July 3, 2020 — one of the few cultural highlights of the early pandemic. READ ALEXANDER HAMILTON, BY RON CHERNOW. As legend has it, Lin-Manuel Miranda read this book on a vacation after his first successful musical, In the Heights. That’s when Miranda first envisioned the musical. The book presents Hamilton as a spirited, flawed genius who could spit out a vigorous defense of the U.S. Constitution in one breath and form the foundation of American capitalism in the next. But what likely attracted Miranda to the story was the notion that Hamilton was misunderstood in history books, that he was a tragic figure whose brilliance fueled his success but also his failures. Miranda had Chernow advise him on the creation of the musical, and the rest, as they say, is history. n

Before he played Alexander Hamilton’s archrival and eventual assassin, Donald Webber’s most vivid memory of Aaron Burr came from a “Got Milk?” commercial during the 1990s. In the popular TV spot — directed, incidentally, by Michael Bay of Transformers fame — a Hamilton aficionado gets a random call from a game show asking him to name the Founding Father’s killer. Unfortunately, the unwitting contestant has just bitten into a peanut butter sandwich and can’t get the answer out in time. “I thought it was hilarious and brilliant, and it made me want to learn more about the most famous duel in American history,” Webber writes in an e-mail. But there’s more complexity and depth to Burr than that fateful event. Webber says Burr’s ambitions and motivations are made clearer through Hamilton, and they’re not always so different from Hamilton himself. “Just as Hamilton does, his need to protect the one thing his parents left him — a ‘legacy to protect’ — makes him act in ways that he may not have otherwise. And perhaps it would have changed the course of our history had he not felt it was a life or death matter to try to protect it.” And for Webber, the chance to share that universal story of “love, jealousy, triumph and disappointment” with a live audience is a career highlight. “There is something unexplainable that happens when those lights dim and we tell our story,” he says. “I feel the room come alive each time, and each time I step on that stage after the iconic opening notes, I too feel alive.” FAVORITE SONG: “That Would Be Enough” (Eliza and Hamilton, Act I) THE HISTORY BOOKS SAY… Most (in)famous for being the man who shot Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr Jr. (1756–1836) had an interesting and accomplished life that’s been overshadowed by the outcome of that tragic duel. At the age of 13, he entered Princeton University, where he showed an aptitude for literature, politics, debate and theology. Those interests would serve him well in his later career as a lawyer and a politician — a career that would also result in ideological clashes with Hamilton. During the Revolutionary War, Burr served in commanding roles in the Continental Army, and he went on to become the vice president of the United States under Thomas Jefferson. But the duel, which took place while he was still VP, left him to live out the remainder of his years in disgrace. — E.J. IANNELLI

proud partnerships in theater history

Timon and Pumbaa. Rodgers and Hammerstein. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Alexander Hamilton. The region’s favorite credit union and the biggest show in town. WestCoast Entertainment was founded on the belief that Spokane audiences deserved to see the world-class productions of Broadway’s best. When selecting a community partner, they turned to another hometown organization known for supporting the arts and education. We hope you enjoy Hamilton, and the entire STCU Best of Broadway season.

broadwayspokane.com

APRIL 28, 2022 INLANDER GUIDE TO HAMILTON 5

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Setting the Standard in Retirement Living 6 INLANDER GUIDE TO HAMILTON APRIL 28, 2022

FROM LEFT: The Schuyler sisters Eliza, Angelica and Peggy (Rebecca Covington).

JOAN MARCUS PHOTO

VICTORIA ANN SCOVENS AS

ELIZA SCHUYLER As proof of the idea that artistic license can be more revealing than unvarnished truth, Victoria Ann Scovens developed new insight into her character by reading the novel My Dear Hamilton. She found that Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie’s historical fiction drew a rich, biographically based portrait of Eliza Schuyler, the woman who would become Alexander Hamilton’s wife. “One of the first lines in the book is basically how Eliza was a fully formed human before she met Hamilton,” Scovens writes via e-mail. “It talks about how her grandfather was a doctor, and she would go with him out into the battlefields in New York, helping to nurse injured soldiers on both sides. And she was a little bit of a tomboy. All of this helped me create a grounded human.” The rest of the detail, she says, comes from Hamilton’s unusually intricate score. “At face value, in an extreme way, Eliza could be considered an ingénue if we’re talking about archetypes in a show. But what makes her more than that is how she handles the events in situations that she experiences. She is very much an active participant in her life and in Hamilton’s life,” she says. Even when they endure loss, like the death of their oldest son, Philip, or a fundamental breach of trust, such

as when Alexander admits his extramarital affair, Eliza doesn’t let it undermine her commitment or her dignity. “As sweet as Eliza is, she’s also a no-BS kind of woman. Being soft and strong are two kind of funny traits to have. They do seem like opposites. But softness does not equal weakness, and that is something very important to understand. It’s a cool role to step into every night.” FAVORITE SONG: “Satisfied” (Angelica and Company, Act I) THE HISTORY BOOKS SAY… Elizabeth “Eliza” Hamilton (née Schuyler; 1757–1854) was born into a large, wealthy and well-connected family in New York State, which provided her with a comfortable childhood and a devout religious upbringing. It also meant that she moved in the same circles that would ultimately introduce her to her future husband while he was serving as one of Gen. George Washington’s aides-de-camp during the Revolutionary War. She and Alexander endured their share of ups and downs, not least because of his affair with Maria Reynolds. After he died, Eliza founded and led the Orphan Asylum Society. She lived to the age of 97, engaged in philanthropic work and curating Alexander’s legacy. — E.J. IANNELLI

HAMILTON MASTERMIND

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Although it was Hamilton that catapulted him to global fame and earned him several prestigious awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama not least among them, Lin-Manuel Miranda was already something of a Broadway luminary before he donned a colonial frock coat and jabot. His acclaimed 2008 musical, In the Heights, took home four Tony Awards and a Grammy. Like Hamilton, Miranda wrote the show’s music and lyrics in addition to starring in the lead role. Since Hamilton debuted in 2015, Miranda has been engaged in a constant stream of work in the entertainment industry — some of it highly visible, some behind the scenes, much of it for Disney-related projects. He directed the 2021 film adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s semi-autobiographical musical, Tick, Tick… Boom! He’s appeared as the high-flying aeronaut Lee Scoresby in the TV version of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. He wrote music for Pixar’s Moana as well as Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. And the hit song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” that everyone was singing after they saw Encanto? Yep, Miranda wrote that, too.

LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA

MARJA HARMON AS

THE HISTORY BOOKS SAY… Angelica Church (née Schuyler; 1756–1814) was the older sister of Eliza and therefore benefited from a privileged childhood in the same wealthy landowning family. Angelica likewise moved in elite political and social circles, although she spent a decade and a half living abroad with her husband, John Barker Church, a British-born merchant who supplied the American and French armies and later became a member of the British Parliament. She developed friendships and corresponded regularly with some of the most prominent figures of the day, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. While it’s well known that she charmed and deeply connected with Alexander Hamilton, it’s less clear whether their relationship became romantic. — E.J. IANNELLI

Like many audience members, Marja Harmon “didn’t know much about any of the Schuyler sisters” before she saw Hamilton for the first time. Although they were devoted wives, companions and peers of these famous historical figures, their stories hadn’t crossed over into popular imagination. Hamilton gave actors like Harmon the opportunity to bring those stories into the spotlight — with a little help from poignant, showstopping songs like “Satisfied.” Angelica Schuyler, Harmon writes via e-mail, “was ahead of her time and didn’t let her gender stop her from being highly influential. She used her charm and status to gain access to the great minds of that time. Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin corresponded with her regularly and sought her counsel.” Nevertheless, Angelica wasn’t just an intelligent, influential socialite who dazzled the political movers and shakers of the day. She was human, and she struggled with the same doubts and longings that many of us do. A significant narrative thread in Hamilton is Angelica’s relationship with Alexander Hamilton and the conflict she may have experienced in her sister marrying the man who may well have been her soulmate. “I really enjoy playing with her choice of duty versus desire,” Harmon says. “Her loyalty and commitment to seeing her sister’s happiness stops her from seeking her own. She makes incredible sacrifices for her family, but throughout the show deals with the constant ‘what if?’ So much of her journey in the show is so bittersweet.” FAVORITE SONG: “Wait For It” (Burr and Company, Act I)

ANGELICA SCHUYLER

ANE, W

S A

BEHIND THE CURTAIN trailers to move Hamil1Ittontakesfrom13city53-foot to city. When you add up crew members, cast 2 and managers, there are nearly 60 people working to make the show happen every night.

There are over 350 lighting instruments and more than 1,000 light cues in Hamilton.

Hamilton’s sound team makes use of state-of-the-art technology. In fact, some of the speakers are the first of their kind. There are 14 speakers hidden around the set so that the cast can hear the band playing.

Every show features a live, 10-member orchestra: two keyboards, drums, percussion, bass, guitar and string quartet.

Not all of the musicians are in the orchestra pit. The drummer is in a room just behind the pit for better control over the sound. He stays in sync via a live video and audio feed of the show and the conductor.

Engineering, building, painting and automating the Hamilton set took more than 500 days.

Almost all the brick and wood on the set is fake. The brick is mostly made of Homasote and Vacuform, while the wood is mostly engineered sheet goods. But some of the backdrop is actually fabric that has been painted by hand to resemble real brick!

Hamilton’s show deck is only 9 inches tall, yet it houses all the motors, encoders, drivers and other mechanisms needed to make the turntable work.

There’s a catwalk that flies in at intermission. To spot it, be on the lookout for the subtle change that represents the continued building of America.

"Less is always more with George III," says Rick Negron.

JOAN MARCUS PHOTO

RICK NEGRON AS

KING GEORGE III

Every now and again in Hamilton, Rick Negron pops up as King George III to weigh in on the American political strife through a catchy series of songs like “You’ll Be Back” and “What Comes Next?” “The trap with this character is to play him as a clown or fool, a broad caricature of our assumptions,” Negron writes via e-mail. “The real trick is to play him as close to the vest as possible, letting his idiosyncrasies bubble up whenever he is triggered. Our director, Thomas Kail, always reminded me that the king only must gesture minutely to dispense with an enemy. Less is always more with George III.” To research his role beyond the few facts he remembered from high school, Negron began with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s starting point: Ron Chernow’s biography Alexander Hamilton. Then he read The Last King of America by Andrew Roberts and George III by Christopher Hibbert. He also watched BBC documentaries on the king and his era. It gave him a new appreciation for the monarch who was mocked and later extolled as “Farmer George.” “George was intelligent and very involved in politics. He was loyal to his wife and very frugal. He loved books,

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music, science and agriculture,” Negron says, and playing him in Hamilton is a “dream role” because “it’s probably one of the greatest pieces of musical theater in the last 50 years.” FAVORITE SONG: “Dear Theodosia” (Burr and Hamilton, Act I) THE HISTORY BOOKS SAY… George William Frederick (1738–1820) ruled as King George III of Great Britain between 1760 and 1820. His six-decade reign was characterized by a series of major military conflicts, including the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) and the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) with France, as well as, of course, the American War of Independence (1775–1783). Although George gets a bad rap as an effete, tyrannical and out-oftouch leader — charges that are certainly warranted in some cases, especially when it comes to his early support of the transatlantic slave trade — he championed major scientific and agricultural advances in Britain and maintained an honest self-appraisal of his own strengths and failings. — E.J. IANNELLI

There are over 50 different types of paper props in the show, and there are over 20 hidden prop boxes around the set.

Fabrics for the costumes are made specifically for the show in France and England: The ensemble military wools are hand-woven and dyed in England.

Some of the costumes are made of a special color of fabric. The camel colors, for instance, are referred to as HAMIL-TAN.

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All the shoes are custom made for each performer.

The men’s shirts are made by a company called Darcy Clothing, dedicated to the style of Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.

King George’s white wigs are made of yak hair. His crown weighs 2.5 pounds and has a microphone hidden inside it.

Hamilton travels with a full-time physical therapist to make sure the cast is in tip-top shape for every show.

THE EXCITEMENT OF BROADWAY IS BACK! SUBSCRIPTIONS AND SEASON TICKETS

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“AN ELECTRIFYING MUSICAL!”

JANUARY 17-22, 2023

Join us for the very best of live Broadway entertainment!

MARCH 14-19, 2023

THE HIT BROADWAY MUSICAL

Information and Tickets for these shows and more at:

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JUNE 27-JULY 2, 2023 APRIL 28, 2022 INLANDER GUIDE TO HAMILTON 9

THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS With community support, Sandra Williams is enabling 200 young adults and leaders to experience Hamilton live BY E.J. IANNELLI

alachi Davis was at the end of a stressful foodservice shift when his mother called with unexpectedly great news: He’d be attending Hamilton as part of an evening organized by Sandra Williams of the Carl Maxey Center and the Black Lens newspaper. “When she told me, I was freaking out. I was at work, and I’d had a rough day. That just made my night so much better,” he says. While Hamilton has undoubtedly achieved a remarkable degree of name recognition even among non-theatergoers, for Davis the musical needed no explanation. The Rogers High School senior describes himself as “the ultimate musical theater nerd” and had watched Hamilton every way he could — whether it was on streaming services or as YouTube clips. It easily ranks among his all-time favorite shows, although he does have a soft spot for Heathers and Mean Girls, too.

“A lot of musical theater, it falls into the same old, same old. I feel like the music is alive in this show,” Davis says. “Lin-Manuel Miranda really did an amazing job with the creative process. And, honestly, I work a lot because I’m saving for college. So this is giving me the perfect opportunity to take time off and really breathe.” Davis is one of 200 local participants — mostly high school and college-aged students — to be taking part in this one-night group outing to Hamilton. “Typically, when there’s a production of some sort that comes to town with a majority Black cast or the story is Black, I try to work with whoever’s hosting the event to see if there’s a way to create community connections,” Williams says. She recently organized a similar event around the classically trained hip hop duo Black Violin at the Fox Theater. But Williams recognized Hamilton as something extra special, not least “because it makes history relevant for kids of color who don’t typically see themselves in history.” She herself has watched the filmed performance on Disney+ no fewer than three times. So she started asking around for donations with

Band of Brothers, Revolutionary War editition.

JOAN MARCUS PHOTO

the hope of funding 50 tickets. Local organizations like Canopy Credit Union, GESA Credit Union and the Providence Foundation quickly agreed to chip in. Avista offered to support a virtual Q&A session with some of the Hamilton cast. WestCoast Entertainment also contributed some funds from its ShowKidz program, which is largely sponsored by IATSE Local 93. That’s how 50 tickets became 200. “Everybody was really eager to help out, and I think they see the relevance of it, too, which is why we ended up with four times as many tickets as we thought we were going to get,” she says. “And we’re excited to have 200 people, predominantly from the Black community,

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at the same event on the same night. That’s just super cool.” Williams is especially looking forward to many of her fellow audience members experiencing Hamilton live for the first time. Along with the show’s more representative casting, it has themes that tie into her ongoing efforts to create more inclusive public decision-making processes. “I’ve been talking about ‘being in the room where it happens,’ which is from Hamilton, ever since I saw it. Part of what we’ve been trying to do with a lot of our social justice work is to get ourselves into the room where it happens. It felt like Hamilton was speaking our language. And so I’m excited for other people to experience a similar reaction.” As for Davis, being in the very room where Hamilton happens is a memory he’ll take with him when he matriculates at AMDA College of the Performing Arts in Los Angeles this autumn. He’s majoring, of course, in theater and film. n

We are celebrating all things Bloomsday & Hamilton here at Tavolata! Join us before a show with our special pre-theater offerings, carbo load with us the night before the big race or cheers with us on Bloomsday to celebrate crossing the finish line (extended hours from 11am-9pm)!

Happy Hour 4-6pm daily • Private Dining • Expansive Patio & Bar 221 N. Wall St | 509.606.5600 | ETHANSTOWELLRESTAURANTS.COM

APRIL 28, 2022 INLANDER GUIDE TO HAMILTON 11

THE SAME. BUT DIFFERENT.

Following Hamilton are Hadestown and Come from Away, two hit Broadway musicals steeped in like-minded musical traditions BY E.J. IANNELLI

amilton’s nearly three-week run in Spokane might be an exceptionally big deal, but it isn’t the only Best of Broadway show that has audiences excited for this season. Both Hadestown (July 5-10) and Come from Away (August 9-14) are hotly anticipated hit musicals that have resonated with people outside of theatergoing circles. Their popularity isn’t the only quality they share with Hamilton. All three musicals also have unconventional origins in nascent ideas that ultimately took years to flesh out through unique approaches to music. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway phenomenon, for example, was inspired by his reading of Ron Chernow’s 2004 biography of the Founding Father; an early version of the rap “My Shot” became the kernel of the entire musical. Hadestown is an adaptation of the mythic tale of Orpheus and Eurydice and evolved largely out of a concept album by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell. “I do feel like the original DNA of the show is in those early songs, the ones from the concept album,” Hadestown music director, vocal arranger, pianist and accordion player Liam Robinson writes via e-mail. “Before my time with the piece, before its life with a New York creative team, it grew up and put down deep roots in a music community that helped it develop an undeniable richness, a truth at its core."

And Come from Away, which recounts the stranding of airline passengers in a tiny Canadian town during the 9/11 attacks, had equally modest beginnings. It was the brainchild of Michael Rubinoff, who created a 45-minute workshop version of the show using a script based on interviews with the former passengers and their hosts. Cameron Moncur, the music director of Come from Away as well as its pianist and accordion player, says that the production likewise draws from the “inherently musical” culture of Newfoundland, where it’s set. “Anytime you have a party, it just always ends up in the kitchen. People bring whatever instruments they have — a guitar, a mandolin, a bodhrán — and they sing traditional tunes or old Irish tunes,” he says. This spontaneous jam-session hospitality is on display in Come from Away; Moncur's band even joins the actors onstage for two uplifting group numbers. “The music is so present and is such a through-line for the whole thing, and yet it also has to be invisible because we’re trying to tell so many unique individual stories all at once,” Moncur says. Having just seen the touring production of Hadestown in Chicago, Moncur is eager to offer praise for that show and to draw further parallels between it and Come from Away.

Hadestown hits Spokane in July.

T CHARLES ERICKSON PHOTO

“Our show is deeply rooted in traditional Newfoundland music, which itself is heavily influenced by Celtic music. Hadestown is the same in that they’re deeply rooted in the New Orleans jazz scene. We’re two shows with very different musical styles while still rooting ourselves in a very specific sound,” he says. “It’s about building a sense of community based around music.” n Visit broadwayspokane.com for ticket information on Hadestown, Come from Away and the rest of the season.

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