Friday, April 15, 2016
Leslie Odom Jr. Risks It All in ‘Hamilton’
Backstage Actor Interviews | Acting Tips & Career Advice | Backstage | Backstage: How does an actor, crooner, a triple threat in bloomers lead a Founding Fathers musical into the future? Peculiar, to be sure, to play Broadway as Aaron Burr—but not if you’re as talented as Leslie Odom Jr.
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This was a very well written article. I think the part that stood out to me the most was Leslie’s feeling that the grades he earned in college formed the way he thought about his art. That the desire to earn all A’s drove the creativity and the things that made him unique away for fear that they wouldn’t be appreciated. I think that there is a certain element of this fear in all of us. At the beginning of the year, we as freshman, were often told “Susan likes this” or “Susan hates the laser cutter”. Much of this advice was actually founded on personal experience and had some basis of truth. Regardless I’m sure it still changed the way we thought about our assignments. Luckily I was already neck deep in my shoe project before anyone told me not to use the laser cutter because that turned into one of my favorite projects from this year.
When I went into Hamilton, I was completely expecting to be blown away by Lin Manuel Miranda. Of course, I was extremely impressed by Miranda's performance, but I was much more impressed by Leslie Odom Jr.'s performance. I had seen Odom before in a pretty awful musical that closed about a month after it opened, but even then he stood out. Part of what makes his performance in Hamilton so incredible is how perfectly Miranda wrote the role, but Odom's actual execution of Miranda's words leads to one of the best musical performances I have ever seen. Odom is able to completely capture the depth of the character, as well as the emotional arc that Aaron Burr goes through throughout the time period of the show. He also has some of the best songs in the show, which is primarily just because Miranda wrote some of the musically and lyrically best songs for the character of Aaron Burr, but again, Odom performs them beautifully. I went into Hamilton thinking "Lin Manuel Miranda will probably win best actor for this role." I went out thinking "I will kill a man if Leslie Odom Jr. does not win best actor for this."
This article just made me love Leslie Odom Jr. even more than I already did. He is ridiculous talented of course, but personally I think that his attitude and work ethic can even outshine this. I love his idea about assigning himself "grades" and that he viewed himself as the most successful when he was laughed at. Being afraid to fail can stop you from taking risks that could have potentially lead to even more success. I really identify with the fact that he felt like he was afraid to take risks here at Carnegie Mellon, as I've been feeling that way for most of the year. In most of my projects I feel like I've been playing it safe, or doing what I think my professors want rather than what I want to do. However, for our final design project, the Arcade project, my group decided to do the opposite and include media when our professor wasn't sold on the idea. We wanted to take the opportunity to learn about something new, even if it meant falling on our faces and failing. This is such an important lesson to take away from college, and Leslie Odom Jr.'s success truely reflects that.
I loved this article, and I love Leslie Odom Jr. When I saw Hamilton I was completely blown away by his performance. I can not think of another time I was so completely captivated by someone on stage. Aside from that he was so kind when we met him after the show, and he presented himself with so much poise, I can not imagine there has ever been a person who didn't love Leslie. What was interesting about this article was that I got to read it as an audience member, and part of the theater community, and a part of the CMU community. I think what Leslie had to say about the way that we grade at CMU was really interesting, and something we just talked about in my foundations class. In discussing the stress culture at CMU we talked about the value of pass fail grades and if the school of drama could benefit from them or not. Personally, I haven't made up my mind, but I also am not sure that I want to spend 10 years getting over the pressure to get an A like Leslie said he did, so it's an interesting way to think about it. CMU produces great careers, and the statistics speak for themselves. But I think it's also important to think about whether we are producing well adjusted people in addition to good workers. We have to learn how to work hard, and how to do our best, but we also have to learn how to live, and be able to breathe for a second, and I'm not sure that we are paying enough attention to that.
I really enjoyed this article. Leslie Odom Jr. is definitely a force that is taking broadway by storm. Unfortunately, I have not been able to watch Hamilton live, but I have probably listened through the entire album about five times and Aaron Burr's character just gets me every time. The passion and drive that Leslie puts forward in his performance is just incredible. It is interesting what he says in this article about his grades. The fact that he sort of let his grades in college(Carnegie Mellon School of Drama) guide his thoughts on how he believed he was improving is not really my style. I don't think I would be able to just reference my grades for how well I am doing. Maybe because during orientation week, our professors told us to not worry about our grades because it would just stress us out. So I stayed with that. But I am very glad to hear that Leslie was an exceptional student who worked very hard.
I really liked this article. It had a nice style and pace, and it gave a nice summary of Leslie Odom Jr. The part that stuck with me the most form this article was Odom Jr.’s discussion of risk. Risk-taking is something that I think can be beneficial for all of us at certain points in our lives. Whether it’s trying out a completely out-there idea on a project, doing a crazy experimental gig or completely changing your design process for something, taking an occasional risk can be a good thing. Often, taking a risk can spur something else new, which changes yet another thing, and so on, and the overall product improves. It’s hard to predict exactly which risks will pay off and which will not, which, at least for me, sometimes makes it difficult to justify taking risks. However, occasional risk-taking, I think, is a beneficial practice. It keeps life new and exciting.
Leslie Odom Jr. is such an elegant and well spoken man. We are lucky to have him represent our program. After speaking with fellow students about their interactions with him and Erin our communications coordinator I am eager for our paths to cross. There doesn't seem to be one person who doesn't like Leslie. HE IS THE BEST!
His performance in Hamilton is mind blowing and all of his press is well deserved. I hope he wins the Tony!
I think what he says about grades is beyond important but I am too stubborn to take his advice. Grades here are a backwards system but inevitable and important. It is scary to think that it took Leslie 10 years to get over the idea of perfection that CMU engrains into your brain. CMU has a great alumni network that is definitely beneficial however I sometimes wonder is the work does not out weigh the reward.
I love going to school here but I find it a difficult position to sit on. I agree with Leslie. Taking risks are exciting but scary in an educational setting because sometimes the risk is not always followed with reward. Most of the time I feel that there is an emphasis on the final product, however, I feel that we should also pay more attention to the learning process.
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