Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Willie Geist chats with Rory O’Malley, the new King George in ‘Hamilton’
TODAY.com: While backstage at ‘Hamilton,’ Willie Geist hung out with Leslie Odom Jr. (Aaron Burr) and his old college classmate, Rory O’Malley, who just recently took over the role of King George III in the popular Broadway show.
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4 comments:
It is really cool that there are three Carnegie Mellon alums in Hamilton. It is crazy that Rory O’Malley and Leslie Odom Jr. were both in the same class with Josh Groban and Josh Gad at CMU. Those are four really big stars that all came out of one small acting class. It is weird to think that in a few years my classmates could be working on big Broadway shows together. It would be even cooler if I were stage managing a show that had someone from CMU in it that I went to school with. The CMU alumni community is so strong and all over the entertainment industry. It is hard to go somewhere and not find someone that went to CMU. I am very grateful that I will soon be a part of this elite group of people that studied drama at CMU. I am very excited to see all of the amazing things my friends will do in the future.
It's so crazy to think that one class here at Carnegie Mellon has produced so many talented actors, and that we have multiple alumni working on the biggest show on Broadway right now. It's so inspiring to see people who were in our shoes not that long ago working at such a successful professional level. One of the best of all of this to me is that Rory O'Malley is now King George, as he is such a strong actor and overall great person. A few years ago I went to go see The Book of Mormon with my family, and at that time he was still playing Elder McKinley. After the show I talked to him at the stage door and he was extremely sweet. We ended up talking about theatre and what I wanted to study, and he told me to keep working hard at it. It's really funny now to think that I'm at the same school that he once was, and that the people I'm working with today might say the same thing to other kids at stage door in the future.
Articles like this always make me pinch myself. It's really easy to get caught up in the fact that I am exhausted and working all the time, and forget that I am going to school with some of theaters greatest new performers and minds. It is amazing that Leslie and Rory and Josh Gad, and Josh Groban ALL went to CMU together. Thats a group of people who have done extremely well for themselves, and to think that I could be grabbing lunch in between glasses with the next Leslie Odom Jr. is wild. Another reason I love CMU, is that we know that all of these amazing people come from our program, and we recognize a consistency in the careers of our alumni but that is never something that we out on or take for granted. Every new class is a new opportunity to change the world of theater or television, and we never just assume that the people who go here will be successful we work very hard to make sure that they have a good chance. I love CMU and I am glad it is getting this kind of great publicity, but the success of the school doesn't come without the hard work of it's students, and thats what separates us from others I think, we love the work, but we really know how to buckle down and do it.
This video was hard to get through because of how amazing it is that so many people from one class at CMU all went on to do amazing things, not just separately, but staying in each others lives and performing together. Also the fact that they all went to CMU (and how Rory O’Malley and Josh Gad were freshman roommates!) is really awesome. I think that the overall camaraderie of CMU grads is seen in this video in how they do still think back on their schooling days together. This video also made the educational world and the real world seem much closer than it has ever seen before. On a completely different note, I really enjoyed hearing the 30 minute call, it gave a small window into what backstage life is like on a broadway show, especially one as big as Hamilton. I am sure Rory O'Malley will continue to do amazing as King George, and I hope I will get to see him in the part!
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