Karen Olivo, who electrified audiences with her Tony Award-winning portrayal of Anita in the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story, returns to the stage as the brilliant and beautiful Angelica Schuyler in the Chicago production of Hamilton, it has been announced by producer Jeffrey Seller. Joining Ms. Olivo in Chicago are Broadway veterans Miguel Cervantes as Alexander Hamilton, and Alexander Gemignani as King George III.
Miguel Cervantes (Photo provided by Sam Rudy Public Relations via The Broadway Blog.)
Mr. Cervantes’ Broadway roles include in the musicals If/Then, American Idiot and 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Mr. Gemignani starred as Jean Valjean in the 2006 revival of Les Miserables, and performed in Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, Sweeney Todd, and Sunday in the Park with George on Broadway.
Other principal roles in Hamilton in Chicago will be played by a talented young company comprised of Ari Afsar as Eliza Hamilton; Chris Lee as Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson; Joseph Morales as Mr. Cervantes’ alternate; Jose Ramos as John Laurens/Phillip Hamilton; Wallace Smith as Hercules Mulligan/James Madison, and Samantha Marie Ware as Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds.
Performances begin September 27 at the PrivateBank Theatre in Chicago (18 W. Monroe). For more information, visit www.BroadwayinChicago.com.
Mr. Seller also announced that Daveed Diggs, who won the 2016 Tony Award winner for his performance as Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson, will play his final performance on Broadway on Friday, July 15. While the roles are being recast, Lafayette/Jefferson will be portrayed on Broadway by long-time understudies Andrew Chappelle, Austin Smith and Seth Stewart.
With book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, music direction/orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton is based on Ron Chernow’s biography of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. The musical won eleven 2016 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Score, Book of a Musical, Direction of a Musical, Choreography and Orchestrations. Mr. Miranda received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Hamilton.
Karen Olivo (Photo provided by Sam Rudy PR via The Broadway Blog.)
Karen Olivo won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in West Side Story, having created the role of Vanessa both on and Off-Broadway in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award winning Best Musical In the Heights in 2008. She also appeared on Broadway in Rent and Brooklyn.
Miguel Cervantes previously performed on Broadway in If/Then, American Idiot and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Off-Broadway in Happiness at Lincoln Center and as Angel in Giant at the Public Theatre.
(In preparation for his Chicago debut as Alexander Hamilton, Mr. Cervantes will play the role on Broadway on July 13 matinee, July 18 and July 25.)
