About Hamilton and Okieriete Onaodowan

Hamilton is the story of one of America's founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton. Lin-Manuel Miranda felt inspired after reading the biography and brought it to American Broadway in 2015 in the form of a musical that became such a hit that tickets were hard to get.

It received many critical acclaims and received eight drama desk awards, eleven Tony awards, and the 2016 Pulitzer prize for drama.

About Hamilton

Hamilton is the tale of how a boy born out of wedlock and orphaned at the age of eleven paves a unique trajectory for his life, rising to become one of the founding fathers of America. Miranda portrays Hamilton's journey right from his prowess as a clerk, his role in the war, his marriage to Elizabeth Schuyler, and how he helped forge the constitution through a series of songs.

Each of the songs is well researched, taking into account Hamilton's life and even picking some lines directly from personal letters and other documents. The style of music is also quite diverse.

All the actors are non-white to pull the audience into the story. Actors of color have played even the roles of white men to make it "more accessible to a contemporary audience." It also aims to throw light on the fact that America is a nation of immigrants.

 

In the words of Okieriete Onaodowan

Okierite Onaodowan is Hamilton's longest-tenured actor who played the dual roles of Hercules Mulligan and James Madison. According to him, being a part of the Broadway show has had a significant influence on his life, mainly because of the message it starts with - speaking up. The show demanded the actors bring their highest caliber performances, which helped him grow a lot.

The Roles of Mulligan and Madison

In Act I, Onaodowan plays Hercules Mulligan's role, who is the primary influence on him. Hercules Mulligan is a part of Hamilton's squad, an Irish-American who is training to be a tailor, but he desires to do something meaningful in his heart. He finds his calling when he is recruited to be a spy during the American Revolutionary War. He is also a member of the sons of liberty.

In Act II, Onaodowan plays quite the opposite character in James Madison's role who succeeds Jefferson. While Mulligan is Hamilton's ally, Madison hates him.

Although many other actors play dual roles on broadway, Onaodowan does justice to his roles, which couldn't be different. Mulligan is aggressive, while Madison is restrained. The former is reckless and robust, while the latter is well-mannered and sickly. Onaodowan manages to create intrigue in the audience, watching him act differently in both the acts doing the double-casting work beautifully.

Even the choreography and the music portray the glaring differences between the two characters. Although Mulligan is a stronger character, Madison is more sophisticated, which helps you see how formidable a player he is and how the game has changed since the first act.

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