Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit Broadway show “Hamilton: An American Musical” returns to the stage of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts next week, starring 28-year-old actor Blaine Alden Krauss.
Presented by Broadway Across America and the Arsht, the show will run March 13-24 at the venue’s Ziff Ballet Opera House, with tickets starting at $39.
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Blaine Alden Krauss as Alexander Hamilton
The blockbuster award-winning production based on a 2004 biography of founding father Alexander Hamilton, choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler, first broke ground in 2015 with colorblind casting.
“Some people would [ask] why are we telling the story about all these dead white people,” said Krauss, explaining how the musical provides commentary on immigrants wanting to contribute to society. “The point of ‘Hamilton’ is that these were people who were not from this place … ‘Hamilton’ has been diverse since Day 1 and I can’t believe it’s even possible to say but it’s getting more and more diverse.”
The cast, including Milika Cherée, Deon’te Goodman, Carvens Lissaint, Jared Howelton, Tyler Fauntleroy and Lencia Kebede, features at least 16 Black actors.
Playing Hamilton was years in the making for the biracial Krauss, a Tampa Bay native.
(Joan Marcus)
Stephanie Jae Park, Ta Rea Campbell and Paige Smallwood portraying the Schuyler Sisters in the 2021 production of “Hamilton.”
He joined Broadway Across America’s “Hamilton” about four years ago as a stand-in for Hamilton, former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr and King George III. When the opportunity to take the stage in the lead role didn’t materialize after a year, Krauss left the company to seek other opportunities.
“I was very honored a couple of months ago when they called me and said, ‘Hey, we would love for you to be our next Alexander Hamilton on tour.’ It feels like a homecoming for me,” said Krauss.
It’s not just a homecoming to return to the musical, but also to be starring in the show as it swings through Florida for two months, with Miami as its first stop.
“I grew up singing in a Black church, where we all get our start as singers … I graduated and did the thing that every 21-year-old does, packs up their bag and goes to New York, got an agent and I’ve had a really amazing career since then,” Krauss said.
Hungry for the spotlight, the musical theater major earned a spot on the national tour of “Lion King” as Simba before making his Broadway debut in “The Great Comet,” followed by “The Cher Show,” and was the understudy for Wayne Brady in “Kinky Boots.”
Krauss was one of 20 U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts, one of the highest honors for high school art students.
“I always say it’s a blessed life because artists are doing what they love,” said Krauss. “So many of us, for a myriad of reasons, don’t get the opportunity necessarily to spend their life going to a job that they absolutely love.”
(Joan Marcus)
HamiltonActors Warren Egypt Franklin, Desmond Sean Ellington, Elijah Malcomb and Pierre Jean Gonzalez during the 2021 tour of “Hamilton.”