Lovely interview with Javier Muñoz, the next A. Ham

[jesse_the_k]

It's a challenge to follow in Lin's shoes, but seems like Javier is up to it.

He looks, in other words, nothing like Lin-Manuel Miranda, the puppy-eyed and wholesome-seeming man who wrote Hamilton and originated the role, and who left the show earlier this summer. Miranda has always seemed like a public intellectual, or like a really great high school teacher you’d remember with infinite fondness. Muñoz is different. He’s sexy and puts his body into the show. He writhes and he wiggles, taking his job as a founding father less seriously than the show’s founding father. This Hamilton is a man before he is a father; he’s the Hamilton you’re still thinking about after the stage darkens and the theater empties and you’re home in bed and the lights are out. A friend who’s seen both men puts it like this: early in the show, when Hamilton arrives in New York, naïve and aching to be taken seriously, Miranda sells it better—but when Hamilton graduates to political machinations and adultery, Muñoz is much more credible.”

Javier Muñoz, the New Star of ‘Hamilton,’ on Performing for Obama, Living With HIV, and Life After Death
http://www.gq.com/story/javier-munoz-of-hamilton-has-been-reborn

Any earwitness reports?

Comments

[selki]

My sister and I saw him on a Sunday performance back in January. He was great. We've only seen clips of Miranda's performances. In comparison, a little more raw energy and earthy sexiness; lacking the ho-yay than I've heard Miranda has with Laurens.

[superborb]

I saw him in August, and I have to say, based on the recordings / live footage of LMM, I think he's a better performer. His voice is objectively better, and I thought he brought more energy to the part.