Sometimes, all you need is a little raw talent, an extra dose of serendipity to make it on Broadway. And it doesn’t hurt to really, really want the part.
That’s how things went down for actor J. Quinton Johnson, who’s been cast in the mega-hit musical Hamilton, according to The New York Times.
The 22-year-old actor, who hails from Athens, Texas, had been cast as the love interest in the made-for-TV-movie reboot of Dirty Dancing, and found out the film was being choreographed by three-time Tony Award winning Hamilton choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler.
It so happened that Johnson was a huge fan of the Hamilton cast album—but had never seen the production on Broadway. So while working with the choreographer, he not-so-subtly mentioned his love for the play and carried around Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton: The Revolution book. He then did an impromptu performance of the play’s opening number, which Blankenbuehler joined in on.
This would wind up being Johnson’s “first” audition. Blankenbeuhler then got him in front of the musical’s actual producers.
The most shocking part? Johnson did all of this before even seeing the musical.
After a third audition, he was in. Johnson’s now been cast as Hercules Mulligan/James Madison and will be part of the touring production, which premieres in Los Angeles later this summer.
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