SALT LAKE CITY — Someone who’s not throwin’ away his shot is Blaine Alden Krauss, the man playing Alexander Hamilton himself at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City.
Krauss took FOX 13 News back to the moment he found out he’d be playing one of the Great White Way’s most beloved characters.
“They called me and was like, ‘Hey, we want you to come back again and we want you to be the guy for the rest of the show,' he shared. "And of course, it’s a dream come true, right? It was just like I’ve arrived to that place that I envisioned as a little kid.”
Blaine says back again because Hamilton is not new to him. Funny enough, he’d previously played Aaron Burr in the renowned musical.
So what’s it like now that he gets to play the show’s protagonist?
“For me, I kind of think of them as the same person and two sides of the same coin, just one’s heads and one’s tails,” said Blaine. “They both have the same dreams and ambitions. They come from different places, but what they want to produce physically in this new America is the same, and the only difference is that Burr is a bit more timid, is a bit more than methodical, reserved and Hamilton can’t keep his mouth shut.”
Though the phrase “talk less, smile more” is a recurring theme throughout the show, you’ll hear a lot of talking, rapping, spoken word and, of course, singing. In fact, you’ll probably hear more talking than any other show you’ve ever seen.
“Hamilton is the most words spoken on a stage, even including Shakespeare, ever,” explained Krauss. “And Hamilton itself is the most words ever in the history of theater.”
When it debuted in 2015, more than 2.6 million people saw Hamilton on Broadway, according to Broadway World. Another 7.8 million attended performances in theaters across the country, not to mention the millions who have watched the version streamed on Disney+.
Hamilton’s claim to fame Blaine said, is that there’s something in it for everybody.
“You’ve got your granddad or uncle who loves history and loves politics, and loves all that kind of knowledge.," he said. "You’ve got your mom, or maybe son or daughter, who is a theater nerd and loves musicals, like my mom who grew up watching The Sound of Music and is going to come see the show.”
“You’ve got 12-year-old girls and eight-year-old girls and they see the show and see vibrancy and they see color and they see women empowerment and they want to wear the Schuyler sister outfits.
"You’ve got little, cool dudes who are like, ‘Yeah, I want to be the king’ and they come dressed up.
"Then you’ve got people who have never seen theater who may come, like me, from an African American community that has really strong ties to hip-hop and rap and see that being brought on the stage that we’ve never seen.”
Aside from the vibrancy, the music, the classic theater tropes, there’s something to be learned from Hamilton. For Krauss, the most impactful line comes at the end from Aaron Burr.
“’I should’ve known the world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me," said the third vice president of the United States.
"I think if there is any message that was apolitical, that everyone can take away, is that this world is big enough for all of us, and it may not seem like we can have it all, but we can have it all," Krauss said. “We can agree and compromise and we can disagree, but it doesn’t have to get to that place.”
One thing Blaine believes everyone can agree and compromise on is a love for the stage.
“Come see art, art is amazing, live theater is amazing!”
