How The Original Cast Of Hamilton Actually Got Their Parts
Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the role of Alexander Hamilton specifically for himself during his residency at the Vassar Theater Festival in 2008. He started performing it there, then at the 2013 Public Theater reading, and later at the Public Theater's 2015 official run before the musical moved to Broadway. The rest of the casting happened through a combination of direct outreach, open auditions, and the usual Broadway network connections that nobody talks about. The original Broadway cast opened on August 6, 2015, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. The main principals were Phillipa Soo as Eliza Schuyler, Leslie Odom Jr. as Aaron Burr, Renée Elise Goldsberry as Angelica Schuyler, Daveed Diggs as Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, Okieriete Onaodowan as the Marquis de Lafayette and King George, Jonathan Groff as George Washington, Anthony Ramos as John Laurens and Philip Hamilton, and Jasmine Cephas Jones as Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds. These are the people you hear on the original cast recording. The ensemble had ten performers who frequently doubled in multiple roles throughout the show. What's interesting about the casting is that Miranda already had specific people in mind for several roles before auditions really took off. Phillipa Soo was a friend from his theater days. She had previously been in the reading of the show and Miranda knew she could handle the vocal demands of Eliza. Renée Elise Goldsberry was also someone he had worked with or seen perform. Daveed Diggs came through the Public Theater ecosystem — he had performed at the same venue where Hamilton was developing. This isn't unusual for a new musical. The creator usually has relationships with the actors they eventually cast.
The auditions themselves were conducted by the standard Broadway process. The casting directors — Robin Richards and Beth Magid — ran open calls where any actor could register. From those, callbacks were held and the creative team reviewed tapes. Some roles, particularly the ensemble, went through the traditional open audition route. Others, like the lead supporting roles, had more targeted searches. Jonathan Groff's casting is a case where Miranda reportedly reached out directly after seeing Groff's performance in other work. That's a fairly direct path that doesn't happen often on Broadway for a brand new musical. I remember watching the behind-the-scenes footage from the 2014 workshop at the Public Theater. The cast at that point wasn't completely finalized. There were different actors in some roles during the developmental phase. Lin-Manuel was still in the title role himself during those early readings and workshops. The ensemble was being rehearsed and the orchestrations were still being adjusted. It's worth noting that the show underwent significant changes during its pre-Broadway development — songs were cut, characters were merged, and the structure shifted considerably from the Vassar version to what finally opened on 42nd Street. One thing people often miss about the Hamilton casting is that the concept of diverse casting was always part of Miranda's original vision, not a retroactive decision. The lyrics on the first draft from 2008 already specified non-traditional casting. This meant the casting directors were looking for actors who could meet the specific vocal and physical demands of roles that had been written with particular types of performers in mind. The hip-hop and rap demands in particular narrowed the field considerably. You can't just cast any talented singer. The actors needed to handle rapid-fire lyric delivery, sustained theatrical singing, and actual rap performance ability simultaneously.
There was also the question of what happened to Lin-Manuel himself. He originated the role of Hamilton in the Public Theater production and was expected to transfer to Broadway with the show. He ultimately did not continue in the role on Broadway. He appeared in the opening night performance and was replaced by the original ensemble member who had been covering the part. This was a well-documented decision. He moved on to produce and promote the show rather than continue performing the demanding title role nightly. The original ensemble cast ten performers who each played multiple roles. These actors had to be highly versatile. One evening you might see them as a Continental soldier, the next as a founding father, and another night as a slave or a minor character. The doubling scheme was complex and required thorough preparation. Some of the original ensemble members like Thayne Jasperson (who played multiple roles) had extensive theater backgrounds but this level of rapid role-switching in a show with this many lyrical passages is unusual even for seasoned Broadway performers. There are a few practical realities about how this cast came together that don't get enough attention. The musical went through roughly a year and a half of developmental work before its Broadway opening. The 2013 reading, the 2014 Public Theater production, and then the Broadway transfer each had slightly different casts. Several actors who appeared in the Public Theater version did not make it to the original Broadway cast. This turnover is normal for a show of this complexity. The creative team was refining the script and music while simultaneously figuring out which performances were working best.
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The original cast recording was released in September 2015 and became a cultural phenomenon that changed the commercial landscape for Broadway soundtracks. The album hit number one on the Billboard 200, which is extremely rare for a cast recording. This success directly influenced how studios and streaming platforms approached musical theater content going forward. The casting choices made for this recording are what most people worldwide associate with the characters, and the voices on that album shaped public perception of these historical figures in ways that surprised even the creators. If you're looking at how this process might differ from a typical Broadway musical, the main difference is that Hamilton had a sitting-in creator who was also the original star. Most new musicals don't have that dynamic. The casting directors for a standard new show don't have to manage the expectations of a famous creator who wrote the lead role specifically for himself and is actively performing it during development. That adds a layer of complexity to the casting process that isn't often discussed. The DVD release of the original Broadway production, filmed in 2016 and released on Disney+ in 2020, features the same principal cast from the original run. This is one of the reasons the original cast documentation is so complete compared to many other musicals. You can watch the full performances and see exactly who was in each role when the show opened and throughout its initial Broadway run.
