Right outside Broadway’s Richard Rodgers Theatre, where he has just spent close to three hours on stage helping to tell Alexander Hamilton’s story through nonstop song and dance, Thayne Jasperson has a smile that won’t quit.
The curtains of the sold-out “Hamilton” matinee on this Saturday closed just 30 minutes earlier, but Jasperson has already stepped out of his knee-high black leather boots, neutral-toned trousers and sleeveless waistcoat — the standard outfit for a member of the “Hamilton” ensemble.
Now, in contemporary clothing, Jasperson doesn’t even appear to be remotely tired.
With the youthful energy he exudes, you’d think he was new to “Hamilton,” new to taking part in this musical that quickly cemented itself as a Broadway juggernaut.
It would be a reasonable assumption to make.
It would also be wrong.
Jasperson, a dancer, singer and actor who hails from Provo, Utah, has been in “Hamilton” since the show’s opening night on Broadway with creator Lin-Manuel Miranda — and even well before then, as part of the show’s first workshops and off-Broadway run.
The revolutionary musical about Alexander Hamilton — the “10-dollar Founding Father without a father” — was an instant hit following its official Broadway debut on Aug. 6, 2015. It won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for drama and a staggering 11 Tonys, including for best musical.
“Hamilton” rapidly evolved into a cultural phenomenon that traveled to the White House, invigorated school history classes and brought new audiences to the theater with its blend of genres that reflected the American melting pot — everything from rap and hip-hop to jazz and traditional showtunes.
And Jasperson has been one of the longest participating witnesses of it all.
As “Hamilton” celebrates 10 years on Broadway, the actor celebrates his own unique milestone: He’s the sole original cast member remaining in the production.
To date, he’s been in more than 3,200 performances (and counting).
But he hasn’t tired of it yet, and he’s definitely not tired.
In front of the century-old theater that houses “Hamilton” on New York’s 46th Street, in the late afternoon heat of late July, the Broadway actor is now acknowledging every single person who has taken the time to wait for him after the show.
With the white brick and terra-cotta facade as his background, he’s taking selfies, listening to fans’ stories and signing all the yellow playbills that come his way.
Once the last fan has gotten a moment with Jasperson, the actor retreats into the theater.
In about two hours, he’ll step back into his Revolutionary War-era clothes and do it all over again.
‘Hamilton’ and Thayne Jasperson still going strong
Sitting several rows back from the stage where he takes part in eight shows of “Hamilton” over six days per week, Jasperson leans forward in one of the red velvet seats and looks around the theater with a sense of awe that belies the fact he’s here just about every day.
Out of all the Broadway venues, this storied theater has housed the most Tony Award winners for best musicals, per Playbill. That includes “Guys and Dolls,” “1776” and “In the Heights,” another Broadway hit from Miranda that predates “Hamilton.”
The list of musicals that have run at the Richard Rodgers Theatre over 100 years is robust, but “Hamilton” manages to hold the impressive distinction of being the longest-running production to play at the venue, according to Playbill.
“Hamilton” also sits in the top 20 for longest-running Broadway musicals of all time, though it has a long way to climb — roughly 10,000 performances — before it can reach the No. 1 spot held by “The Phantom of the Opera,” which closed on Broadway in 2023 after 35 years.
But the musical is still going strong — and so is Jasperson.
When I mention his upcoming birthday (it was July 27, the day after our interview), he quickly deflects: “Tell them that he says he’s 29 forever.”
To keep the theater magic alive, he doesn’t like to share his age (although he’s aware that the information can readily be found online).
He looks significantly younger than his age, though, and feels that way, too, largely due to the physical demands of a show like “Hamilton” that keep his body toned. (Biking to and from his home above Central Park every day doesn’t hurt, either.)
Backstage before every single performance, Jasperson can be seen doing pushups and pullups to get ready for 2.5 hours of continual movement. Being in a fast-paced production like “Hamilton” has also made him hyperaware of all the little decisions he makes on a daily basis that could affect his performance.
“Every day I’m thinking about, how do I take care of my voice, my body?” he says.
The deliberateness has served him well. While he has the occasional injury, he feels virtually the same as he did when he stepped into an audition room more than a decade ago to sing — in front of Miranda — “Dear Theodosia” and the James Madison rap portion of “Washington On Your Side” (which, unprompted, he proceeds to flawlessly perform on the spot during our interview).
A few days later, Jasperson got word from Miranda: He was cast as the episcopal bishop Samuel Seabury, a staunch loyalist who decries the revolutionary sentiments of Hamilton and his colleagues.
“I was shocked,” he says of landing the role after just one audition. “We had no idea what this would be. … And then it grew to be this gigantic thing.”
10 years later, the crowd still goes wild
Broadway has a slow season, typically in the winter months following the new year, Jasperson says.
But over the years, as he’s put on show after show after show, he’s found that “Hamilton” is generally an exception to that rule.
“It sells well,” he says.
The overall gross of “Hamilton” now sits at just over $1 billion, per Broadway World, becoming only the fourth musical in an elite club that includes “The Lion King,” “Wicked” and “The Phantom of the Opera.”
Just this past week alone, the Broadway musical grossed $2.24 million at the box office, according to Playbill.
And in the fall, every single performance for nearly three months — from Sept. 9 through Nov. 26 — is sold out as Leslie Odom Jr., the original Aaron Burr, reprises his role in “Hamilton.”
Audiences are still filling the theater, and this recent Saturday afternoon matinee is no exception. A week and a half before the show’s official 10th anniversary, it’s a packed house in the 1,300-seat Richard Rodgers Theatre.
Jasperson’s snooty Samuel Seabury enters about 20 minutes into the production, stepping onto a soapbox to admonish people to “heed not the rabble who scream revolution.”
His cries are in vain — and draw laughs from the audience — as Alexander Hamilton repeatedly interrupts him and eventually declares, “My dog speaks more eloquently than thee.”
This is Jasperson’s shining moment, one he relishes, but his time on stage isn’t limited to this role. As a member of the ensemble, through remarkably intricate choreography, he is continually helping to move the story along.
King George III, in all of his regal glory, remains a total crowd-pleaser. Jarrod Spector’s simultaneously sweet and biting delivery of “You’ll Be Back,” an upbeat number where the king lovingly promises to kill those who rebel against him, has the audience roaring.
George Washington’s presence is more commanding than ever in the hands of Tamar Greene. His Washington is passionate, glistening with sweat as he summons Hamilton to rejoin the Continental Army, all the while battling inner turmoil in the song “History Has Its Eyes On You.”
The crowd goes especially wild in the next number, “Yorktown,” when Hamilton and Marquis de Lafayette deliver the line: “Immigrants, we get the job done!”
Throughout this matinee performance, the audience seems to be hanging on every word, every note.
As the curtains close on the first half, the woman on my right, who has traveled here from the Basque region of Spain, looks at me with a wide smile.
“It’s amazing,” she says.
For Jasperson, no show is the same, in part because of the reactions from the crowd.
But he’s also been able to play a few different roles over the years — including hundreds of performances as the scene-stealing King George. His knees were shaking the first time he played the king, and to this day, he remains thankful for the opulent robe that was able to conceal his nerves from the audience.
It’s a lot to keep track of, managing different roles and responsibilities in a fast-paced production like “Hamilton.”
When I ask Jasperson how he’s been able to keep it all straight in his mind for so many years, he seems to sort of surprise himself when he brings up his two-year mission to Argentina for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“That’s something that I think I don’t always say,” he says.
He was just 19 at the time of his mission, but as he talks, it’s clear the lessons have stayed with him.
“It’s taught me a lot of endurance to help me with the show, because you learn at a young age to live on your own and to keep going,” he says. “Back then, you could only call your family twice a year. So I think that really taught me a lot of endurance.”
The dance and theater training he received in Utah also helped set him up for success, he believes.
Jasperson, a self-described “country boy” who spent much of his childhood in Wyoming, relocated to Utah County during his teenage years and found a vibrant arts scene.
He graduated from Springville High School and Utah Valley University, trained with Odyssey Dance Theatre, danced in “High School Musical,” auditioned and made the cut for “So You Think You Can Dance” and starred as Ren McCormick in a production of “Footloose” at Tuacahn Amphitheatre.
All of that gave him enough confidence to pack his bags and head to New York City on a one-way ticket.
He still remembers standing in Times Square, uncertain of what was going to happen next, but knowing that it was where he needed to be.
“Utah trains them well,” he says, lamenting that he’s only able to visit once or twice a year.
Not far from where Jasperson spent years preparing for his eventual move to Broadway, in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City, “Hamilton” has also exploded in popularity.
Utah’s capital was one of the first cities to host “Hamilton” when the production began touring nationally. During its initial Utah run, back in 2018, the musical sold out all of its shows within four hours, the Deseret News previously reported.
“‘Hamilton’ was a true phenomenon for Salt Lake City,” Angela Vanderwell, general manager of the Eccles Theater, shared with the Deseret News in a statement. “Each performance was absolutely electric.”
Since its 2016 opening, the Eccles Theater has hosted “Hamilton” three times. With each return, the number of people who see the show increases due to longer engagements.
In the past 12 months at the Eccles Theater, more than 370,000 people attended a Broadway show — and roughly 88,000 of those theatergoers attended a production of “Hamilton” during its five-week run last summer, Victor Hamburger, vice president of the mountain region for Broadway Across America, told the Deseret News.
Overall, across three engagements, nearly 250,000 people have seen “Hamilton” at the Eccles Theater.
One of the best audiences “Hamilton” has received in Utah, Vanderwell said, was during a special matinee performance in May of 2018, when more than 2,000 students from 40 Title 1 schools did extra schoolwork through the Hamilton Education Program so they could earn a trip to the theater to see the Broadway sensation.
The way the kids responded to the show on that spring afternoon illustrated how “Hamilton” has, in many ways, transformed American history into a pop culture phenomenon.
And that’s something Jasperson still senses, even several years later, as he performs night after night on Broadway.
The phantom of the Richard Rodgers Theatre
There’s a running joke that Jasperson never leaves the Richard Rodgers Theatre.
“The real phantom of the opera.”
“I think he’s stuck.”
“Does he come with the theater?”
These are just a few of the comments fans have made regarding the amount of time Jasperson spends at the historic Broadway venue.
Even Miranda, the “Hamilton” creator himself, recently said that Jasperson “lives in the building.”
Of course, the jokes are hyperbolic, though Jasperson does admit to having slept in his dressing room at least once due to an early flight — and to showering and hand-washing his clothes in the theater. But all of the jokes stem from an underlying truth: Jasperson is inseparable from “Hamilton.”
While having 3,200-plus performances of “Hamilton” under his belt lends itself to an abundance of jokes about being stuck in a time loop, Jasperson’s previous brushes of fame with “High School Musical” and “So You Think You Can Dance” have taught him to savor every minute.
He knows from experience the spotlight doesn’t last forever, and that makes him want to give his all for “Hamilton” every single day — even after 10 years.
“I saw what it’s like to be in that life where you get this fantastic moment in the limelight of the United States, and then years later … nobody remembers,” he says. “I think maybe that’s made it easier to not take it for granted.
“I would never want to regret the time that I have when I can do it, when my body’s capable, when I’m here in this blessing to be part of the original cast of ‘Hamilton,’” he added.
Remembering ‘Hamilton’ mania
Although he no longer remembers the specifics of his first “Hamilton” show, Jasperson does still remember the general feeling of anticipation he felt from those earliest audiences, a palpable excitement that bubbled out of the theater and into the streets.
“I loved how the audience was feeding on the words,” he recalls. “Everybody’s mouths open, eyes huge, just staring and listening intently to every word that was coming out and waiting to see what was going to happen. That was so fun.”
During those early days, tickets were nearly impossible to come by — even for the cast members themselves, Jasperson says.
A steady stream of A-listers and high-profile political figures flowed into the Richard Rodgers Theatre during the first several months of the musical’s run: Jon Bon Jovi, Oprah Winfrey, Beyonce, Usher, former U.S. President and first lady Barack and Michelle Obama, and Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel.
Oh, and Madonna. But they don’t talk about Madonna.
“She was on her iPad like most of the show, so we were kind of mad at Madonna,” Jasperson said.
In March 2016, several months after the musical’s Broadway debut, the original “Hamilton” cast took the show on the road to the White House. Jasperson and his fellow cast members performed several numbers in the East Room, which houses a large and authoritative portrait of George Washington.
Three months later, “Hamilton” became the second-most awarded production in Tony history with 11 wins (the first is Mel Brooks’ “The Producers” with 12 Tonys).
The musical’s rise to cultural prominence was swift, and Jasperson loved having a front-row seat as he watched it all unfold.
But then, gradually, the cast members he’d shared this once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon with started to exit the theater, and bittersweetness crept in.
Jasperson got a lump in his throat every time a fellow original cast member took their final bow. He’d get so emotional he could barely sing the last number, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story.”
During that final song, he’d take a moment to look at the person leaving, to see them standing one last time on the stage.
“I would cry like a baby every time any of them left,” he says. “We were the family that created this. We went through so much together.”
Reuniting with his “Hamilton” family for a special 10th anniversary performance at the Tonys earlier this year — arguably the most talked about moment at the event — brought Jasperson back to the thrill of the show’s earliest days. He was like an excited golden retriever, he says, fervently wagging his tail as he ran in circles around all of his dear friends.
“It felt like you were on top of the world, as it was when ‘Hamilton’ started. It was truly like the universe stopped,” he says. “It was so cool, so magical, truly. Sometimes I think, ‘Wow, Thayne, you have had some experiences in this life.’ And I’m like, ‘Thanks, God.’”
Another “Hamilton” reunion takes place this week, as several original cast members, celebrities and friends of the production are attending the invite-only evening show on Wednesday — the official 10-year anniversary of the musical’s Broadway debut.
Jasperson never imagined he’d still be here after 10 years.
Initially, he figured he’d do “Hamilton” for around two years, starting with off-Broadway and extending through the Tony Awards. But he gets a lot of stage time as a member of the ensemble, and he feels a sense of pride in having originated the role of Samuel Seabury (along with understudying the roles of King George III, John Laurens and Philip Hamilton).
And somehow, even after a decade, the musical still feels new to him.
“There are so many things I feel like I learn every day,” he says. “There’s so many words and lyrics that I don’t even know.
“The reason that I stayed is because the show is so good,” he continues. “It’s always relevant.”
‘I feel like a million dollars’
After 10 years, the “Hamilton” mania still exists, Jasperson says, though it is a bit different than when the musical made its debut.
Now, instead of the awe he witnessed from audiences during those pre-Broadway and early Broadway shows, when it was still largely unknown, there’s a discernible familiarity.
People know what to expect. They know when they’re going to laugh, or cry.
At one point, during the second half of this Saturday matinee, Jasperson looked out into the audience. He couldn’t help but smile as he saw a woman mouthing along to every single word of one of the Cabinet rap battles.
The fans are really what keep your heart going, and I think that that’s the secret some people don’t always realize.
— Thayne Jasperson
Moments like these are why he’s so adamant on interacting with every single fan who takes the time to wait for him outside of the theater. It’s the reason our interview started 20 minutes late. This musical means a lot of things to a lot of people, and he wants to acknowledge that.
“The fans are really what keep your heart going, and I think that that’s the secret some people don’t always realize,” he says. “They traveled all this way, they’re excited to meet you. Even if it’s a little bit more time, I’m excited to do it. I feel like a million dollars when I leave.”
He’ll often sign the yellow playbill, which currently has “Hamilten” printed across the front to commemorate a decade, with the words “Heed not the rabble!” — a nod to his Samuel Seabury character.
He’s not ready to leave Seabury behind just yet, or to exit the doors of the Richard Rodgers Theatre for good — though he has entertained the thought from time to time.
“I would leave if it’s something that I’m excited about and I feel is powerful,” he says near the end of our interview, now in a hallway outside of the auditorium. “I wouldn’t just leave to leave. I have had other opportunities, but I want it to feel right.”
A few minutes later, he’s heading back into the auditorium where he has a company meeting on stage. After that, he’ll get into costume and prepare to put on his 3,000th and some-odd show of “Hamilton.”
I feel so honored to be the 10-year guy. I feel so honored that I get to be a part of it, and I never want to take that for granted.
— Thayne Jasperson
Although he’s lost count at this point, he does still believe each and every show is significant — especially as he’s the single thread stretching through 10 years of this cultural phenomenon.
“I feel so honored to be the 10-year guy,” he says. “I feel so honored that I get to be a part of it, and I never want to take that for granted. I always try to remember every day how lucky really I am to be alive right now, like we say in the show. I really feel that.”
