Hamilton: The Revolution

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the third and fourth presidents respectively, were a powerful duo. Both were wealthy Virginian enslavers and deeply determined to ruin Hamilton. In the musical, Jefferson and Madison are double-cast as Lafayette and Mulligan (respectively), turning his closest friends into his enemies. For Daveed Diggs (Lafayette/Jefferson), this meant a transition from the rough, fight-ready Frenchman to the smooth, aristocratic Virginian. Okieriete Onaodowan aka Oak (Mulligan/Madison) went from the brawny, deep-voiced rebel spy to the timid, physically delicate future president. Both actors collected more and more fans throughout the process, but by opening, Diggs still didn’t have an agent. Both Diggs and Oak had struggled with the lack of roles for Black men. However, playing founding fathers was even more significant than landing lead roles in an obscenely popular Broadway musical. Most roles for young Black men skewed toward racist stereotypes. Diggs suggests, “Seeing a black man play Jefferson or Madison or Washington when he was a kid in Oakland might have changed his life. […] Even now, the show is changing him, making him feel more American” (149).