Hamilton returns to Music Hall with local performers on the bill

Hamilton returns to Kansas City Feb. 18 to Mar. 1 // Photo by Joan Marcus

After two years away, the award-winning Broadway show, Hamilton, is coming back to Kansas City. 

Interested parties can catch it at the Kansas City Music Hall from Feb. 18 to Mar. 1, as part of the PNC Broadway in Kansas City series. Tickets are already on sale, too. 

The 2015 Lin Manuel Miranda musical is based off of Rob Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton biography of the same name. But, Hamilton the show made itself known for reimagining a white man’s story in a more colorful way, with diverse casting; a score that blends Black-influenced genres like hip-hop, RNB, and jazz; and a pro-immigrant message. 

Enter Kevin Murakami, a performer of Japanese descent who co-captains the dance team with Taeko McCarroll. Murakami grew up in Overland Park, KS, and after spending those years and beyond in the performing arts, he’s got something to show for it. Murakami has toured with past companies of Hamilton and Miss Saigon, as well as doing other stints as a choreographer and dancer—which he considers himself first and foremost.

The Pitch spoke with Murakami about what it’s like to come up in the industry and how he tries to manage the influence that comes with being a first-time captain in a major show. 

The Pitch: How would you say Hamilton’s choreography, or the execution of it, has evolved to meet the current moment? 

Kevin Murakami: The show is frozen, and it is what it is. It’s awesome to be that way, and I think now in a timely manner of what’s going on in the world and bringing the show around to all of these cities—it’s a very timely show. Regardless of what city we’re in, the reactions from the audience of seeing immigrants who get the job done and having that be heard in a different way, now with the political climate, I think bringing that around the country is always a gift. 

Kevin Murakami, co-dance captain, grew up in Overland Park. // Courtesy of Cathy Long

We can’t always be doing that, and we can’t always be fighting wars and stuff, but I hope when some people come to see the show, they’re going home and having conversations about the things they’re hearing in the show; learning about the history of our country and how it was built; and what things worked and what things didn’t work; and how we can fix that. 

Choreography-wise, it’s all always going to be the same, but things start to ring differently in your ear as a company member and as an audience member.

Being one of the dance captains in this company, is there anything specific to you that you try to put into practice for the job?  

Absolutely. I’ve been part of this business now for a long time. I’m going to turn 30 this year, and for me as a leader, I think it’s important to have done almost everything in the building I could possibly do. I’ve been an onstage company member, I’ve been just a swing, and now I’m the dance captain and a swing—more in charge of people, so I am always trying to give grace. 

Everyone in the building does a very specific and hard job, so I’m trying to allow people to have space to experience life while upholding the show and not being as, maybe, strict and aggressive. Leading with kindness and openness, we can have a conversation about anything going on in the show, or if someone is having a problem. 

Having an open line of communication is something I try to uphold, because I’ve been in situations where that’s maybe not the case or scenario in other jobs. Always being able to have that back and forth dialogue with my cast members is always important to me.  

Are there any ways that you try to hold yourself accountable as a leader or mentor? 

First and foremost—I’m learning this as I get older as well—I can’t go into the building and take care of other people if I’m not taking care of myself. So, the responsibility of making sure that I’m right with myself, at peace, eating well, and cross training—trying to just mentally take care of myself. It’s an exhausting job, and there’s a lot of people I’m trying to make feel heard and supported. 

I’m still currently learning, but as I try to take care of the whole company of people and make their show as cohesive as it can be, I think taking care of yourself is always going to be where it starts. You can’t really take care of other people if you’re not taking care of yourself. 

Doing this kind of work, is there anything that you have a love/hate relationship with? 

Being on tour—in general, doing a show in one place is a gift, because you get to go home to your house, see your friends, and have time away from work. On tour, your life is your work, so you don’t know where you’re going to get your groceries or go to the gym or where the latest coffee shop is. It’s also exciting, though. We go to all these amazing cities, and we get to see the whole country and see different economic situations in cities and downtown cities compared to more suburban places. 

But it is difficult, because you’re packing up every two to three weeks. Hamilton is lucky that we get to do some longer stays, like we’re going to be in Chicago for two months right after Kansas, so I’m excited. And I’ve never performed in Kansas, so I’m lucky we get to go back to my home state and perform, but it’s also challenging. I miss my friends and my family, and you miss a lot of life things. You miss a lot of weddings, babies being born, big life events. It’s a double-edged sword for sure. 

You mentioned seeing different economic situations in different communities. What is it like to connect with those communities or to see a disconnect from what you might be used to? 

My typical sense is—I grew up in Overland Park, and it’s a higher middle class neighborhood and community. And I think what I love doing in these tour cities is going and doing outreach programs, where we get set up with masterclasses and we get to do it with public schools, and sometimes the theater sets it up. 

I think it’s hard to see sometimes, like I was just in Madison, WI., and I went and worked at a public school. They couldn’t afford to bring me in, so I did a masterclass for free. I’m happy to do that, because I can think back to one thing that happened to me in middle school that pushed me to want to do this for real. 

A lot of arts funding is going down in our country, and I think that it’s important that we continue to inspire the youth of all these communities. I’m happy to do that. I think also as dance captain, I have this perspective and more information on the choreography that I can give to these kids that is hopefully inspiring to them to keep doing it, if they choose to do so. 

Some cities are wealthier, some cities are not as wealthy. You can tell by the patrons and who comes to the show. It’s like, how can we do outreach to get people in seats, get lower income students in our seats, and make sure they’re getting the access to the theater that they should? 

Ensemble cast gathers around Tyler Fauntleroy as Hamilton // Photo by Joan Marcus

As you’ve grown into a more influential role, do you feel like your responsibilities have shifted, and what has been like to handle that shift? 

At the end of the day, my job is to uphold the show. But as much as I can, I want to be able to do these master classes. I’m doing one for the theater program in Milwaukee, and it is seriously as fulfilling for me as it is for them. I think doing those things with the community helps me go back to my job at night and be a little more fulfilled. And like, I talk about the show so much and explain it to these young people, and I can re-explain that to my company and have a little more inspiration of trying to uphold the show to the standard it should be held at.

In Kansas, I’m looking forward to reaching back out to my middle school and my high school and trying to work with them and go see them, even if it’s not for a master class, but just to do a Q&A and show those kids that you can do anything. I didn’t think that it would ever be possible for me to be working this much or at this capacity, so it’s really possible. You just have to be really brave and really determined.

What sort of knowledge and investment goes into developing the type of career you’ve built? 

I think a lot of money. I’m very lucky and privileged to have two loving parents who knew from a very young age that this was going to be the path that I was going to go on, and whether they liked it or not, they got on board and pushed for me and supported me and drove me to dance competitions, community theater auditions, and flew me out to college auditions. So, a lot has come from my own desire and the support system that is around me. 

The other big thing is that I was just telling a group of kids in a masterclass that education is so important. After high school, I knew I wasn’t ready to jump into the working world. I knew I needed to train more, and I think the training is so important. So going to school for dance—I went to Pace University in New York—I think that was a huge help towards building my career, the people I met, my professors, the connections they gave me to other people. 

The training is never done. Even in this job, I may not be taking classes all the time, but I’m learning new things, like how to deal with people and speak to people and get things out of them. You can say one thing to one person, and it can mean something to them, but if I say it to another person, it might not make the same kind of sense. 

Speaking of training, have you noticed—from your own stages of learning to working in bigger productions—any major challenges or ebbs and flows in the industry? 

I’ll say this: there’s a big hole in training, in higher education, for swings. Like in college, they don’t teach you how to be a swing, and that’s when you’re an ensemble member and you cover all the ensemble tracks but you’re offstage. There’s not really schooling for that, but it’s such a huge part of our industry. And in professional theater, it’s such a huge job market—if you’re good at swinging and people know about it, you’re going to get hired to swing because it’s so challenging. 

Everyone wants to perform and be on stage, everyone wants to get the glory and the applause. Of course, I do as well in some points of my life. But also, swinging is awesome. You get to give your body a break and get to see the show from five different angles and experience that in five different ways, which is also a gift. Those are some realizations I’ve had of recent, that there could be more training and education in that standpoint, for higher and adolescent education. 

One more thing: is there anything you’re looking forward to in bringing the show back to Kansas City? 

I’ve never performed in Kansas with a professional job. I’ve done community theater and professional theater as a kid in high school, but I’m really excited. I’m going to turn 30 on the last day we’re in Kansas, which is a wild thing. I’ll get to be there for my birthday and for my mom’s birthday, so performing for the people that have done so much for me. You know, my choir teachers, my dance teachers, my friends, my students, their parents—people that I still have relationships with that have helped me so much in my journey. I’m excited to give back to the community that gave so much to me, and I’m really excited to share this show and the story with the community that helped me grow up.