It was recently announced that the New York City Center was staging a production of 1776 as part of their Encore! season. The colorblind production stars Santino Fontana (Billy Elliot the Musical), John Larroquette (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) as Benjamin Franklin and Nikki Renee Daniels (Book of Mormon) as Martha Washington. Now, Daniels is opening up about how Hamilton helped pave the way for the new production of 1776.
Encores upcoming production 1776 stars a diverse colorblind cast like Hamilton. Recently, Nikki Renee Daniels spoke to Broadway World about Hamilton paving the way for her to play Martha Jefferson:
“I think they announced in a press release last year some time in the fall that they we're gonna do a ‘Hamilton’ on the casting. As soon as I saw that, my agent started right away because I was like, 'When would I ever get to do the show otherwise?'"
Daniels also went on to discuss another opportunity that she never she would have, adding:
“I just did The Secret Garden concert at Lincoln Center and I played sister to Sierra Boggess and that was pretty great to experience. And it was also kind of a good preparation for this Encores! experience because they're very similar. There is a short rehearsal process and this kind of jumping in with your script in hand. I was just telling my husband: in the past couple months I was able to play Nabulungi on Broadway and Rose in The Secret Garden and now this role at City Center. It's just such different parts and I literally have to handle all of them!”
Encores! Mainstage production of 1776 opens on Mar 30 and runs thru April 3. Garry Hynes will be directing. Ticket prices start as low as $35. For additional information please visit https://www.nycitycenter.org/tickets/productionNew.aspx?performanceNumber=8894#.VtT4rZwrLIW
