#88 - Giles Terera: Hamilton & Me

Dear Multi-hyphenate

“The only thing you can control is what you take into [the audition], I always like to think, like the work that you’ve done – and as you say – who you are. You can control that, you can work on that. Often we put that to the side and go, what do they want to see? What do they want to hear? What do I need to do in order to be able to impress them enough to get this job? And if you don’t get things, you then go, ‘Oh is it because I’m not X, Y, Z?’ And then the danger is that you can start to change without even really clocking it, and overtime you can drift away from what you originally were.” -- Giles Terera, Episode 88 of Dear Multi-Hyphenate

The industry is not just New York or LA. It’s Chicago, it’s D.C. It's Miami. But it’s also across the pond in London. Not only did we have the British Invasion of the 1980’s with Phantom, Les Mis, and more… we continue to have a U.S. and U.K. by way in terms of artist exchanges. Giles Terera, Oliver Award Winner for Hamilton in the West End, gives us incredible information about the West End. And even though we are divided by the Atlantic Ocean, so many constants bring us together, but also there are quite a few things we can learn from each other.

In this episode, we discuss:

Truthfully staying true to who you are and how it leads to a Broadway / West End debut

Fearlessness

How being a reader behind the table helps auditioning

Moving to a big city and what you need to know

Agent outreach

Giles’ new book Hamilton & Me

Giles Terera MBE is award-winning actor, musician, and writer.

He trained at Mountview Theatre School and has worked consistently at venues such as the National Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare’s Globe. He is best known for originating the role of Aaron Burr in the London production of the award-winning musical Hamilton, for which he won the 2018 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

His other theatre credits include Rosmersholm, The Tempest, Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon, 125th Street, Rent (West End); Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Hamlet, Death and the King’s Horseman, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, Troilus and Cressida, Candide, Honk (National Theatre); The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Donmar Warehouse); The Playboy of the Western World (Abbey, Dublin); The Ratpack (West End/international tour); Jailhouse Rock (Theatre Royal Plymouth/West End); The Tempest (RSC); among many others.

As a writer his theatre work includes The Meaning of Zong (Bristol Old Vic), The Ballad of Soho Jones (St. James), and Black Matter (Crazy Coqs). As a filmmaker, Terera’s first documentary Muse of Fire, created with Dan Poole, premiered on BBC Four in 2013 and he wrote and directed the concert film Hello Harry! A Celebration.

Giles was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 New Year Honors for services to theatre.

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