![\"Jonathan](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/3581\/live\/48ac8ae0-4f50-11ef-8f0f-0577398c3339.jpg.webp\")
Jonathan Hermosa-Lopez<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nImagine memorising lines, lyrics and dance moves for the lead role in one of the world’s biggest plays.<\/p>\n For the cast of Hamilton, it’s what you sign up for.<\/p>\n The musical, created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, has been a huge hit with audiences and critics since its Broadway debut in 2015.<\/p>\n It retells America\u2019s early political history through jam-packed raps and musical numbers that hurtle through genres including hip-hop, pop and R&B.<\/p>\n Praised for its clever, complex lyrics, cast members sings and dance their way through an estimated 144 words per minute during each show.<\/p>\n Actor Jonathan Hermosa-Lopez says this is why Hamilton is regarded as the “boss level” of musical theatre.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s every single element of theatre at the highest level, put together,” he says.<\/p>\n “The music is so demanding and so relentless in pace.”<\/p>\n And Jonathan should know – he’s had to memorise not one, but four different parts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The British-Colombian actor is a member of the theatre company currently performing Hamilton on a UK and Ireland tour.<\/p>\n But his road to the show actually started with crushing disappointment.<\/p>\n He was working graveyard shifts in hospitality while trying to find acting work, and was rejected when he first auditioned for Hamilton.<\/p>\n “It was this weird feeling of my life falling apart,” he says. “What else is there for me to do?”<\/p>\n But the following week he got a call, asking him to be an “alternate Hamilton”.<\/p>\n Alternates, or understudies, are the people on standby to step in if a lead actor falls ill or is otherwise unable to perform.<\/p>\n Rather than feel intimated by the scale of the challenge, Jonathan says he embraced the opportunity. <\/p>\n “I sat down for 12 hours in one day, learning it word for word, note for note,” he says.<\/p>\n “It got filmed and sent to the American producers who have the final say on things, and I got the part.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There\u2019s always a chance Jonathan, who grew up in south London, could have to swap a dressing room for centre stage.<\/p>\n When BBC Newsbeat meets him, it\u2019s hours before he covers the lead role in front of a full house at Birmingham’s Hippodrome.<\/p>\n On this occasion, he knew he\u2019d be needed in advance, but he isn\u2019t always given that luxury.<\/p>\n “I just have to jump into the show,” he says.<\/p>\n Jonathan recalls getting a call from Hamilton’s tour manager during its Manchester run, moments before he was about to take a shower.<\/p>\n He says they asked him to come down from his room immediately as lead actor Shaq Taylor, who plays Alexander Hamilton, might need to come off-stage.<\/p>\n “My whole body flipped,” says Jonathan.<\/p>\n “So I went downstairs and the heads of every department were waiting for me \u2013 ready to do my hair, my costume. <\/p>\n “Sound were ready to put my mic on.<\/p>\n “In my mind, I was like, \u2018this is the job I signed up for\u2019.<\/p>\n “When Shaq came off there was an announcement and, when the next song started, I was on stage starting the show again.<\/p>\n “It takes a village to run the show but in that moment, it\u2019s me that has to come in and fill those shoes.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Hamilton’s cast is mostly made up of performers from minority backgrounds playing white historical figures, many of whom forced black people to be slaves.<\/p>\n Others who’ve performed in the show have spoken about it giving them a platform, and Jonathan says getting on stage felt particularly significant for him. <\/p>\n “Living in a single-parent household, I wanted to achieve something to make my mum proud,” he says.<\/p>\n But although his mum was desperate to see Hamilton, Jonathan had to say “no” when she asked to go with him.<\/p>\n He wanted her first time to be one when he was on-stage.<\/p>\n “I debuted in Manchester and she finally got to watch Hamilton live with me playing Hamilton,” he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There is also pride in being able to provide a positive reflection of the place he grew up in \u2013 a council estate in Brixton.<\/p>\n “This beautiful, vibrant community, full of so much diversity.<\/p>\n “I wanted to do something so out of the norm for Brixton, to go into musical theatre,” he says.<\/p>\n He adds there are many talented people in the area “who don\u2019t get recognised” because of a lack of opportunity to do so in south London.<\/p>\n And while the motto for a job tends to be to “leave everything personal outside the building”, he doesn’t subscribe to that.<\/p>\n “The beauty of this show is you don\u2019t have to do that,” he says.<\/p>\n “You get to come in with your own energy, your own baggage and say how can I take what I have today and use it.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Danny](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/f092\/live\/fd88be70-4f50-11ef-aebc-6de4d31bf5cd.jpg.webp\")
Danny Kaan<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n‘You get to come in with your own energy’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Jonathan](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/6513\/live\/2fa9d7e0-4f51-11ef-aebc-6de4d31bf5cd.jpg.webp\")
Jonathan Hermosa-Lopez<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/04a3\/live\/275a53a0-4f4a-11ef-8f0f-0577398c3339.jpg.webp\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n