Christopher Jackson is going back to Hamilton. The original cast member will reprise his Tony-nominated role as George Washington at the Richard Rodgers Theatre from Sept. 8 through Jan. 3.
That return is the kind of news Broadway knows how to use. Jackson is the second original cast member to come back to the show after Leslie Odom Jr. reprised Aaron Burr last year, a run that helped push Hamilton back to the top of the box-office charts and brought in more than $4 million in one week for the first time since 2018.
Jackson said he was drawn back after reconnecting with fellow actors during the 10th anniversary events last year. The timing, he said, felt right. He said he wanted to touch the thing that turned him into an artist in a way nothing else had, and then let it touch that part of him again.
The pull is easy to understand for a performer who has kept working steadily since he left Hamilton in November 2016, after being with the show since performances began in early 2015. Since then, he has moved through television, Broadway and film, with turns in Bull, And Just Like That, Hell's Kitchen, Freestyle Love Supreme and Moana. He has also spent time as a composer and songwriter for The Electric Company and Sesame Street.
Even so, Jackson said nothing he has done has challenged him the way Hamilton does. He said he will have to recapture the muscle memory of the show, though the larger logistics are already familiar. He knows the theater, he said. He knows where the bathrooms are, how to get through the stage door and how long it takes to move from point A to point B.
That familiarity may matter because the role still carries the weight of the show’s original breakthrough. Jackson earned a Tony Award nomination for playing Washington opposite Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Alexander Hamilton, and Hamilton went on to win 11 Tony Awards, including best new musical, best book and best score. For Jackson, the return also has a personal edge: he said his children can see him play the role as young adults.
The unanswered piece is why the production chose this exact window for the comeback. What is clear is the next step. Jackson is set to walk back into the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Sept. 8 and sing the same songs that helped define the show, including “Right Hand Man,” “History Has Its Eyes on You” and “Yorktown.”
