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Seventeen-year-old Madison Macomber said “Hamilton” is the reason she wants to pursue a career in theater. The show hit close to home as she watched an actor from her hometown of Syracuse take the stage at Landmark Theatre.

“(Broadway) is something that so many people dream of, that so many people aspire to, so seeing a show that connects it to your hometown makes it feel so much more achievable,” Macomber said. “It’s like, ‘I could do that.’”

This year, the smash-hit musical “Hamilton” celebrates 10 years since its Broadway debut. The musical with a modern, hip-hop sound and diverse casting tells the somewhat true story of founding father Alexander Hamilton. The national tour is in Syracuse until Sunday, marking the homecoming of Syracuse native Deon’te Goodman and the beginning of a new student program.

The Landmark’s new “Broadway’s Stars of the Future” Program selected five high school seniors from central New York who plan on pursuing performing arts after graduation — whether in tech, sound design, acting, stage management or anywhere in between. The participants get to see this season’s shows at the Landmark for free, attend workshops and meet cast members.

“Hamilton” is the first show in the program. The students were given the opportunity to speak to Goodman, who plays Aaron Burr, before the show.

Macomber is an East Syracuse Minoa Central High School senior and part of the program. She’s seen the show twice before: once at the Landmark in 2022 and once on Broadway in New York City. She’d seen musicals before, but “Hamilton” “turned the world upside down” – she joked it was a reference to “Yorktown.”

“This was my big introduction to live theater. I had seen shows before. I had grown up around recordings and such. But this was my first big memory of connecting to a show,” Macomber said. “And it was the push that I needed to really get into performing.”

Macomber said it was “full circle” to hear from a Syracuse native pursuing a theater career — especially as she prepares her college theater program auditions. On the other side of the stage, Goodman also said it felt like a “full circle” moment to show the students that a future career like his is possible.

“When I was growing up here, I didn’t have something like that. I didn’t have someone who walked the same streets as me when they were young and who may have not come from the best of resources, like me, who was doing what I wanted to do,” Goodman said. “It was really beautiful to be in a position where I, hopefully, was that person for them.”

Deon’te Goodman fell in love with “Hamilton” after listening to “Burn” and “The Schuyler Sisters.” The Syracuse local plays Aaron Burr in the show’s tour, which is now playing at the Landmark Theatre. Courtesy of Landmark Theatre

Goodman grew up the youngest of six in a family of athletes and academics, not artists, so it was up to his music teachers to foster his creativity, he said. Goodman attended Huntington Pre-K-8 School until eighth grade, and said he “would not be anywhere” without the music teachers there and at Henninger High School. They’ve stayed in touch throughout his career, and several of them attended his performances this week at the Landmark.

Goodman went to the University of North Carolina Greensboro for his degree in classical voice, and began auditioning for professional shows his senior year. While completing a post-grad internship in Sacramento – and going through a breakup – a friend introduced him to “Burn” from the “Hamilton” soundtrack, and it “ripped his heart out of his chest.”

After falling in love with “Burn,” he wanted to know where it came from. He picked a random song off of the soundtrack, which happened to be one of the most popular from the musical: “The Schuyler Sisters.”

“I lived my best Destiny’s Child life in that moment,” Goodman said. “It just so happened…that’s when they were having open call auditions in LA for the national tour of ‘Hamilton,’ the first national tour.”

He played Aaron Burr in the 2023 tour, and is now playing the role again for this tour, known as the “Angelica Company.” Associate choreographer Stephanie Klemons said that this group is special because they’re the only “Hamilton” tour right now, as opposed to 2023 when there were five simultaneous tours.

“Right now it’s really special because the only two companies in the U.S. are Broadway and Angelica,” Klemons said. “So it’s really top-rate talent in every role in the show.”

In 2016, Andy Blankenbuehler, the show’s head choreographer, won a Tony Award for “Best Choreography.” Klemons has worked with him since the beginning and helped choreograph “Hamilton” and “In The Heights.”

Much of the show’s choreography isn’t taught through eight counts and specific instructions, but rather through intention, Klemons said. For example, after “Your Obedient Servant,” Klemons and Blankenbuehler instruct dancers to “ooze” onstage to get to the “dirty information” the characters are discussing, rather than tell them exactly how to move. No two casts perform the show exactly the same.

“My favorite part of any show is those in-between moments,” Macomber said. “Especially with a show like ‘Hamilton’ where everybody is so involved and so much on stage the entire time, those little background moments are what really bring the story to life.”

Lucía Santoro-Vélez | DEIA Manager

Besides its pioneering choreography and style, “Hamilton” has set itself apart with its ability to speak to the current moment, Klemons said. Its focus on American ideals and continued representation of people of color make it a groundbreaking production.

“Hamilton” is Arjaye Johnson’s first professional role after graduating from Ithaca College with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theater. She said “Hamilton” has set the bar for the type of work she wants to do as a performer and the messages she wants to send to an audience.

Johnson said she’s grateful “Hamilton” is still going on because it sparks important conversations. Musical theater in general has the ability to open hearts and minds, and “Hamilton” in particular rings true to American life in 2025, she said.

For audience members, too, the show holds extra significance right now. Macomber said many moments of the show, focused on the nation’s founding, hit harder than they did before.

As someone who’s been casting shows for more than 20 years, Klemons said “Hamilton” transformed the diversity of musical theater audition rooms. It created space for people of color in the industry and inspired younger generations to see themselves in roles previously reserved for white people. Johnson considers the show’s diverse casting an important milestone.

“It’s incredible to see 12 year olds and 13 year olds and 16 year olds and 17 year olds going like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can pursue this. There is a place for me and there is space for me to share my voice, share my story as it is,’” Klemons said. “From a casting perspective, Hamilton transformed the face of Broadway in the best way possible.”

Goodman said every member of the cast, especially Black performers, grapple with the fact they’re portraying white founding fathers who were pro-slavery. “Hamilton” provides a “beautiful” opportunity for them to watch people of color “rewrite history” every night and be inspired anew.

This show allowed him to create a life for himself doing what he loves, he said. He said Broadway is still imperfect and more progress needs to be made, but “Hamilton” enabled him and many other people of color to play roles that were previously unattainable.

“The thing that we’ve all been waiting for was created 10 years ago, and now 10 years later has made space for so many of us to be received in rooms where we haven’t always felt welcome,” Goodman said. “It truly is revolutionary.”

Published on September 17, 2025 at 9:02 pm