#492: Leslie Odom, Jr. // Hamilton Broadway's Original Aaron Burr
The Hamilcast: A Hamilton Podcast
Gillian Pensavalle
4.3 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 1 December 2025
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It feels very fitting that after ten years and speaking to dozens of actors who have played Aaron Burr, the very last one to grace the podcast is Hamilton Broadway's original (inimitable!) Leslie Odom, Jr. We didn't have a long time, but let me tell you... we had a GREAT time.
This episode is funny, it's moving, it's layered, it's healing, it's so much of why Leslie Odom, Jr. is such a fascinating person to talk to. He tells me about how his beautiful cover of Tonight, Tonight" by the Smashing Pumpkins came to be, his experience with Purlie Victorious, how much he loved pushing the nerd bar to a ten with Owen Tillerman in Central Park, and how playing the legendary Sam Cooke in One Night in Miami... meant the world to him.
Aaron Burr is surrounded by ghosts and Leslie Odom, Jr. is no different because when it comes to his monumental return to Hamilton ten years after his Tony Award winning run originating Aaron Burr, the ghosts are everywhere: from his fellow original cast members to his younger self (omg wait until you get to that part, you're going to lose your mind). Coming back to Hamilton after a decade was his idea and Leslie is bringing ten years of therapy, regret, loss, grief, joy and everything in between to the stage of the Rodgers. Luckily for all of us, Hamilton is a show that can handle whatever he's bringing to the room that day. And even though he's playing Burr with more frustration this time around, he promises - promises! - that every single night he's trying his very best not to kill Alexander at the end of this thing.
From his favorite Burr line to the importance of listening to your soul and why he promises to never, ever waste our time, Leslie Odom, Jr., lays it all out on the table.
Leslie Odom, Jr. - An Offering: Live at Speakeasy Studios
Leslie Odom, Jr - "Tonight, Tonight" (Smashing Pumpkins cover)
"Havin' a Plan" from Central Park
One Night In Miami… (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Stage in Stages, Lynn Manuel Miranda, and you're listening to The Hamelcast. |
| 0:05.1 | Boots and cuts and boots and cats. |
| 0:07.1 | Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Hamelcast. I'm Jillian. I am here, cannot believe it, with the one and only, Leslie Odom Jr. Hi. Hi. I'm here with the one and only Jillian. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you. Oh, come on. I'm just so thrilled you're here. I've spoken to so many burrs over these 10 years and to sort of have you close out the show |
| 0:39.2 | is kind of amazing. I kind of love that timing. So thank you so much. You're my pleasure. |
| 0:43.5 | So obviously widely decorated actor, singer, author, performer many times over. Oscar nominee for |
| 0:49.4 | One night in Miami playing Sam Cooke, one of my all-time favorite voices in the world, Sam Cooke. |
| 0:54.4 | Of course, the 2016 Tony Award for Aaron Burr. |
| 0:57.4 | You have a new album out. |
| 0:58.6 | It's called an offering live at Speak Easy Studios. |
| 1:01.4 | Yeah. |
| 1:01.8 | It's fantastic. |
| 1:03.0 | Thanks. |
| 1:03.8 | Can you please tell me about Tonight Tonight and how you came to cover the Smashing Pumpkins |
| 1:08.7 | before we talk about anything else? |
| 1:10.5 | Are you kidding? So the verymashing Pumpkins before we talk about anything else. Are you kidding? |
| 1:11.1 | So the very first concert that I went to, because I didn't grow up going to see a ton of live |
| 1:17.4 | music, right? |
| 1:18.2 | I saw live music at church every Sunday, which was a thing, right? |
| 1:21.5 | But the first concert, Kelly Costello was a sweet friend of mine in, that would have been |
| 1:27.3 | sixth grade. Kelly was a sweet little of mine in what that would have been sixth grade. |
| 1:28.3 | Kelly was a sweet little redhead glasses and we kind of bonded over rent. |
| 1:34.3 | We both liked rent and so like that kind of brought us closer. |
... |
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