I could do to keep busy. After “Sing,” I went on do my first full-scale musical, “Back to the ’80s,” and things like “Little Shop of Horrors,” which was my first lead role, and then “Into the Woods” at Bishop Kearney High School. Did baseball ever take a backseat? I never loved anything more than sports and finally, this thing came along. I started to lose my zeal for playing ball, and I started to get this hunger for performing. I thought to myself, “Man, I really like this a lot,” but I had no idea how to pursue it, so I was just going to go to school for liberal arts. I wanted to play ball at SUNY Purchase but my family was going through some things at the time and my applications got withdrawn. I really had no college to go to coming out of high school, until one day, Sara came into school and said, “I want you to audition for the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA).” I said “You’re crazy.” Why was she crazy? I didn’t have the money to go there, but Sara paid for my application and she helped me do my essays. She sat me down and walked me through the whole thing and sent it off. I was hesitant, but, sure enough, I auditioned and I got in. At the time, I was doing a community theater show at Christ Church in Bay Ridge with the Strivelli Players, which was my first show with adults. It was a different dynamic for me at 17. I was just doing my thing at the time, and had quit my baseball team to focus on theater. One day, Sara walked into one of our rehearsals and said, “I gave your name to the Jerry Seinfeld Scholarship Fund. They fund people’s college tuition but they haven’t given it to anyone at our school in five years. I told them your story and they want to meet you.” Because I got into AMDA, they kept calling about loans. I remember my mom said to me, “Don’t worry, God is gonna make a way.” The next thing you know, God made a way. I told admissions to give me one more day and I’d give them an answer about the loans. I got a call two hours later from the Jerry Seinfeld Scholarship Fund saying that they wanted to give me a full ride. I had already met with them. I told them everything: how I grew up, our family troubles. I told them that my grades are not a reflection of me; that I just need somebody to give me a shot. One shot. I immediately fell to my knees in the living room with my mother just praying. Was AMDA the right fit for you? AMDA was intense. I realized when I got there that I had to play a little bit of catchup. A lot of these kids knew so much about musical theater. I knew like “Rent” and “Grease.” You know, the staples. But I did my thing. I had moments of doubt where I wanted to quit but I said to myself, I can’t do that. Too many people put their name on the line for me. I gotta keep going; I gotta do this. So, I worked my tail off in college and graduated in spring, 2011. Where did you go after graduation? Graduating was rough for me. I had a job right out the gate starring in “Grease” at the Surflight Theatre in New Jersey, but after that job, it was dead for a bit. From July until October, there was nothing. But then I just kind of regrouped, and told myself to keep trusting God and working hard. Then, bam, another gig hit. It was a national tour of “Damn Yankees.” It was a non-union tour, so we did 67 cities in three months. It was intense but it was one of the best times of my life. I’ll never forget one day when our bus broke down on the side of the road in Utah and we got Little Caesar’s delivered to it. I made some of my best friends on that tour. Maybe two months after “Damn Yankees,” the ball started to roll. I booked “In The Heights” another production with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda in a regional theater, worked on a cruise ship, came back and booked a show at Radio City Music Hall. Things were going well. So, when did “Hamilton” come along? I was always auditioning while I was working, trying to set up my next gig. I was hustling hard at this point. I’d booked another show, “Heart and Lights,” but auditions were going on for “Hamilton” at Daveed Diggs, Okieriete Onaodowan, Anthony Ramos and Lin-Manuel Miranda in “Hamilton.” Photo by Joan Marcus
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