The Hamilcast: A Hamilton Podcast

Jisel Soleil Ayon (Hamilton's Philip Tour) is here for two fun, authentic, and very honest episodes.

Jisel grew up watching old musicals and performing as a kid but then she hit college where they do the ridiculous thing of making teenagers pick a major?! Insanity!

While Jisel loved performing, she also wanted a job where she could make a living, so she took her passion for American Sign Language and studied speech pathology and speech therapy. During her second semester, she was cast as Daniela in In the Heights and everything changed. She switched schools, focused on performing, and her career has been thriving since she graduated.

Jisel speaks very candidly about her initial apprehension towards Hamilton, her unexpected casting as a standby for the Schuyler sisters, and how being on tour as an offstage cover can actually be very lonely, especially for a self described "extroverted extrovert."

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Jisel's Linktree

Mixed in the Arts Podcast

Mixed in the Arts on Patreon

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Eddie Ortega (Hercules Mulligan and James Madison on Hamilton’s Philip Tour) is back for round two and this week Eddie talks connecting to his roots in the Dominican Republic, recounts his awesome time in Chicago (singing at the National Anthem and going to restaurants in The Bear), and we do a deep dive into our astrological charts. Plus, Eddie takes questions from the Patreon Peeps including his fellow cast member Lucas Babcock, who asks him to breakdown his process for "We Know."

Eddie on Instagram

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Eddie Ortega, Marcus Choi, and Jared Howelton performing the National Anthem at the Chicago Bulls game

Asia Ward on Spotify

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Eddie Ortega (Hercules Mulligan and James Madison on Hamilton’s Philip Tour) is here to tell you what can happen if you work hard, *really* love what you do, and stay focused. In his first episode, Eddie talks about growing up in Florida and discovering his love of theater as a teenager. After being rejected from Florida State University, he did everything he could to get accepted and start building his career. From making his Dominican-born parents proud with his award-winning performance in Usnavi in In the Heights to seeing the world performing on a cruise ship, all roads seemed to lead to Hamilton.

Eddie on Instagram

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Lin-Manuel Miranda Performs at the White House Poetry Jam: (8 of 8)

Eddie Ortega, Marcus Choi, and Jared Howelton performing the National Anthem at the Chicago Bulls game

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Gillian's Website

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Lucas Babcock (John Laurens and Philip Hamilton on Hamilton's Philip tour) is back to talk about how booking Hamilton right out of school "was like jumping on a moving train." This week, Lucas dives into his favorite Hamilton moments and takes questions from the Patreon Peeps where he talks about his favorite hidden gems from his time traveling the world and why he absolutely loves going to Ren Faires.

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Lucas on Instagram

Lucas's Website

Elizabeth Babcock: Lucas's mother, founding director of the upcoming Smithsonian Women's Natural History Museum, and living legend.

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Gillian's Website

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Lucas Babcock plays John Laurens and Philip Hamilton on Hamilton's Philip tour and in his first episode he talks about growing up playing sports, his strong interest in sociology and political science, and navigating the musical theatre world as the new kid who knew more about baseball than Sondheim. While Lucas auditioned for Hamilton (the first musical he'd ever listened to, by the way), he was able to see the world as a cruise performer and felt seen doing a production of Next to Normal that mirrored his own life in many ways.

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Lucas on Instagram

Lucas's Website

Elizabeth Babcock: Lucas's mother, founding director of the upcoming Smithsonian Women's Natural History Museum, and living legend.

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Gillian's Website

The Hamilcast on Twitter

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As I wrap up with Meghan Faddis (Hamilton Chicago and touring companies) you're getting some hot takes on beloved musicals, you'll learn about how she almost ended up a professional soccer player, there's lots of love for her dog Spencer, and you'll hear the story of how "Expert Hula Hooper" ended up on her resume.

Plus, Meghan loves and knows the lyrics to a ton of early 2000s hip hop and talks about how inspired she is by the amazing women putting out her new favorite music with super honest lyrics.

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Meghan Faddis (Hamilton Chicago and touring companies) continues to speak about her experience in the entertainment industry as a whole, especially as a woman: from navigating internalized standards and pressures, to realizing that "No." is a complete sentence, and finally deleting all of those damn exclamation points in emails #IYKYK. And while Meghan doesn't have all the answers, talking about mental health in the theatre world is a super important step towards making the very necessary changes.

After spending four wonderful and fulfilling years with Hamilton, Meghan made the careful decision to leave the show and focus on being home to reset, regroup, and branch out creatively. It was time to take everything she learned from Hamilton and apply it to different art forms and different ventures.

Meghan has fallen in love with working with the new generation of artists by way of dance competition judging and I promise you the conversation is super fun, educational (at least for me!), and really inspiring! You might have seen one of Meghan's viral judging videos on TikTok, and she breaks down the whole experience. We're finally getting the new wave of teachers the kids deserve!

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Meghan Faddis spent four years as swing in Hamilton, starting in Chicago and then moving to the touring companies. While she's been dancing professionally since she was six years old, Hamilton was her first time swinging and to say she learned a lot is quite an understatement. Hamilton has her favorite style of dance and she was (and still is) thrilled to be part of the show. 

This week Meghan talks about the balance of looking at Hamilton's intricate choreography as a puzzle, focusing on both the big picture and the endless details.

Meghan's first episode kicks off a very real and necessary conversation about the overwhelming work of a swing as she talks about learning Woman 1 in real time in the middle of a performance (yep, read that again), the time she did the show while suffering from food poisoning, the lack of mental health resources in the theatre industry, and the importance of being your own advocate. Yes, swings are seen as superheroes but they are also humans, which begs the question: just because someone *can*, does it mean they *should?*

Meghan on Instagram Meghan on TikTok Meghan's Website

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Booking Hamilton made Nick Sanchez (Hamilton's Philip Tour) feel kind of crazy (I get it) but being on that stage finally served as a release from the negative voices of the haters that had been haunting him since college.

This week, he talks about his Hamilton experience and why it changed the trajectory of what he felt he was capable of doing. The beauty of Nick's story is that it proves that as cheesy as it sounds, you really can do whatever you want to do in your life and you don't have to be trapped in just one thing. For example, while Nick is on tour he is also in the process of renovating a house that has been abandoned for 30 years!

Plus, Nick takes questions from the Patreon Peeps and offers to be your tour guide in Puerto Rico.

Nick on Instagram

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This week, Nick Sanchez (Hamilton's Philip Company) talks about how Hamilton has reached the point that superfans of the show are auditioning for and booking it, which is what happened to him with Rent.

From Rent, Nick joined Tarzan on Broadway and then went on tour with Mary Poppins (and we can't forget his time with But I'm a Cheerleader and Altar Boyz).

At 30 years old, Nick decided he'd reached the top of his career and left show business. After flirting with the idea of being on Masterchef (!!!), Nick tackled the world of interior design in New York City.

But the stage kept calling him, and after a trip to Margaritaville on Broadway and a stop uptown (of course In the Heights is involved!), Nick finds himself auditioning for Hamilton.

Nick on Instagram

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