Hamilton BTS
Project X. That’s what my email said in early 2015 when I was contacted to shoot promo images for what was described as a buzzy downtown musical looking to make the move to Broadway.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to decipher which show they were talking about. By then, “Hamilton” was already taking over the cultural conversation in “the greatest city in the world.” Being completely honest, although I knew the show would be a hit I could never have foreseen just how massive it would become.
Shortly after receiving that first email I attended a performance at the Public Theater. I remember so much about my first viewing; in particular I was focused on choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler’s movement vocabulary which I knew would be the emphasis of our shoot. But the moment that stuck with me the most was actually during the curtain call. A man next to me stood up and, as people applauded, he repeatedly yelled “Thank you,” at the stage. This was something different entirely.
What followed was a flurry of meetings (led by SpotCo founder Drew Hodges—the man behind some of the most iconic Broadway posters of the past 20 years) to get everyone on the same page with the concept. I was, from the very beginning, working with people I’d idolized since I was a kid. This was the same art director and the same producer, Jeffrey Seller, who brought the iconic “Rent” poster to life—a poster that still hangs in my childhood home in Montana.
It was clear our goal was to establish an emblem of sorts that would be identifiable the world over as THE brand for the show. While many shows take the approach of using a recognizable face on posters, we would do the opposite and create a silhouette that had no characteristics identifiable to a specific person. Even without the name of the show attached…you’d know exactly what it was.
As a photographer this provided a series of challenges up front. First and foremost I had to make sure that whatever shapes our actors created would read when stripped of all personal detail: no costumes, no faces. Somehow there still needed to be energy and movement even when presented completely in flat black.
A test playing with the silhouette light.
I did some lighting tests in my studio and quickly realized the importance of making sure limbs were visible—even just an inch or two of separation from the body would successfully take the subject from a blob to a person. Depending on the subject’s relationship to the back wall we could provide more or less wrap light.
The day of the shoot arrived and my team (the all-star assistants Mitch Dean and Kat Hennessey and digitech Peter James Zielinski) loaded into Pier 59 Studios in Chelsea. The shoot would take place in two studios: one for stills and one for motion. In ours we had a 3-foot high steel deck erected to ensure the camera height would be level with the actors’ feet in order to make them look like they were standing flat atop the star of the final design.
We set up five lights: four bare bulbs (two from each side) pointed at our cyc —flagged with some v-flats to eliminate the spill—and one light in the front for focus. We had a large fan to help with getting movement in the hair/outfits, but other than that it was a very slight equipment pull. The real magic would come once the actors arrived.
Ariana DeBose
Our first few hours were spent with the all-star ensemble; groups of four or five, followed by solo moments that would allow for more explosive, dynamic movement that only the individuals could create. Occasionally I’d hear Andy Blankenbuehler or director Tommy Kail calling out sections of the show from behind my camera. The dancers would hit each position one, two, maybe three times and on we’d move to the next. Carleigh Bettiol and Ariana DeBose faced off in deep lunges from “My Shot.” Betsy Struxness displayed the slinky moves of “What’d I Miss?” Seth Stewart ran through “Battle of Yorktown’s” dance break, bayonet catching the light with every spin.
With a shoot like this the schedule is timed within an inch of its life (thank you to my amazing shoot producer Tom Coppola for making everything run as smoothly as the show’s turntables) so I had to stay sharp throughout the eight-hour day.
Leslie Odom Jr. photographed by Betsy Struxness
You could feel the excitement in the air…each actor on the cusp of a career breakthrough and celebrating in the joy of knowing a Broadway transfer was imminent. As the principals arrived we ran through sections of “The Story of Tonight.” Then Leslie Odom Jr. walked in and raced through “The Room Where It Happens” climax as I tried to tap directly into his energy to capture each jab and jump.
For some sections we ran them almost like a Boomerang. Chris Jackson would march forward to his final “Right Hand Man” pose, then backup and repeat until we got the swish of his Paul Tazewell-designed jacket just right. Renée Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo and Jasmine Cephas Jones swayed their choreography to “Helpless” on repeat.
Everything was going brilliantly, but I knew that the success of the shoot would really be measured by how well we captured our final principal actor of the day: none other than the show’s creator himself, Lin-Manuel Miranda.
From what I remember in the hurricane of energy that followed, Lin basically did a one-man history of hip-hop performance. The hardest part was remembering to take photos as he freestyled and transitioned from classic song reference to classic song reference while hitting pose after pose. Before I knew it he was whisked away to the motion studio. What would become our final logo, designed by Nicky Lindeman, was already backing up to hard drives.
Daveed Diggs photographed by Betsy Struxness
We finished by bringing some of the ensemble men back into the studio to show off their athleticism. Thayne Jasperson and Jon Rua hovered, spun and catapulted themselves around the platform as their fellow actors cheered them on and clapped as we said the words you chase at each shoot: “That’s a wrap.”
Almost 2000 photos later the day was over.
I stood on the platform between Jeffrey Seller and Drew Hodges and snapped a few photos while having an out-of-body experience wondering how the kid who pored over the “Rent” coffee table book had gotten here. Then we packed up and headed to dinner nearby in Chelsea.
To see the images take on a life far beyond my wildest dreams has been surreal. We spent so long that day finessing the wrap of the light in hope that one day they might be seen in their photographic form. Seeing them used for Disney+’s launch as full photographs for the first time is something I never could have predicted during those initial meetings.
Producer Jeffrey Seller, myself and Drew Hodges after the shoot.
My incredible team. Peter James Zielinski, Mitch Dean and Kat Hennessey.
