When I sit down with Andy Blankenbuehler on a May day in front of Hamilton Hall on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University (Hamilton鈥檚 alma mater), he throws out the first question: Have you seen the show?
鈥滻t鈥檚 weird to have to lead with that, right? I had a meeting with somebody yesterday and they wanted details, but they didn鈥檛 know鈥hey hadn鈥檛 seen the show!鈥� Blankenbuehler is one of the forces behind the theatrical 鈥渉urricane鈥� that is Broadway鈥檚 Hamilton, the same creative cabinet behind 2008鈥檚 Tony-winning In the Heights. There seems to be a special alchemy at work when Blankenbuehler collaborates with Lin-Manuel Miranda, director Tommy Kail and orchestrator-arranger-musical director Alex Lacamoire. Blankenbuehler鈥檚 movement鈥�unmistakably Blankenbuehler鈥攂reathes life into the historical figures at the center of Miranda鈥檚 hip hop opus.
Hamilton definitely looks and feels to me like it鈥檚 in your style and in your vocabulary. How much of yourself do you bring to Hamilton and how much does Hamilton mold what you create?
AB: I鈥檓 very versatile. I can choreograph in the 鈥�40s or whatever it is, cheerleading, but I think I reached a point of the most clarity that I鈥檝e ever had when I met Lin. So the work, as varied as In the Heights was, stylistically, musically, he brings out some really interesting things, and it鈥檚 very inspiring to me and rhythmically what he does just works for me. There鈥檚 never a moment of me figuring out: What do I do here? It鈥檚: Which option do I pick? because there鈥檚 a lot of options. I became the most Andy Blankenbuehler at In the Heights, even though I鈥檇 choreographed a lot of things before that, and so Hamilton is sort of another step of that. Choreographically things are not always natural for me, like hip hop is not natural for me, but the idea that the characters are so embedded into the music, so embedded into the lyrics makes my job easy.
Parameters are so good for me. So, if you know you have to wear boots, that informs the choreography. If you know that you鈥檙e supposed to be carrying a 30-pound rifle in your hand and you have to load it a certain way, that informs choreography. So, in that way, Hamilton has been extraordinary to me in providing me rules. The scenic design for Heights was very limiting because the buildings were all over the stage. Hamilton鈥檚 wide open and so those parameters鈥攖he parameters that I need鈥攁ctually come from Lin鈥檚 lyrics as opposed to scenic elements. Lin gives you such a challenging road map to follow, but it鈥檚 a detailed road map.
How much choreography was built on who you cast and was there a lot of collaboration in that room?
AB: We were intent on the ensemble being an ensemble of soloists, almost the book Team of Rivals, the Lincoln book, which I know Tommy and Lin really enjoyed too. We wanted a group of people onstage who could all bring things that you cannot imagine they could bring, but the overarching ideas have to be a vision that鈥檚 not dependent on a cast. ... It鈥檚 great getting to know them to know what they can bring to it. It is [about] trust because it鈥檚 a partnership. I need those people to share my integrity, to share my attention to detail and ultimately what鈥檚 difficult is they have to be the best Andy Blankenbuehler they can be onstage, not necessarily the best themselves, and that鈥檚 the challenge.
The piece, written the way it is, dances and moves from beginning to end. How do you work with Tommy and with Lin to create the throughline, the pace?
AB: Tommy has a tremendous ability to inspire Lin鈥檚 work, and so before the first day of rehearsal they鈥檝e directed a show that鈥檚 clear. I can see it in my head. Some shows you鈥檙e like 60 percent of the way there when you start rehearsals and then you find it together. Hamilton, we found the details together, but really the writing was so clear before the first day of rehearsal that it just was a green light for me.
The biggest collaborative thing was figuring out the ensemble鈥檚 perspective, the ensemble鈥檚 point of view because the strength of the ensemble鈥檚 point of view, I think, determines the strength of the musical. If their point of view isn鈥檛 clarified, the audience doesn鈥檛 invest in them as the lens for the piece. We had constant conversations with ourselves, but also with the cast of like 鈥淩ight now you鈥檙e being Aaron Burr鈥檚 ego,鈥� 鈥淩ight now you鈥檙e being a jury that doesn鈥檛 have an opinion yet,鈥� 鈥淩ight now you鈥檙e being a jury that鈥檚 going to say, 鈥極k, I鈥檓 going to listen to Aaron Burr and see what he has to say and I鈥檓 going to stand in his shoes.鈥濃� 鈥淲ait for It鈥� is the most of them standing in his shoes with no point of view, literally they鈥檙e sitting like he sits, as opposed to 鈥淩oom Where It Happens,鈥� they鈥檙e being his ego, so they no longer have a point of view as an ensemble. In terms of the arcing of the show physically, I dove down a rabbit hole and just kept going. I remember a story that Andrew Lloyd Webber told me that Hal Prince had basically directed the show Phantom of the Opera on the model and after the first preview they never made any changes because they were able to really articulate their vision, even before the cast came, which is interesting.
Speaking of models and the integration of scenic elements, those turntables are amazing. Did that design come to you or did you ask for it?
AB: Tommy and [scenic designer David] Korins really took the lead on finding our show, finding our theme and the structure. We had talked about a turntable [at first], but we never did anything about it. I think we were also a little nervous about being compared to Les Mis because the show is very similar to Les Mis. All the staging I knew was always going to rotate, so even though we had no turntable it rotated the exact same way, you always felt that circular motion, but as soon as we staged it we were like, 鈥淲ell, we really should have a turntable. It makes sense.鈥� I had never worked on a turntable and I had definitely never worked on two tables, but the idea is almost like when you twist a Coke can and the aluminum bends, that the idea is to me that Hamilton is always pushing inevitability. He鈥檚 always racing towards something that we know鈥攂ecause it鈥檚 history鈥攖hat we know is going to happen, so there鈥檚 a sense of time is actually moving forward and fate is actually moving forward, but their story is one of conflict. 鈥淎re we going to beat the Brits?鈥� 鈥淎re we going to find independence?鈥� 鈥淎m I going to kill you?鈥� 鈥淚s my son going to die?鈥� All of these things push us against fate and so that鈥檚 why the second turntable being able to rotate the other way is so strong. One of my favorite moments is in the duel when the person who kills him always rotates the wrong way. So, if you鈥檒l notice, the person who gets shot rotates the way of resisting fate, which to me is clockwise, and inevitability is to me the other direction. I love the passing. It鈥檚 very disturbing to me.
In the opening number when his mother鈥檚 lifted, when the cousin dies, and then later in the show that moment with the bullet... Tell me what creating that was like for you in terms of using the bodies in the way that you do?
AB: Well, it really is bodies as architecture, but it鈥檚 also that part of the opening number sets the clockwise versus counter-clockwise in the show, even without a turntable because we didn鈥檛 want to use a turntable in the opening. It鈥檚 just passing images. I love those two moments and also it was important to me to start the opening number with stylized vocabulary rather than being literal, knowing that eventually we had to get to stylized gestures for everything major鈥攖he starting of the country, Washington. That鈥檚 the Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Jerome Robbins lesson about, 鈥淵our opening number is governed by the rules that you establish in the opening.鈥� So, I take very seriously the very first time the ensemble dances.
In In the Heights it was 鈥淧acking up and picking up and every day,鈥� that sets up everything in one step. Our very first step is 鈥淲ord got around, they said 鈥楾his kid is insane, man,鈥濃� and what happens is the ensemble all warp in slow motion, so that鈥檚 like establishing where we鈥檙e going to go tonight, but also they鈥檙e responding to his ability to write, but their body is grooving like he just invented the coolest new fashion. That establishes the rule of saying, 鈥淭he articulation of words is as cool as it gets鈥� because, you know, Lin thought Hamilton was a rapper.
The Bullet transition was one of my favorites. Do you know the Breakup Transition in In the Heights? It鈥檚 equivalent鈥攚here the two couples stop and one walks away鈥攊t鈥檚 kind of the same idea. I made them up the exact same way. I knew really clear in my head that [Hamilton鈥檚] ability to write saved his life many times, but literally with Washington. Because he looks down to write, the bullet goes right over his head. That was the important part, not the slow motion of the bullet, but the bullet goes slow so that you see it miss him, you know?
You mention that the opening number introduces the style of the piece from the get-go. How do you describe your own style?
AB: Well, I think it changes in every show. I use a reference to Halley鈥檚 Comet a lot when I鈥檓 teaching, being that when you see a picture of Halley鈥檚 Comet it leads with a big face, and then it trails away. So, what I try to do is I try to hit the front of the movement like either literally right at the top of the beat or sometimes ahead of the beat, but there鈥檚 always an emphasis on the front of the beat that creates a pause and in the pause behind it you have to capture a recognizable picture that when the audience hits the slow motion pause or whatever it is they see the idea, they see the emotion, they see the character, and then it goes way again. That pause can be a sixteenth note, or it can be slow motion. It鈥檚 that idea of creating moving pictures.
Is there a difference, for you, an overlapping but a simultaneous distinction between what is dance and what is choreography?
AB: Yeah, that鈥檚 a really good question that we should also go into the things that I 诲辞苍鈥檛 feel should dance, because I鈥檝e made that mistake a lot. [There are times] when they should not dance, when the best way to tell the story is through the voice or through a light cue.
But I think choreography crosses all the boundaries. I鈥檓 so inspired by Stephen Hoggett. It鈥檚 like I say a lot of times in the dance studio, like 鈥淗ow can we Hoggett this?鈥� I use it as a verb, like 鈥淗ow can this be an idea, not a step?鈥� Like it鈥檚 an idea, and that happens in Hamilton with turntable cues. It happens with the absence of movement鈥s oftentimes the best choreography鈥攍ike the stopping of 鈥淗urricane.鈥� When the hurricane hits, and really they鈥檙e hitting these descriptive shapes, but the choreography is the turntable carrying them. And I think that that鈥檚 my best contribution, but that鈥檚 actually where most people 诲辞苍鈥檛 understand that it鈥檚 choreography. I enjoy the fine line between the scene and the bigger heightened number and a lot of people just go from zero to 60 because 60 is exciting, but I actually like the blurred line of 鈥淎re they dancing or are they not?鈥�
Ruthie Fierberg is the Features Editor at 半岛体育.com. She has also written for Backstage, Parents and American Baby. See more at and follow her on Twitter at .
