#88 - Giles Terera: Hamilton & Me

“The only thing you can control is what you take into [the
audition], I always like to think, like the work that you’ve done –
and as you say – who you are. You can control that, you can work on
that. Often we put that to the side and go, what do they want to
see? What do they want to hear? What do I need to do in order to be
able to impress them enough to get this job? And if you don’t get
things, you then go, ‘Oh is it because I’m not X, Y, Z?’ And then
the danger is that you can start to change without even really
clocking it, and overtime you can drift away from what you
originally were.” -- Giles Terera, Episode 88 of Dear
Multi-Hyphenate The industry is not just New York or LA. It’s
Chicago, it’s D.C. It's Miami. But it’s also across the pond in
London. Not only did we have the British Invasion of the 1980’s
with Phantom, Les Mis, and more… we continue to have a U.S. and
U.K. by way in terms of artist exchanges. Giles Terera, Oliver
Award Winner for Hamilton in the West End, gives us incredible
information about the West End. And even though we are divided by
the Atlantic Ocean, so many constants bring us together, but also
there are quite a few things we can learn from each other. In this
episode, we discuss: Truthfully staying true to who you are and how
it leads to a Broadway / West End debut Fearlessness How being a
reader behind the table helps auditioning Moving to a big city and
what you need to know Agent outreach Giles’ new book Hamilton &
Me Giles Terera MBE is award-winning actor, musician, and writer.
He trained at Mountview Theatre School and has worked consistently
at venues such as the National Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare
Company and Shakespeare’s Globe. He is best known for originating
the role of Aaron Burr in the London production of the
award-winning musical Hamilton, for which he won the 2018 Olivier
Award for Best Actor in a Musical. His other theatre credits
include Rosmersholm, The Tempest, Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon,
125th Street, Rent (West End); Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Hamlet,
Death and the King’s Horseman, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each
Other, Troilus and Cressida, Candide, Honk (National Theatre); The
Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Resistible Rise of
Arturo Ui (Donmar Warehouse); The Playboy of the Western World
(Abbey, Dublin); The Ratpack (West End/international tour);
Jailhouse Rock (Theatre Royal Plymouth/West End); The Tempest
(RSC); among many others. As a writer his theatre work includes The
Meaning of Zong (Bristol Old Vic), The Ballad of Soho Jones (St.
James), and Black Matter (Crazy Coqs). As a filmmaker, Terera’s
first documentary Muse of Fire, created with Dan Poole, premiered
on BBC Four in 2013 and he wrote and directed the concert film
Hello Harry! A Celebration. Giles was appointed a Member of the
Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 New Year Honors for
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