Jarrod Spector is Hamilton's New King George III

Michael Riedel and Christine Nagy chat with Tony-nominated actor Jarrod Spector about joining the cast of Hamilton. Spector steps into the role of King George III and talks about what it is like to join the cast of a show that changed the cultural landscape. Hamilton is currently playing at the Richard Rodgers Theater.

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
iHeart Radio Broadway presents Inside Broadway,the podcast about everything theater. It's where
you hear what happens from the ticketwindow to the stage door, with the
stars and creative forces that make itall come alive. Here are your hosts,
Wars Michael Reidal and Light FM's ChristineNaggy. Well, Christine does a

(00:24):
new King in town, New KingGeorge the Third yea over d Hamilton.
He's an our pal. Jared Spector. You know him from Jersey Boys.
From Beautiful the Carol King Musical,he played the great songwriter Berry Man.
He was also in the Share Showand he's been on all sorts of tours
Lay Misserabla, Jersey Boys, awhole bunch of stuff. And he's really
I think of him as a kid, but he's he's got longer list of

(00:46):
credits than Elaine Stritch. Jared Spector, Welcome to Inside Broadway. Yeah,
that's a huge compliment. I don'tknow if that's true, but I really
appreciate the exaggeration. That's right,So squeeze in a lot of credits in
a short amount of time. Hedid absolutely all right, So you're joining,

(01:07):
you know, one of these phenomenalshows Hamilton, and what's it like
jumping into this show that well,it's kind of changed the cultural landscape of
America. It really has. Uhyou know, I've the last time I
joined an existing show like this wasJersey Boys. But I did start on
the tour, so we you know, I developed a show with other people,

(01:30):
you know, in a room overa month, you know that kind
of thing. This is the firsttime where it was really just jumping into
something that exists. And in thiscase, this incredibly sacred, at least
to me, and I think tomost you know, to most Broadway fans,
this incredibly sacred piece that you justdon't want to screw up. So
I yeah, you know, despiteI think I've done I don't know,

(01:51):
thirty five hundred or four thousand performanceson Broadway stages, and I was still
so nervous my first, my firstmoment walking out. I mean, anyone
who's seen the show, I mean, I know you've seen the show,
you you know, you walk outas the King and everything just you know,
it's this busy, exciting, fun, action packed show and everything just
kind of stops and you stand there, right. You know, it's it's

(02:12):
so exposed and vulnerable and my youknow, thank god I'm wearing this big
cape because my leg was just quiveringunder me. As But you know what
I gotta say, I think partof it is because it's my favorite show,
which I don't I don't know.That's a kind of a new thing
for me. I didn't you know. I grew up with pop and rock,
and of course I love Broadway andI've grown to appreciate it so much.

(02:35):
But this feels I have like anownership of of loving this in a
way that I've I've kind of neverfelt before entering a show or I have
such reverence for it before even youknow, even getting there. And so
it's still very surreal. I've onlydone two performances and I I just it's
it's I'm like a little kid.I feel like a little kid. So
yeah, try and if you candescribe to is how it does feel,

(02:58):
because, like you said, youknow, the vibe the show changes when
King George the Third steps out thereis almost like you're the bad guy,
but you also get the biggest laughs. Yeah, it's wild, I mean,
he's It definitely changes the tenor ofthe show and suddenly everything slows down.
And it's this you know, it'sthis sort of goofy you know,

(03:20):
Beatles ish, you know, farstsong, and yeah, I know he's
the villain, and of course hegets the laughs. It's also just it's
so well I mean, first all, the show is just brilliant through and
through and through and through. It'sjust so well done. Every part of
his entrance juxtaposed against the rest ofthe show, it's just such a great

(03:40):
contrast. And so the audience can'thelp but love even if he's the bad
guy. And also he's kind ofthe far away bad guy, you know
what I mean. Burr sort ofintroduces himself as is the actual antagonist,
so you know, King George iskind of you know, he serves his
comic relief as as as a villain. And yeah, I mean it's I
can't say enough about how much funit is. And it's such a short

(04:01):
amount of time, but he doesreally make an impact in those because we
I mean I saw the show andI would never have got I saw it
off Broadway, you know, intwenty fifteen, and Brian Darcy James came
out and I was like, ohmy god, I will do what Limb
do? I have to contribute toplay that role. But I would never
have guessed it was only you know, he's only he plays King George at

(04:21):
third I think he's on stage forlike thirteen minute thirteen a half minutes,
but those are big minutes, thoseare reportant minutes. That's right now,
you hanging out with Lynn Manuel Miranda. I haven't been hanging out with Lynn
so much yet. He did.He did answer an Instagram post, and
I've met him a few times.He came into the Share Show and we

(04:43):
we exchanged a little bit about tweetingat celebrities on the phone in the audience
of shows. But other than that, No, I haven't. I haven't
hung out with Lindsay much yet.So Jared, that was like such a
big moment. I remember just reportingit in the news because that, you
know, I take care of entertainmentnews and stuff in the morning. And
when you were doing Share Show andyou tweeted at Kanye West who was on
his phone and then apologize to you, which which was awesome shocking. Yes,

(05:12):
it was no, can I justI was one of those things where
we had one of our swings whoI will not name, was in the
audience and he was so upset.He's this very little head of guy,
and he came back at intermission.He was so upset because he said,
you know, this guy Kanye's inthe fourth row, he's on the Island's
on this phone the whole time,and how I'm cool and this and that,
And I was like, oh,I got you. I'll say something

(05:33):
on the Internet like an idiot,not thinking that anyone would notice it,
because you know, you know,who cares what I write on the you
know, on Twitter. And thenI wrote it and checked it back a
few minutes later, and I wasin my heart saying, I did not
I was not expecting that kind ofreaction. Yes, yes, it really

(05:54):
went nuts. I guess, youknow, you mentioned one of the most
famous people in the controversial people inthe entertainment industry, you know people people
take notice. But yeah, Imean it was really surprised. It was
super classy that he that he youknow, owned up to it. And
I understand like different different kinds ofyou know, different forms of entertainment at
different vibes and different sort of etiquette, which is fine, and he was,

(06:14):
but he was he was really cool, I thought that night. Yeah,
he was. I remember Hugh Jackmantelling me when he was in The
Boy from Oz he came out oneone night on the stage and he saw
the guys in the house were ontheir blackberries back in those days, and
he went into the wheel. Hesaid the stage man, He said,
why are the guys looking at theirblackberries during the show? And she said
because the Yankees are in the playoffand they don't know what's going on.

(06:36):
So he said, well, getme the score. She tells him about
the scores, and he goes on. He does his little you know,
Peter alibit. He says, oh, by the way, I know what
you're thinking. Yankees are up bytwo, And everybody looked up from their
blackberries, and then he started givingthe score throup the rest of the show,
and that's how they brought all theguys back. Brilliant. Absolutely.
Hey, I want to ask you. You were in the Wonderful Musical Beautiful,

(07:00):
the Carol King Musical. You playedberry Man, berry Man and Cynthia
while were friends of mine, andsadly we lost Cynthia earlier this year.
What were they like though, tohang out with when you were creating them
as characters on stage? Barry andCynthia. Oh, they were the best,
you know. I mean, ifI've played a number of real people,
you just you can't ask for morethan what I mean, getting the

(07:23):
opportunity to play them twofold one.Their story is so lovely, it was
you know, it's so fun toplay these people who who who met each
other, fell in love and stayedin love and have been together, had
been together for you know, nearlysix decades. I mean, what you
know, what a wonderful honor.And then their stick, you know,
their their their rap. Their relationshipwas just so fun to recreate. And

(07:46):
the more we got to know them, and the more Doug McGrath, who
we unfortunately also lost, got toknow them and got you know, and
got to know us, me andNika Larson, the more, you know,
he's sort of created this verge,this diversion of where all of us
kind of came together on stage,you know, in a way, and
so it brought out all of ourpersonalities and it all I think felt like

(08:07):
it became more and more accurate towho they were are and how they behaved
with each other. They were justso wonderful and if in the first time
we met them Dog always said theycould not have been more supportive. Dog
always said they were the Fred andethel Mertz A beautiful Yeah they were.
I mean they really were. They. I mean they're perfect comic b plot,

(08:31):
you know, they're they're sort ofbeautiful relationship story about like him wanting
to be with her and herd andmaybe not wanting to marry him. You
know. It was a little bitmaybe a little bit outside the truth,
but certainly tells a good story.And I think the reality is that Cynthia
actually saw him from before it,met him at a recording session, you
know, and then actually went tosixteen fifty Broadway to find Barry and get

(08:54):
Barry. Remember her this quotevisially onceshe found him, like he had no
shot that was you know, hewas he was, And uh yeah,
I was actually funny enough. Iwas doing Beautiful at the Muni over the
summer. It was the first timeI'd done the show since I left the
Broadway Company, and I kind ofnever thought I would do it again.
But the Muni is such a singularplace to do a show, and an

(09:18):
outdoor theater of nineteen, you know, eleven thousand seats, and so when
they gave me the opportunity to comeback and do it. I said,
oh absolutely, you know for acouple of weeks that sounds great. And
she passed away on our first dayof rehearsal. It was shocking news.
And but she was she was sofunny. Uh you know, she was
just such a sharp wit and andand and such a sassy mouth. He

(09:41):
was. You know, you cantell the lyrics here, right, You
know what a brilliant you know,what a brilliant way with words she had
in every capacity. So do youfind when you know, I'll say characters,
but these shows based on real peoplelike Sharon Carol King musical? Do
do these characters stay with you foreverthen you were able to re visit.
Do you think they kind of changeyour life in a way and are always

(10:03):
with you? That's interesting? Yeah, I think so. I think I
try to, I guess, youknow, I mean, as you say
it, I do kind of tryto take a little bit of each of
them with me. You know what, what what's good about their life?
You know, you delve into someone'slife and I guess you kind of can't

(10:24):
help but try to learn some lessonsthat they learned and maybe try to take
some pieces with you. Uh,you know, Frankie had his stuff.
But you know, Frankie's this veryproud guy, really tough. I mean
there's a certain way, you know, Frankie also shows it like someone who's
five foot five or whatever he is, you know, five or six,

(10:46):
you know, can feel towering justin the way he comports himself. And
you know that you can you canbe the center of the universe with that
kind of gravitas. Uh. Youknow, Barry Man, you know,
there was so much to learn fromBarry and Cynthia's relationship. We asked them,
my wife and I asked him somany questions about how they stayed together,
how they managed any rough times justwith this and he has just this

(11:09):
wonderful sense of humor and musicality,and you know, and he kind of
had a little bit of a she'salways right attitude, which I think was
really important to learn of the youngmarried person. Uh. And and certainly
Sonny left me with actually, youknow, Sonny. That the best thing
I learned about Sonny, among manythings, many wonderful things about Sonny,
and was shares eulogy for him orabout you know, Sonny had the strength

(11:35):
to be the butt of the jokebecause he created the joke, you know.
And there's something about not taking yourselftoo seriously and about you know,
knowing that you know, if youif you're the one creating the laugh,
it's okay if the laugh is atyour own expense, and you know,
it's just life is too short tocare about every last little thing, you
know. So each of them,each of them teach me a little,
a little something, And yeah,I do, I do carry them with

(11:56):
me. Have you been in touchwith King George the Third? Don't lose
the colonies? And he also wentmad, so I don't know how much
you want to take from him.He did go crazy. No, I
was just actually thinking that the endof this, the end of this little
spield, can't it's not going tobe good because I have nothing to say
yet about George. That's right,He's a new bee in your life anyway.

(12:22):
Jared's always fun catching up with you. Check Jared out in Hamilton's.
I was going to say, KingGeorge the Third see the character so big
it takes kind of takes over theapplaud at some point, So have a
great time of the part. It'slots of fun. That's right, Thank
you both so much. What apleasure. Thank you, bye bye.

(12:43):
All right, So Michael or canwe reveal where you're going and the yes
check that you're working on? Thisis pretty cool. I'm off to London
and I'm going to do a storyfor Vanity Fair on the history of the
musical Cabaret, which has been revivedin London starring Eddie Redmain and the Jewel
Gray Roles the MC and it's comingto Broadway in the spring. So I'm
going to London check it out.I'm gonna spend some time with Eddie Redmain

(13:07):
if his team gets back to me. Have you noticed all these big stars
they have teams all the time.There team does this, and their team
does that. Yes, you andI both need a team, or at
least let's just say we have ateam. I know, Hello Natalie.
Anyway, So I'm gonna go.I'm gonna go over there and I'm gonna
hang out with Eddie, going tosee the show. I'm also going to
go to the very first preview ofthe new revival of Sunset Boulevard. I'm

(13:30):
gonna go with Andrew Luid Webber.So I'm gonna be hanging out with Andrew
while I'm there. I'm going tosee my old buddy Tim Rice, lyricist
while i'm there, and then I'mgonna take myself to Berlin for four days,
ostensibly to do research for this articleon cabaret. But I can write
it off my taxes, so that'sthat's why I'm going. But I have

(13:50):
not been to Berlin since nineteen eightyseven, when I was in college studying
in London. I went to Berlin. This was when the wall was still
up. Wow, I was gonnasay, things have changed, Yes,
we know this. I actually wentthrough Checkpoint Charlie. I was checked out
at Checkpoint Charlie. It's now atourist attraction, but back then you had
to get in East Berlin. Youhad to go through it and the East
Berlin police looked at your passport,asked you questions. It was a bit

(14:11):
scary. That does sound scary,yeah, and then you walked into East
Berlin. I'm actually gonna be stayingat a hotel in East Berlin. My
memory of East Berlin was the warWorld War two. It felt like it
had just ended because they were stillbombed out buildings. They hadn't fixed them
up. The synagogues that the Nazisdestroyed were the shells of the synagogues were
still there. It really it wasa drab, cold, depressing, depressing

(14:37):
world. You really felt the weightof the Soviet Union on there. So
I'm going to be very curious tosee people now tell me the East Berlin
is the happening place, more sothan West Berlin. So I'll let you
know. Yeah, you've got areport back to us. I'll be at
the Disco Tex. They still callthem disco Tex. I don't know.
That would be something I'd like tosee as well, Bayhead. I remember

(15:01):
Berlin they did have underground discotheques.They were in secret. Because I went
to one of them. They hada lot of secret stuff. Were brave
for doing that? I want?Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well I
like to feel I struck a blowfor freedom. I think one reason they
knocked on the wall was because Idid what Ronald Reagan did. I stood
in front of it and I said, mister Gormachov, tear down this wall.

(15:22):
After I've left, you paved theway, Michael you trend said,
are you. We'll have a wonderfultime. We can't wait to hear about
your experiences. Okay, great,we'll talk to you next time on Inside Brockway.