thefederalistfreestyle:

Hamilton’s Rory O’Malley explains what it’s like to don King George’s crown (EW):

One of the things that people also talk about when they talk about King George is his walk and his physicality. How have you approached that?

Yes, I’ve heard a lot about the walk, the physicality. And let me tell you, I tried on my shoes for the first time about an hour or two before show time, with the cape and the crown all together for the first time. So my choices were: Don’t fall. Do not fall. That was basically my walk. You have to be careful! There’s so much height, and there’s so many things that you’re balancing, and so it makes sense that there’s a certain kind of strut. So I’m kind of just going from there. And I haven’t fallen yet. Knock on wood.

Because you’ve got heels, and I’ve heard that the crown the is really heavy?

Yes, it’s definitely a bit of a balancing act in a way that I’m not used to. And I really feel so bad for women because these are like the smallest little kitten heels you could ever imagine. I can’t believe women walk around in stilettos. I would not make it two steps. But I’ve been wearing the shoes. As soon as I get to theater, I put them on and walk around. People are like, “Where’s Rory going?” And I’m not going anywhere, I’m just practicing walking in these shoes.

So is it starting to feel more normal, being a part of the cast?

I do have one story about that. So the first day, I flew in from L.A. and went straight to the theater, and I was kind of jet-lagged and also just scared out of my mind. I was really nervous, and I was supposed to go to the stage door. And I get to the theater, and of course, there’s already a line around the block to get into the theater for the audience. So I’m like, “excuse me, excuse me, excuse me,” just timidly trying to get through the crowd. And I go up to the stage door, and I go to open it, and it’s locked. And I’m like, “Oh no. Oh no, what’s happened.” And I start knocking on the door, and everyone’s staring at me in the audience line, like, what is this guy doing? And I’m literally starting to panic, and I think, well, maybe I’m just a weakling and I have to start really pulling on the door, like, “Hello? Hello?” And I’m knocking on the door, and everyone’s looking at me, and then I realize that I’m knocking on the Les Mis stage door, which is next door.

So luckily it was a Monday and they were dark, or otherwise I would be singing “Master of the House” instead of “You’ll Be Back.” So then I had to sheepishly walk through the rest of the crowd and go into our stage door, which I now know is the one with Alexander Hamilton on it. Which makes a lot more sense. But you know that moment when you’re so nervous and you do the craziest, dumb thing?

It’s like the first day of school.

I just didn’t know where to go, and every single moment, I was nervous I was going to screw it up and they were going to be like, “I’m sorry, there’s been a mistake. Please leave. You didn’t know which stage door it was? I’m sorry. Go home.” But that will forever be a metaphor for me joining the cast of Hamilton.

check out the rest of the interview for more on Rory’s transition from fan to cast