By Shannon Musgrave

Leslie Odom, Jr. told current Carnegie Mellon School of Drama students that “Hamilton” provided him the first opportunity to utilize “every bit” of the training he received at CMU. 

“When you are handed a masterpiece,” he said, “it demands more – and conversely, less – of you. Tricks don’t work. You need to lean on your pure training.”

Odom was back in Pittsburgh on September 23 for a special one-night-only conversation hosted by Robert Ramirez, head of the School of Drama, and presented in partnership with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. He spent the morning on campus in the Purnell Center for the Arts, which was a brand new building when he was a student in the early 2000s. But even though more than 20 years have passed since then, the shared connection and experience between him and today’s students was palpable. When he recalled a specific exercise from movement professor Kaf Warman’s class that involved “walking to the end of a dock,” the room full of students gave a knowing cheer.  

Senior acting major Danielle Williams asked Odom what he considered to be his purpose as an artist. His response: “To put forth truthful renderings of Black life.” He turned the question back to her, and without hesitation, she responded that her purpose has always been driven by inclusivity and representation in the industry. “I want to make more space for those who don’t have it and are told we shouldn’t have it,” she said. 

Tiffany Blandin, a junior acting major, asked about coping with times of artistic drought. Odom’s advice was to go inward, write, and lean on community.

“My dearest friends are still my friends from Carnegie Mellon,” he said.

“I was moved by the deep connections Leslie has been able to maintain with his CMU alumni,” said Blandin. “As students, we get the best acting training in the country, yet the one thing I will never forget is the beautiful family I’ve created here that will last a lifetime.”

That evening, on stage at the O’Reilly Theater in downtown Pittsburgh, Ramirez started the conversation with Odom’s Broadway debut in “Rent” at age 17. Odom recalled sharing the stage with Michael McElroy, who was playing Collins, and observing his professionalism and artistic process. Odom asked him one night in their dressing room for advice on honing his craft and McElroy told him to go to Carnegie Mellon. (McElroy graduated from the School of Drama in 1990.) 

“I went to Carnegie Mellon because I thought they were going to make me into Michael McElroy,” Odom told the audience. “It took me a while to realize that they were not going to turn me into Michael, but they were going to make me the best Leslie I could be.” 

When Ramirez asked Odom to talk about his experience working on Hamilton, he repeated what he had told the students earlier in the day: that he used every facet of his training because the brilliance of the piece demanded it. He talked about the experience of transferring the show from the Public Theater in New York to Broadway, and how he watched a recording of his own performance to see what needed to be tweaked. He gave the audience a short teaser of the opening number, demonstrating how small and intimate his initial interpretation was…

“How does a bastard orphan, 
Son of a whore and a Scotman, 
Dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean…”

The audience delighted in the mini-performance, providing the song’s famous percussive snaps. 

Odom won a Tony Award for his performance in “Hamilton,” as did fellow CMU alum Renée Elise Goldsberry, for her performance as Angelica Schuyler.  

Finally, Ramirez turned to Odom’s most recent Broadway endeavor, producing and starring in the 2023 revival of Ossie Davis’s “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch.” Ramirez recalled seeing Odom’s performance and told the audience about Odom’s earlier assertion to the students that his purpose as an actor was to “put forth truthful renderings of Black life” that were nuanced and specific. His work on “Purlie Victorious,” Ramirez posited, was an exemplary manifestation of that purpose.  

Odom released an album of 10 original songs in 2023 called “When a Crooner Dies.” He was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2024. He will spend November and December of this year on tour. Learn more at leslieodomjr.com. 

Nyree Binns, sophomore actor, poses with Leslie Odom, Jr.

School of Drama Acting/Music Theater students with Leslie Odom, Jr.

Leslie Odom, Jr. talks with junior music theater student Tripp Taylor.

Top image by Brett Rothmeyer.