Teachers inspire Las Vegas grad to get role of Hamilton in hit show

One Las Vegas high school graduate did not throw away his shot.

In 2009, Las Vegan Edred Utomi took the stage at Sierra Vista High School and was crowned Mr. Mountain Lion in the school’s annual men’s pageant competition. Ten years later, in January 2019, Utomi stood atop another stage — this time one with an elaborate turntable — in a touring production of “Hamilton,” starring in the lead role as the “ten-dollar founding father.”

Now, after an 18-month shutdown, Utomi is back onstage in the hit musical.

“I was a ‘Hamilfan’ through and through. It was all I talked about,” Utomi recalls. “Being in the show is a real-life dream come true.”

Leaving Las Vegas

Utomi and his four older siblings grew up in Las Vegas. When he entered high school in the southwest valley, his older brother encouraged him to take theater.

“He said it was an easy A,” Utomi laughs.

He says his theater teacher, Brianna Carter, inspired him to pursue acting professionally.

“Miss Carter made us audition for the school play, which I’d never done before,” Utomi says. “It was my first time onstage and I was hooked. I truly thank her all the time.”

After high school, he attended the University of San Diego while taking jobs in musical theater. In 2018, Utomi convinced his brother to move with him to New York, where he found a new casting agent.

“I told him I wanted ‘Hamilton,’ and he immediately called in an audition for me,” Utomi says. “Randomly, they needed an immediate replacement for the standby for Hamilton, Burr and Washington.”

Immediately, Utomi launched into a weekslong audition process of early mornings, New York subways and mastering songs and choreography for the three characters.

It was during a much-needed deep sleep that he got the call saying he secured the standby role.

“I woke up and wasn’t sure it really happened,” Utomi says. “I had to call my agent like, ‘Hey, so I got a call. But I was sleeping. I don’t know if it was real.’ And he said I booked it!”

A dream

While Utomi has long been a fan of “Hamilton,” he says his relationship with the lead character has deepened while he has portrayed him.

“When my niece was born, the song ‘Dear Theodosia’ became a whole other thing,” Utomi says of the lullaby to Burr and Hamilton’s children. “Now my nephew has been born. When I go back, the song will be a whole different thing.”

Utomi says that, while portraying the character who is famously an immigrant, he sees him through the eyes of his own parents, who are immigrants from Nigeria.

During the tour, which mostly played on the East Coast, Utomi’s former college preparation teacher visited to watch his performance in Louisville, Kentucky.

“We would go see him in plays in San Diego and just fell in love with him as a performer,” says Jeanne Wardle, who is now a counselor at Chaparral High School.

Wardle had enlisted Utomi in her classes as a tutor and remembers him talking about his dream of performing in “Hamilton” one day.

During the 2020 shutdown, Utomi coordinated Zoom calls with Wardle in which he spoke to Las Vegas theater and choir students about pursuing their passions.

“I was so impressed when I saw him in Louisville,” Wardle says. “He’s a son of immigrants, like Hamilton. His parents are from Nigeria. I remember when he came out singing ‘My Shot,’ which is about being an immigrant, about being ‘young, scrappy and hungry,’ I thought about how this is his story, this is his shot. And I started crying.”

In January 2019, Utomi secured the role of Alexander Hamilton full time.

Back on tour

While Utomi has yet to perform in Las Vegas — a West Coast tour has played twice at The Smith Center — Utomi toured for over a year, until live entertainment was halted in March 2020.

“It got pretty scary. There were times I thought I had done ‘Hamilton’ for the last time,” he says.

In August, the company was called back together to once again to begin rehearsals for the 2021 tour, which is currently playing in Tempe, Arizona.

“I’ve told everybody Tempe is the closest I’m going to be anytime soon,” Utomi says. “Hopefully some people from Vegas can come.”

One local who recently attended was Wardle, who then visited him after the performance.

While he is in the general area, Utomi says, he may make his first visit to Las Vegas since 2009.

“I might pop in,” he says. “And just, you know, go to Sierra Vista. Check out the old stomping grounds.“

“Hamilton” will play at the Gammage Auditorium at Arizona State University through Oct. 10.

Contact Janna Karel at jkarel@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jannainprogress on Twitter.