By SHARON EBERSON
You can see Carnegie Mellon School of Drama alumni on almost any given day there is a live performance in the region, but the university was looking for a direct way to bridge its Oakland campus with Pittsburgh’s Downtown Cultural District when it approached the Tony Award-winning star of Hamilton.
On Monday, September 23, 2024, the fruits of that call will culminate in BEHIND THE SCENES: A Conversation with Leslie Odom Jr..
The event at the O’Reilly Theater, hosted by Robert Ramirez, the head of CMU Drama, will “reflect on and celebrate Odom’s transformative rise to global fame,” and conclude with an audience Q&A.
Odom, speaking by phone, said the university “known for innovation is making an effort to connect with generations, especially in theater, by connecting to the wonderful artistic community and the city itself.”
He expects Monday’s event to be the start of a regular talk-back series.
Philadelphia native Odom, currently on a concert tour and releasing new music this month, feels a kinship with both ends of the state, having “spent my formative years in both ends of Pennsylvania.”
“I look back so fondly on my years at Carnegie,” Odom said. “Whether I am in Los Angeles or New York, I am always happy to meet with new alums who have just arrived, and share what I can with them.”
He appreciated that CMU and Pittsburgh turned out for him, and were well-represented in audiences for his starring role in Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch, which gave him his second Tony nomination as an actor.
Odom earned his Bachelor of Arts in 2003, having already appeared on Broadway in Rent, and won the 2016 Tony as Aaron Burr in Hamilton.
As multi-hyphenates go, he has quite a few. The actor, singer, songwriter and entertainer played Sam Cooke in the film version of One Night in Miami, earning Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Song, is a three-time Emmy nominee, and has a Grammy for the Hamilton cast recording.
He also is the author of the book Failing Up: How to Take Risks, Aim Higher, and Never Stop Learning.
That, and how CMU helped shape his career, should give him plenty to talk about with Ramirez, who became head of CMU Drama in 2022.
“I’m letting Robert decide how this is going to go, but I’m mostly up for the conversation,” Odom said. “In my 25 years as a professional artist, even before then, I am most interested in the conversation, and that’s not just lip service. My favorite thing besides what happens with the art onstage is going to the theater as an audience member.”
Asked what the best piece of theater he has seen lately, his enthusiasm goes into overdrive for the recently closed Cats: The Jellicle Ball, an immersive off-Broadway phenomenon that has been described as “a radical reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s costume musical, based on T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, and inspired by the ballroom culture that roared out of New York City over 50 years ago.”
“I imagine it will have a continued life,” Odom enthused “about the strange, unique theatrical experience. You think, ‘How’d they do that? What a weird memorable thing I just saw! How lucky am I, to be a part of this ephemeral thing.’ ”
Pittsburgh will be catching Odom as he gears up for the holiday season. His Simply Christmas and The Christmas Album have been his most popular musical recordings. In winter 2017, he re-released Simply Christmas as a deluxe edition with new arrangements and new songs, and the album hit No. 1 on iTunes and Billboard Jazz Charts.
As the father of Lucille and Able, with actress Nicolette Robinson, Odom said he is honored when he hears that families “are playing my albums when they are decorating the tree or opening their first presents – that’s just amazing.”’
Odom last witnessed the bustle in the Pittsburgh Cultural District as a performer in 2018, in concert with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at Heinz Hall. He is happy to hear that it remains abuzz these days, post-pandemic, including the fact that he will be here during the latest visit of Hamilton to the Benedum Center.
“I feel everywhere I go,” he said, “as if we came out [of the pandemic] like a slingshot. … People are so grateful to be together again.”
Those and other topics that might come up on Monday are in the hands of the host and the audience, which is fine with Odom.
“I just hope that something is shared that evening, that Robert and I can create an environment that is welcoming enough, that it reminds people of the value of reaching out to one another, putting a premium on community and our third spaces, as we stay home more and more,” Odom said. “There are fewer and fewer places where we still can be together as a community, and the theater is one.”
TICKETS AND DETAILS
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama present BEHIND THE SCENES: A Conversation with Leslie Odom Jr., on Monday, September 23, 2024, 7:30 p.m., at the O’Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Avenue, Downtown. Tickets: visit https://www.trustarts.org/production/97210/behind-the-scenes-a-conversation-with-leslie-odom-jr or call 412-456-6666.
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