Javier Muñoz (actor)

Javier Muñoz is an American actor who played the leading role on Broadway in two hit musicals, In the Heights and Hamilton. In an admiring review in The New York Times, Ben Brantley described Muñoz's Hamilton as "sexy...with a penetrating stare and a Don Juan smile."[1]

Javier Muñoz in costume to play the lead role, Alexander Hamilton.

Childhood

Muñoz, the son of a Puerto Rican family, grew up in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York.[2][3] He attended Brooklyn's Edward R. Murrow High School where he participated in the drama club.[2] He got his BFA at New York University and was part of the CAP 21 acting program.[2][4][5]

Career

Muñoz's early roles include Ziad, the "best friend" in Kari Floren's The Porch at Altered Stages in New York,[6] and roles in other off-Broadway productions.[7] He was playing off-Broadway in the musical, All is Love, and had abandoned acting to accept a full-time job as a manager at the restaurant 441/2 in Hell's Kitchen when he auditioned for In the Heights.[2] He landed a minor role that was cut from the show during rehearsals, but he stayed on as a member of the ensemble.[2]

On 16 February 2009 Muñoz took the leading man role of Usnavi in the Broadway cast of the hit musical In the Heights.[8][9][10][11] Muñoz went on to play Usnavi in the national tour.[12] Theater critic Robert Feldberg wrote that he preferred Muñoz in the role originated by Miranda, pointing out that the romance between Usnavi and Vanessa seemed more "believable" and that in putting across the main storyline in a way that Miranda had been unable to do, Muñoz turned the star vehicle into an "emotionally persuasive" ensemble performance.[13]

In 2015 Muñoz is the alternate for the role of Alexander Hamilton in the Broadway production Hamilton. Muñoz appears in the role originated by Lin-Manuel Miranda every Sunday and on weekdays whenever Miranda needs to be elsewhere on a weekday.[14][15][16][17][18] Muñoz played the role of Hamilton the night President Obama brought his family to watch the show.[19][20] New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley noted Muñoz's role subbing for Miranda in the role of Hamilton, stating "the cutting carnal edge of Mr. Muñoz's performance may slightly alter the production's chemistry, especially between Hamilton and Angelica Schuyler, his intellectual equal and sister-in-law."[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Brantley, Ben (1 December 2015). "The Same Founding Father's New Vibe". New York Times.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Hernandez, Lee (10 February 2009). "'In The Heights' creator names bodeguero heir". New York Daily News. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  3. ↑ Kaye, Kimberley (19 February 2009). "Javier Muñoz Interview". Broadway.com. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  4. ↑ "Javier Muñoz". osfashland.org. Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Kahn, Jessica (30 November 2015). "Hamilton's Javier Munoz Nabs 'Sexy' New York Times Review". Broadway World. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  6. ↑ Midgette, Anne (13 June 2006). "Unexpected Guests, and Results, in 'The Porch' (review)". New York Times. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  7. ↑ Horn, Miriam (31 May 2005). "Secrets (Gasp) In the 1950's (review)". New York Times. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  8. ↑ Vega, María Ivette (31 October 2009). "Simplemente afortunado (profile)". El Nuevo Día.
  9. ↑ Jones, Kenneth (30 January 2009). "Javier Muñoz Graduates to Star of In the Heights on Feb. 16". Playbill. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  10. ↑ "Javier Munoz Brings His 'Usnavi' IN THE HEIGHTS". Broadway World. 16 February 2009. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  11. ↑ Blank, Matthew (16 February 2009). "Javier Muñoz as Usnavi in In the Heights". Playbill. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  12. ↑ Maupin, Elizabeth (17 April 2009). "Broadway series beckons to hipper, younger crowd". Orlando Sentinel.
  13. ↑ Feldberg, Robert (16 August 2009). "Recast puts new spin on 'Heights'". The Record.
  14. ↑ Goldstein, Jessica (12 November 2015). "Javier Muñoz on What It’s Like to Play Alexander Hamilton When Lin-Manuel Miranda Isn’t". Vulture.com. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  15. ↑ Gans, Andrew. " Lin-Manuel Miranda's Alternate Will Play Title Role in Hamilton Once a Week" playbill.com, July 6, 2015
  16. ↑ Purcell, Carey (10 August 2015). "Meet Hamilton's Other Leading Man, Standing By for Lin-Manuel Miranda for More Than Ten Years". Playbill. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  17. ↑ Wexler, Matthew (8 August 2015). "Does Broadway's Hamilton Shine Without Its Star?". Gothamist. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  18. ↑ Henry, Sally (18 October 2015). "HAMILTON's Javier Munoz Featured in Latest Photo Using 1800s Lens". Broadway World. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  19. ↑ Schuessler, Jennifer (18 July 2015). "Starring on Broadway, Obama and Alexander Hamilton". New York Times. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  20. ↑ Ramsey, Nick (18 July 2015). "Obama attends matinee performance of Broadway’s ‘Hamilton’". MSNBC. Retrieved 10 November 2015.

External links

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