Entertainment Weekly - February 24 - March 3, 2017

Halfway to EGOT StatusThe Color Purple’s Cynthia

Erivo nabbed a Grammy for Best Musical Theater

Album. Will the Tony winner next earn thatO for playing

Harriet Tubman in a just-announced biopic?

BEHIND THE CURTAIN

Spirited, strong-willed Angelica is the

one who says she’ll tell Thomas Jefferson

to “include women in the sequel”—

and the woman who won a Tony award

for playing her is continuing that senti-

ment post-Hamilton. After departing the

show in September, Goldsberry, 46,

took on another real-life figure, playing

the title character in the HBO movie

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

(April 22). “I found myself playing another

extremely important woman in history

that nobody really knew about,” she

says. “Henrietta was not a very wealthy

woman like Angelica Schuyler, but her

legacy is undeniable.”

Theactress’league ofextraordinary

ladies continues with Netflix’s upcoming

sci-fi seriesAltered Carbon, on which

she plays a revolutionary in a futuristic

world. But when it comes to expressing

all her gratitude for her time in the

Broadway juggernaut, the actress will

never be satisfied. “Sometimes you have

to move on from something to really be

able to unpack it all,” says Goldsberry.

“I know that I’ll spend the rest of my

life processing it and finding new things

to be grateful for.”

There’s no rest for former presidents.

Even before exiting the musical in

November (how apropos!), the man who

played George Washington was already

on TV and in movie theaters, if only

via his voice in the latter case.

Jackson, 41, was the singing voice of

the title character’s father in Disney’s hit

Moana—working again with Lin-Manuel

Miranda, afterHamiltonandIn the

Heights. “That’s like the crown jewel of

the most incredible year I’ve ever had,”

he says. “The fact that one of my boys is

an Oscar-nominated songwriter and I

got to sing in the movie... I’m gonna have

to work really, really hard to top that.”

Where does one go after playing the

showstopping, duel-winning Aaron Burr,

sir? Across the pond. Seven months

after exitingHamilton, the Tony award

winner is now in London, shooting a role

in a new film take onMurder on the Orient

Express (out Nov. 22), costarring Judi

Dench, Johnny Depp, and Josh Gad.

“[Director Kenneth Branagh] runs the

set kind of like we’re a little theater

troupe,” Odom says. “I really went from

one pinch-me experience to the next.”

Post-Hamilton life has seen the release

of a second album (a Christmas set, which

followed a June collection of standards)

and a series of concerts, with an even

more anticipated project ahead: Odom, 35,

and his wife, actress Nicolette Robinson,

are expecting their first child this spring.

And though he’s no longer playing

Burr, the role has left an indelible impres-

sion. “The experience of doing that show,

with those people, and the way we con-

nected with the audience,” says the actor,

trailing off. “If nothing like that ever

happens again, it’ll be enough.”

LESLIE ODOM JR.

NEXT UPMurder on the Orient Express

ROLE INHAMILTONAaron Burr

Jackson also juggled his Broadway

schedule simultaneously with shoots

for CBS’ legal dramaBull(above, with

costar Michael Weatherly), on which he

swapped Washington’s uniform for

the fashion-forward duds of his stylist

character, Chunk Palmer. And though

Hamiltonnowfeaturesanew adminis-

tration, this modern major general

still hears theater’s siren call, admitting,

“I miss being on stage, to be sure.”

CHRISTOPHER

JACKSON

NEXT UPContinuing on Bull

ROLE INHAMILTONGeorge Washington

RENÉE ELISE

GOLDSBERRY

NEXT UP The Immortal Life of

Henrietta Lacks, Altered Carbon

ROLE INHAMILTONAngelica Schuyler

ODOM: LOU ROCCO/ABC/GETTY IMAGES;

BULL

: DAVID M. RUSSELL/CBS;

MOANA

: DISNEY; GOLDSBERRY: QUANTRELL D. COLBERT/HBO