Josh Gad Shares Cool Personal History With Leslie Odom Jr. After Watching Hamilton On Disney+

Leslie Odom Jr in Hamilton on stage in 2016
(Image credit: (Disney))
(Image credit: (Disney))

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Hamilton has remained the most sought-out ticket on Broadway for the past five years. But there will never be anything like the era when the original cast took the stage eight times a week. Each of them has since gone on to make movies, star in television shows and record albums. As tons of people hit play on the Disney+ release this weekend, Frozen’s Josh Gad can see his longtime friend kill it on stage via the streaming service. Check out the actor’s sweet words about Leslie Odom Jr:

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As Josh Gad wrote on Twitter, the actor who plays Aaron Burr in Hamilton has been his buddy since college. The former Book of Mormon star sounded emotional as he recorded a tidbit of Leslie Odom Jr singing his show-stopping number, “Wait For It,” with his family at home. The pair are both 38 years old and went to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the same time to nab their degrees in fine arts before reaching the big leagues.

Aside from that, Josh Gad and Leslie Odom Jr starred together in 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express and the new AppleTV+ animated musical comedy Central Park. Josh Gad can also call Hamilton’s King George a friend since his Frozen co-star Jonathan Groff was part of the original cast, too. Since the movie dropped on Disney+ on Friday, viewers cannot stop talking about seeing the Kristoff actor spit in high definition. Check out Gad’s family enjoying “You’ll Be Back”:

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Josh Gad joins a massive crowd of people who have been tuning into the Tony Award-winning show. Hamilton was trending on Twitter all day yesterday as fans watched, many for the first time ever. Everyone was talking about the show, including Lin-Manuel Miranda’s wife Vanessa Nadal, who revealed her reaction whenever her playwright husband smooches with an actress on stage. The movie was shot over three days back in 2016, a couple weeks before Miranda concluded his run as Alexander Hamilton.

Leslie Odom Jr. tuned into the show on Disney+ last night with his wife, Nicolette Robinson, enjoying the perks of at-home snacks. In some parallel universe, he’d be physically with his Hamilton family celebrating the release of the film. Take a look:

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The worlds of Hollywood and Broadway are a lot smaller than they look when you think about how both Josh Gad and Leslie Odom Jr. rose from sharing the same college classes to having their own high-profile work available on Disney+. Aside from the show finally being available to more audiences, the talent of Hamilton’s original cast can be enjoyed by more people too. And if you haven't already, can sign up for a Disney+ account.

Up next: Reviewing Disney+'s Hamilton And Discussing The Future Of Movie Theaters

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.