You may not have known that Chadwick Boseman started his career in the theatre.
And a few years ago he was close to starring as the lead in the Broadway musical ‘Holler If Ya Hear Me.’ However, he landed the role of James Brown in Get On Up, so he exited the role just before it came to Broadway.
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The director for ‘Holler If You Hear Me,’Kenny Leon recently shared a video of Boseman performing Tupac’s “I Ain’t Mad at Cha” with co-star Hamilton’s Christopher Jackson. Now there is revived interest in Holler If Ya Hear Me, the musical inspired by the words and music of the late artist Tupac Shakur. There is also interest in finding a way to do something with the entire filmed musical as it was performed by Boseman.
Eric Gold bankrolled the Broadway hip hop musical and is open to do what Leon and other creatives involved in the show want to do. However, Leon is on the fence in regards to reviving thhe musical.
“Chad left just like my friend August Wilson did,” Leon said. “I got to direct his plays on Broadway, but they both left us work to do, they left inspiring us to do better work. Through his work he was encouraging us to be better people, through his actions he was advocating for people to vote, to take care of kids with cancer, he was advocating to spread Tupac’s words. Which were, you are forgetting about the young people in the ‘hood. You’re forgetting about the gap between the haves and the have nots. In many ways, to me, he had a bit of Dr. King, Malcolm X, Jackie Robinson in him. In many ways, he was our superhero. We’re going to miss him, but we’ve got to do the work and that is what he would wish.”
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The musical was definitely ahead of its time as it came out right before Lin-Manuel Miranda’s historical Hamilton premiered and made Broadway history.
Check out Boseman’s performance below.