Tony Award-winning performer Leslie Odom Jr. came to North Central College’s Pfeiffer Hall to promote his new book ‘Failing Up: How to Take Risks, Aim Higher, and Never Stop Learning’.
Anderson’s Bookshop presented the event, where Odom Jr. told stories from the book, answered audience questions, and sang before a packed house.
The multi-talented performer rose to fame after starring as Aaron Burr in the Broadway musical ‘Hamilton’. Among many other topics, he talked about his experience auditioning for the part.
“Everything that he was saying to me, in a loving way, was like ‘This is not a Broadway offer.’ We’re just asking you to come in and do a little reading, don’t get your hopes up,” said Odom Jr. “So my goal was to make sure they never wanted to see another Aaron Burr again.”
Odom Jr. sang songs from ‘Hamilton’ and ‘Rent’ and left the audience awestruck.
“I thought it was amazing,” said Grace Wichhart. “I’m still in shock right now that we were that close to him but it was really awesome. He’s such an amazing singer.”
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.