Here at Missing Perspectives, we’re running a series that we call High Agency Women. It’s focused on incredible women working in the tech and business space – but it’s safe to say, actress Vidya Makan, currently Eliza in Hamilton, is one High Agency Woman.
Vidya is quite the multi-hyphenate: a composer, writer, actor, singer, and musician. Vidya kindly did an interview with us during her busy Hamilton schedule (i.e. eight shows a week – we are never complaining about our workload again…).
This is a conversation worth reading – with Vidya unpacking how she brought her own interpretation of the character, and what representation in the musical means to her as an Indian Australian woman. Vidya shares that as an actress often playing white women who are recontextualised in a contemporary canon (before Hamilton she played Catherine in SIX), she is also keen to rewrite stories of women of colour in a way that haven’t been told before.
She shares with Missing Perspectives that she’s researching South Asian historical women whose stories she is keen to platform. She won’t tell us who in particular – but her dream is to bring some of these stories to light through her own shows, that she will write.
We cannot wait to see what’s in store for Vidya, who is clearly a force to be reckoned with.
What drew you to the character of Eliza and how did you approach bringing her to life on stage?
I mean, Eliza is, if not the dream role, for me in musical theatre.
She’s famously played by a woman of colour in this groundbreaking, revolutionary musical. So, her being a dream role of mine was like a no-brainer. I’ve wanted to play her since I first listened to the album when it first came out and I was in university. My approach to bringing her to life was that I really wanted to make her something of my own.
She’s been played so iconically by so many incredible women. I really wanted to put my take on her. I’m a real history nerd. So I read the Ron Chernow (massive) book that Lin-Manuel Miranda had actually based the musical [Hamilton] off. I wanted to do as much historical research as I could so that I could really get to know like: what was in his mind when he was writing this character?
I’m a composer and lyricist myself. So I wanted to kind of get into Lin’s brain to see how he was crafting her and what her role was within the musical. Something I really latched onto was the fact that she was described as this vivacious woman. She was actually described as kind of boyish and like had this real charm and energy that she really just sparked a room that she was like a light in the room whenever she would walk in.
That boyishness, that vibrancy, was something I really related to. And I thought: I think that could be the foundation of what my Eliza looks like and who she is. I wanted to craft someone who’s really grounded and not painted as someone who is a doormat who has to like just deal with all these really crappy situations that she unfortunately gets flung into – but actually someone with incredible resilience, with incredible wisdom and incredible courage.
She’s someone who I actually learn from myself, eight times a week when I play her.
So bringing her to life, that was what was really important to me. The audition process this time around was actually quite quick. I first auditioned for the show back when they were first auditioning the original Australian cast. I always say, I think when it comes to work, like you have to be in the right part of your life as well to, I think, access a character.
I just wasn’t in the right [headspace], I think for myself back then. I’m so glad I had these years to mature and to grow. Now I’ve turned 30 this year, I feel like I’ve really come into myself and found this confidence within myself, which playing Eliza, it feels like that’s a really big part of playing her.
The audition process this time round was actually quite quick. I went in twice and I think I found out within a matter of like a month – which is definitely not what a lot of people’s journeys with Hamilton has been.
How do you balance staying true to the original Eliza and adding your own interpretation of the character?
To me, the text is foundational. Lin’s work on this show is genius. It gives you so much. So in staying true to the original, I wouldn’t say the original portrayal of Eliza because for me, that has nothing to do with me. When I play a character, I actually stop listening to soundtracks.
I stop watching anything to do with it. I really want to make it my own. So I wouldn’t ever try to put a testament to the original portrayal of her, but the original writing of her is something that is my foundation. That’s my Bible. That’s the thing I stick by every show. And it’s so geniously written that I find sometimes, with certain shows, I might change up a certain intention or something and I’ll realise, Oh, that’s why that rhythm was written there.
Or I can lean into this melody because he’s [Lin’s] just such a genius. I think that there’s so much to play with. I guess my own new interpretation is just the fact that I’m playing her – I think I’ll only ever bring my very best to anything that I do. That is certainly true for the way that I’ve taken on Eliza.
One thing that I’ve been thinking about is the idea of forgiveness. One of the massive moments for Eliza in the show is the moment where she takes Hamilton’s hand and after all the wrong he has done to her and the ensemble sing forgiveness, and it’s this incredible moment of reckoning and of peace, I guess, and of healing.
That moment for me is something that is really, really important – and something that I’m very specific about is that I never want it to come across as she is a woman who just has to deal with these circumstances. Up until this point, Hamilton has never ever come to her. He’s never been there for her when she has needed him.
It’s always been her being the support and she gives so much. So what for me is so important in that moment and what I play every show is that the moment of Eliza taking Hamilton’s hand is not so much that she is working through the hurt and that she’s just forgiving him. But that forgiveness is actually a two-way street.
And that Hamilton himself, Alexander Hamilton, is coming to terms with what he has done. He’s looking at this woman who he has hurt. And he is deciding to change, and he sings that through his lyrics. He does that through his actions and the way that he approaches her, and he’s finally making space for her. He’s trying to be there for her, and it’s the first time he ever does that.
For me, the reason that I take his hand. It’s never, do you know what, it’s okay honey, we’re gonna move on. It’s actually that I can see that you are trying to change, and I need you. I need you and I am going to accept that. And that moment for me is so important in making this Eliza my own, that has been something that’s really, really important.
Especially for women that are not subject to our circumstance, and we just have to be okay with things and that, forgiveness and healing can come in a really powerful way. I guess I want to, at the end of the day, show that Eliza has agency and in that moment she’s hurting so much but she’s choosing to heal because it’s a safe space for her to do that.
That is what is really important to my Eliza and is something that is very important for my portrayal of her and what that brings out of the show as well and what that brings out of Hamilton himself.
What has been the most challenging aspect of playing Eliza both vocally and emotionally and how did it differ from Catherine in SIX The Musical?
This is a really funny question. When I started Hamilton, in the first, I think, few weeks, I was like, SIX is a hundred percent the hardest thing that I’ve ever done.
And I still stand by that in some ways. They’re very different shows to compare, but, Catherine Parr and SIX was so difficult because in that show, you are one of six on stage in terms of your energy and the focus. And, there’s a certain emotional commitment in filling a theatre when there’s not many of you.
I think maybe the pressure of that or something, is really full on in SIX in Hamilton. It’s like a marathon. It’s a long, long show, but we get to actually come off and there’s breaks and it’s not as physically demanding. So when I first started, I was actually like, I feel like I’m sitting in the pocket of this thing.
It’s challenging, but it’s challenging in all the things that I consider my absolute strengths. The challenging aspect about Eliza and this show is the longevity. It’s something that chips away at you and wears you down. I’m very fortunate that she sits vocally in a really easy place for me.
So I actually find her to be quite an easy thing. But emotionally, yeah, it’s a massive load. Eliza goes through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. And she is the heart of the show. She kind of carries the emotion all the way through. And that’s a very, very heavy weight to wear. So something I’ve actually had to learn about is taking advice from her in the show.
In the second act, she sings to Hamilton, Take a break, take a break. I think that that can be interpreted as, come on, like, give me some attention. But my interpretation of that is actually the wisdom of you can’t run yourself into the ground. And when Hamilton doesn’t listen to the advice that Eliza is trying to give of take a break, that’s when he starts making all of the decisions that are to his downfall, and eventually lead to his early death, which I see as something that could have been avoided if he was to listen to the wisdom of Eliza.
So I myself try to listen to her. And I actually find that my days in order to prepare to do my job at night eight times a week, is that I really have to take it very, very, very easy. I go for beautiful relaxing walks. I enjoy my time in the sun. I go to the beach and it sounds silly, but these are the things that help me manage the massive emotional load of playing Eliza really consistently.
As someone of a South Asian background playing a historically significant character, how do you view the importance of representation in Hamilton? And what did this mean to you?
It means so much. It’s not lost on me, how incredible it is that I get this opportunity to potentially be the vision for someone that I myself never got growing up.
I almost didn’t enter this industry because it was like, I know I have the talent. I know I have the work ethic, but is there a realistic shot that I have to do what I want to do? I feel very fortunate that I get to be in this era where we’re starting to see people like myself. I’m not getting forced anymore.
When I started in the industry, it was like this – I used to only get scenes for certain specific racial stereotypes that weren’t even my own, and that felt really uncomfortable and weird. But now I finally get to flex my skills as a really strong actor, as a really strong vocalist, and I get to just be a woman playing a human.
So the fact that I get to do that eight times a week is really, really special to me. And you know, we live in an age of social media. So I get messages from people all over the world saying, wow, like seeing you take up this space, not just as a South Asian woman, but you know, the person that you are – I love wearing baggy shirts. I have yellow hair. I’m so uniquely myself. And I’m so proud of that. And I’m South Asian. All of those things, I’m really, really proud to be representing playing the leading lady in this incredible musical.
What do I hope audiences take away from my character story and Hamilton more broadly?
I feel like I can never answer that question.
To me, I make theatre because I want to ask the questions and I want to bring things to people. All I can deliver is my whole heart. We are telling a story every night that is about legacy and life and death and really what it is to be human.
What people take away from my character? That is absolutely their prerogative, and I would never want to have anything to do with upsetting that. I think it’s my job as the actor to give all the information and then the audience take away what they will. Something I will say is that the way that I play Eliza – I hope that women in particular see themselves represented in my portrayal of her… that they see someone with heart and strength and incredible resilience and the courage to make it through really, really tough things.
After Hamilton, are there any other historical characters you’d be keen to play?
Oh my god, this is such a question. I feel like my branding for some reason is like playing historical women who rewrite the narrative. That’s what I did with Catherine Parr. It’s what I did earlier when I played Dot, in Sunday in the Park with George.
And it’s now what I’m doing with Eliza. I always play these like women who were hard done by, who then take the narrative into their own hands, and then leave the audience and finish the show. So that seems to be my branding and I’m happy to keep doing that. But to be honest, I’m a writer myself and I’m often playing white women who are recontextualised in our current canon, I guess, current world, to rewrite their stories in a way that weren’t told.
I myself am actually looking at a few South Asian historical women or women of colour whose stories need to be told. I won’t say who, because I’m currently working on it, but I think my dream is to actually bring some of these stories to light within my own voice – write my own shows and then give voice to these women, and it doesn’t have to be a colonial context or a white context.
It can actually be a women of colour throughout history who’ve not been given the time of day, whose stories are absolutely incredible. So that… that is definitely my dream.
Hamilton is currently showing in Sydney Lyric Theatre until 25th January, 2025.