The Theater People Podcast Welcomes Broadway Beast Mandy Gonzalez

On Monday, Theater People podcast welcomes Hamilton's Mandy Gonzalez. She made her Broadway debut in 2000 in AIDA as the Amnneris standby. She eventually took the role over full-time. She went on to originate roles in DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES and LENNON before winning her breakout role as Nina in Lin-Manuel Miranda's IN THE HEIGHTS, a role she originated in the show's pre-Off Broadway days. She went on to take over the role of Elphaba in WICKED and can now be seen eight times a week in the hottest show on Broadway, Hamilton.

For the episode, Gonzalez discusses how she was cast in Hamilton via text message from the show's director Thomas Kail, being in the ensemble in an early reading of WICKED, and what it was like to help create IN THE HEIGHTS from the ground up.

Listen to the Mandy Gonzalez episode here:

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Previous guests on the Theater People Podcast include Tony-winner Cady Huffman (THE PRODUCERS), Tony-nominee Annaleigh Ashford (KINKY BOOTS), Tony-nominee Laura Osnes (BONNIE & CLYDE, RODGERS + HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA), Tony-winner Daisy Eagan (THE SECRET GARDEN), stage and screen star Michael Urie (UGLY BETTY, BUYER & CELLAR), Broadway star and webseries creator Andrew Keenan-Bolger (NEWSIES, SUBMISSIONS ONLY), Tony-nominee Anika Larsen (BEAUTIFUL: THE Carole King MUSICAL), Tony-winning director Michael Mayer (THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, SPRING AWAKENING, AMERICAN IDIOT, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH), two-time Tony-winner Katie Finneran (NOISES OFF, PROMISES, PROMISES), Eden Espinosa (WICKED, BROOKLYN, RENT), Anthony Rapp (RENT, IF/THEN), Olivier-Winner Lesli Margherita(MATILDA), Tony-winner Tonya Pinkins (JELLY'S LAST JAM, CAROLINE OR CHANGE) two-time Tony nominee Robin De Jesus (IN THE HEIGHTS, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES), Tony-winner Karen Olivo (IN THE HEIGHTS, WEST SIDE STORY), Tony-winner Jerry Mitchell, KINKY BOOTS' Ellyn Marie Marsh, GODSPELL and RENT star Telly Leung, Tony-winner Lin-Manuel Miranda (IN THE HEIGHTS, BRING IT ON: THE MUSICAL, Hamilton), three-time Tony nominee Celia Keenan-Bolger (25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTRY SPELLING BEE, THE GLASS MENAGERIE), Margo Siebert (ROCKY) ,Amber Iman (SOUL DOCTOR), Alysha Umphress (ON THE TOWN), Mary Testa (FALSETTOS, WICKED), Tony-winner LaChanze (ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, THE COLOR PURPLE, IF/THEN), Lindsay Mendez (GODSPELL, DOGFIGHT, WICKED), the hosts of the Ensemblist podcast Mo Brady (THE ADDAMS FAMILY) and Nikka Graff Lanzarone (CHICAGO, WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN), Tony-nominee Keala Settle (HANDS ON A HARDBODY, LES MISERABLES), two-time Tony-nominee Andy Karl (ROCKY, ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY), Tony and Emmy-nominee Martha Plimpton (PAL JOEY, A DELICATE BALANCE), musical theatre legend, Elaine Paige, Tony-nominee Tony Yazbeck (GYPSY, ON THE TOWN), Lisa Howard (THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU), Tony-winner Jeanine Tesori (FUN HOME, THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, VIOLET), Tony-nominee Marc Kudisch (HAND TO GOD, THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, ASSASSINS), and Tony-nominee Kerry Butler (HAIRSPRAY, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, CLINTON THE MUSICAL), Tony-winner Michael Cerveris (THE WHO'S TOMMY, ASSASSINS, FUN HOME), TV and Broadway star Lea DeLaria (ON THE TOWN), Tony-nominee Geneva Carr (HAND TO GOD), director Michael Mayer (THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, SPRING AWAKENING, AMERICAN IDIOT, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH) and writer/lyricist Dick Scanlan (THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, EVERYDAY RAPTURE, WHORL INSIDE A LOOP), Tony-winner Laura Benanti (INTO THE WOODS, GYPSY, SHE LOVES ME), Tony-winner Lena Hall (HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH), Kate Baldwin (FINNIAN'S RAINBOW, BIG FISH), Elizabeth Stanley (ON THE TOWN, BRIDGE OF MADISON COUNTY tour), Andrew Briedis a.k.a. Annoying Actor Friend, Norm Lewis (LES MISERABLES, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA), Renee Elise Goldsberry (THE COLOR PURPLE, Hamilton), Tony-nominee Beth Malone (FUN HOME), Alex Brightman (SCHOOL OF ROCK), Tony-nominee Megan Hilty (SMASH, NOISES OFF), Sierra Boggess (THE LITTLE MERMAID, SCHOOL OF ROCK), Tony-nominee Phillipa Soo (HAMILTON), Adam Kantor (FIDDLER ON THE ROOF), Spencer Liff (HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, SPRING AWAKENING), Andrea Burns (IN THE HEIGHTS, ON YOUR FEET), Tony-nominee Danny Burstein (FOLLIES, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF), Paul Alexander Nolan (BRIGHT STAR), Laura Michelle Kelly (MARY POPPINS, FINDING NEVERLAND), Tony-nominee Carmen Cusack (BRIGHT STAR), Krysta Rodriguez, Andy Mientus, and Alex Boniello (SPRING AWAKENING), Tony-nominee Jenn Damiano (NEXT TO NORMAL, AMERICAN PSYCHO), Tony-winner Alice Ripley (SIDE SHOW, NEXT TO NORMAL, AMERICAN PSYCHO), Betsy Wolfe (BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, THE LAST FIVE YEARS), Tony-winner James Monroe Iglehart (MEMPHIS, ALADDIN), three-time Tony-nominee Christopher Fitzgerald (WICKED, FINIAN'S RAINBOW, WAITRESS), original SIDE SHOW stars Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley, Tony-winning producer Kevin McCollum (RENT, IN THE HEIGHTS, SOMETHING ROTTEN), PARAMOUR's Jeremy Kushnier, Tony-nominees Will Chase and Rob McClure, The Ensemblist's Mo Brady and Nikka Graff Lanzarone, Jose Llana (25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BE, HERE LIES LOVE, THE KING AND I), Tony and Emmy-winner Thomas Kail (IN THE HEIGHTS, Hamilton, GREASE: LIVE), Tony-nominee Rebecca Luker (THE SECRET GARDEN, MARY POPPINS), and Jay Armstrong Johnson (HANDS ON A HRDBODY, ON THE TOWN)