‘Hamilton’ star Stephanie Jae Park discusses getting the role of Eliza, the revolutionary musical and taking on The Bushnell

Strong female characters are one of the things that distinguish Lin-Manuel Miranda’s vibrant musical “Hamilton” from textbook histories of the country’s founding fathers.

“I’m erasing myself from the narrative,” Eliza Hamilton sings in one of the most powerful songs from the musical. “Let future historians wonder how Eliza reacted when you broke her heart/ You have torn it all apart? I am watching it burn.” She sings about her husband, Alexander Hamilton, the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury who helped guide the new government following the Revolutionary War.

Eliza also sings about, and with, her sisters Angelica and Peggy, the Schuyler Sisters, as they’re known.

Stephanie Jae Park is playing Eliza during the tour of “Hamilton,” which is playing at The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts through July 10. She will play the role through September. The show has several tours in North America right now, as well as standing companies in England, Australia and Germany. Hartford’s getting the tour named “Philip.” The last time “Hamilton” was at The Bushnell, it was with the “Angelica” tour.

Until “Hamilton,” Park’s most extensive previous touring experience was with the Broadway revival of “Cinderella” — though not when it visited The Bushnell. Connecticut has heard her before. She performed in a virtual Christmas fundraiser for the Shubert Theater in New Haven in 2020.

Park, who also plays in a band named Saffron Lips, spoke to the Courant on “a very rare Tuesday night off” from her home in New York City, shortly before she headed to Hartford.

What’s this tour like?

The majority of this company has been with the “Philip” tour since before the pandemic, but there are some new members. It depends on what your definition of “new” is. Some of us have been with it for one year, two years. I’ve been with the show since 2019. I was the Schuyler Sisters stand-by for the first year, which means I covered the three Schuyler Sisters [roles], then was changed to Eliza for my second year of “Hamilton.” I was with the “Angelica” tour first, then transferred over to the “Philip” company.

How did you get the role?

I was told by a couple of friends that I should be in “Hamilton.” It had been out for a couple of years then, and I had never seen it. I was strangely resistant to it for some reason. I think it was so mainstream and popular that I was kind of avoiding it. But finally, I said [to my agent], “OK, my friends keep telling me I should be in this show, can I get an audition for it?” Luckily, at that time a position opened up. I sang all the [Schuyler] Sisters material, worked through a lot of notes with some of the creative team, then eventually got the role. That was my audition process. I think some of the dancers have a much more extensive process. There are some dancers who’ll do a whole workshop for it, and then a position may not open up for a year. Everyone’s journey can be so different to get into the show.

Are there tricks to mastering the role, areas where you feel like ‘This is my song now’?

Yeah, it’s an interesting process. Every actor has their own way of learning the material and making it their own. I would say that I first attack the technical aspects — I go to voice lessons, I have an acting coach and I have this technique that I learned through Meisner training. I just do a lot of homework. I do a deep dive into the character and all her intricacies and all the relationships in her life, anything that’s happened, anything that could have happened just before the scene. ... All the nitty gritty details.

Every show, I’m actually watching the number before “Burn.” I’m watching “Reynolds Pamphlet” [about Alexander’s affair with another woman] for something else to respond to. So every night is a little bit different.

How does it feel when somebody new comes to the tour with their own fresh take on a character?

That’s the fun of acting, especially in a company like “Hamilton” where there are just so many different takes on the same character. It is really fun when an understudy goes on and they have a completely new take. For me, it’s very exciting, because at least half of acting is reacting. When you do a show eight times a week, anything new is exciting. You get a new choice, a new thought, something new to respond to, that’s where the fun comes in.

‘Hamilton’ last played The Bushnell four years ago. Back then, people were unable to see the show outside of a theater, and even then it was hard to get tickets. Since that time, many more people have seen it on Disney+. Has that changed how well people know the show when they see your tour?

I think it’s helped in terms of people understanding more of the storyline. Before the Disney movie there was the album, so plenty of people knew the songs really well anyway. But the stage version is so different from the movie. The act of going to a theater is so different. I think there’s something still really magical about just being in the theater and having live art in front of you. But it is cool for a little more of a grasp of what’s happening. Obviously the musical goes a mile a minute. It took me months, years, to understand every little detail. There’s no limit to what you can discover in this show. It’s great that the audience doesn’t have to pick it all up the first time around.

Are the audience reactions different in different parts of the country?

Absolutely. There are lines where in some places they’re applauded and others it’s silent. But even a matinee is going to be a different crowd than the evening. I think it’s important for the cast to remember that everyone enjoys it in a different way. I will say that the cast loves loud audiences, so if y’all wanted to tell your readers to cheer loud and know that we appreciate it.

Different world events can affect the show too, right? When ‘Hamilton’ first happened, it was during the Obama administration, then that changed and changed again.

This could be a much more intense conversation, but you can kind of tell whether you’re in a red state or a blue state, for example. You can tell which lines will get a reaction from which people. For example, the famous line “Immigrants, we get the job done,” gets a very different amount of applause per city or per audience. It’s fascinating.

Anytime you say anything political about America it gets polarized. But the great thing about “Hamilton,” too, is that it is the great unifier because it’s about our history.

“Hamilton” runs through July 10 at The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford. Performances are Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 and 7 p.m. $69-$266. There is also an online lottery for $10 tickets. bushnell.org.

Christopher Arnott can be reached at carnott@courant.com.