When you sing your full-throated love of Christmas before 2,500 people while backed by an 80-piece orchestra, you must really love Christmas.
Broadway, film and TV starLeslie Odom Jr.really loves Christmas. But, as can be the case for many, that love for the season didn’t come easily to him.
“Let’s just say I’ve made the holidays ideal,” the Oscar-nominated Odom told the Denver Gazette in advance of his Dec. 7 return to Denverto perform his holiday show accompanied by the Colorado Symphony.“I had to turn some things around post-childhood, and so the holidays are now, finally, what I always hoped they could be.”
In his2018 memoir “Failing Up,”Odom talks about a kindergarten teacher who, you might say, acted as Santa’s little helper. “Names of the students who broke rules would go into the box,” Odom wrote. “She kept a running tally of naughty kids, and mine was, without fail, the very first name in that stupid box every single day.”
Even five years later, Odom described himself as a rowdy, unfocused 10-year-old who had trouble with rules and unquestioned authority. His mouth got him into a fair amount of trouble.
“I was a handful,” he wrote.
He credits his tough but empathetic educator parents – and a no-nonsense fifth-grade social-studies teacher who was immune to his evident charms –for keeping him on a path that led him to Broadway by the time he was 17. (He joined the cast ofJonathan Larson’s “Rent”in 1998.)
A young Odom essentially made a mindful decision to bide his time. Something, as Sondheim famously wrote, was coming.
“I just knew that as an adult I was going to get to make choices,” Odom said. “I knew I was going to get to make choices about who I spent my time with and how I honored and appreciated myself and the people around me. And those are choices that I didn’t have when I was a child. And now I take those choices seriously.”
Today Odom, a married father of two, considers this to be the holiest and happiest time of the year, no matter your faith.
“I think we can all agree that the period from mid-December through early January is a time for family and rest and not answering emails and text messages the second they come through,” he said. “There’s a collective gratitude and a renewal that happens around this time of year that I really look forward to.”
Wait, did he say rest? That will have to wait until after his Dec. 7 date in Denver –and several more to follow that will keep him spreading his holiday cheer throughout the month.
‘I had to turn some things around post-childhood, and so the holidays are now, finally, what I always hoped they could be.’ – Leslie Odom Jr.
Odom has released five albums, two of them seasonal: “Simply Christmas” (2016) and “The Christmas Album” (2020). He previously appeared with the Colorado Symphony in April 2022, but this is his first time in Denver with a dedicated holiday program.
“As an artist, you are inspired to make something,” he said. “But my first Christmas album is the only thing I have ever made because people were asking me for it. Every couple of days I would get a few comments on Twitter saying, ‘Hey, your voice is perfect for Christmas. You should make a Christmas album.’ So, it felt good to bring back something they had requested.”
It might seem like Odom arrived on the scene like a bullet from Aaron Burr’s gun when he was cast to originate the role of the disgraced Revolutionary War hero in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s groundbreaking “Hamilton” in 2015. But he was already a highly regarded 17-year veteran of the New York theater scene. The role won him a Tony Award and a recording deal that became “Simply Christmas.” The enduring legacy of that story(which is coincidentally currently visiting Denver’s Buell Theatre through Sunday), Odom believes, will be the new generation of fans it is bringing to the theater.
“I believe Lin has done the great work for this generation that Jonathan Larson did for his, and the musicals “Dreamgirls” and “Hair” did for theirs,” he said.
“Hamilton has brought a new generation of theater practitioners and theater fans to the world, and I will always be grateful for that. In every generation, you need for some piece of theater to remind everyone of the power of the medium and to keep it alive, because there’s something that can happen in these theaters that doesn’t happen anywhere else. And so we certainly need new practitioners and new writers to remind us of that power every now and again so that we don’t get complacent and we don’t let it fade away.”
Every year, new people discover Odom’s holiday music for the first time, whether it’s from the enduring popularity of “Hamilton,” or from his appearance in “The Glass Onion” (“Knives Out”) movie, or for his astonishing, Oscar-nominated turn as Sam Cooke in the play-turned-movie “One Night in Miami.” In 2020, because of the global pandemic, Odom put out his second Christmas album “because we really needed to hope again,” he said. “And now we’re really looking forward to giving people the live experience.”
For those who are new to Odom or his signature vocal style, the “Hamilton” soundtrack is probably not the best place to start. He suggests sampling his take on the holiday chestnut “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” from his 2016 album. His take on the song is a little bit jazz, a little bit soul, and a whole lot of heart.
“It sounds like the ideal Christmas that I dreamed about when I was a kid,” he said of his collaboration with Tommy King on keys. “It sounds like what I’d always hoped a recorded product of mine would sound like. Within my little camp, that song is the bar that we’re always trying to meet. We need every song to be as honest and tender and as fresh as that one.”
It’s impossible to overstate the rocket ride Odom has been on since 2015, including singing for the Obamas at the White House and making his triumphant return to Broadway last year in “Purlie Victorious.”
But I wanted to ask him about “One Night in Miami,” the celebrated play that had one of its first stagingsat the Denver Center in 2015before playwright Kemp Powers turned it into a 2021 film. In the fact-based story, Cassius Clay has just won the heavyweight title. But instead of hitting the official South Beach afterparty, he retreats to a hotel room with activist Malcom X, singer Sam Cooke and football player Jim Brown.
The next morning, the boxer announced his allegiance to the Nation of Islam and the changing of his name to Muhammad Ali. The play imagines what really happened in that room to affect such a monumental change in Ali. The film was directed by Regina King.
“Oh, that was a dream,” Odom said. “And at first, it was a scary dream. I did not think I was worthy or capable, but Regina saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. Kemp, with that writing, he gave us a tall order, and he really showed us what we were capable of.”
‘I think of the holidays as a sacred time, and so we’re going to do our best to create a sacred space.’ – Leslie Odom Jr.
As Odom prepares to celebrate the holidays with thousands of music fans, He’s grateful to Powers and King and Miranda and Ossie Davis –who wrote the source play for “Purlie” in 1961. “There’s a link in these things for me, and I thank God for having these people in my life,” he said.
But mostly he’s thankful for his family. And for the opportunity to choose the people who have a part in his daily life.
“I feel very blessed, and I do my best to honor them and appreciate them always,” he said, “but certainly most especially around the holidays.”
He’s also grateful to whoever chooses to join him in Denver on Dec. 7. He promises a wholesome, family-friendly night for every generation.
“I think of the holidays as a sacred time, and so we’re going to do our best to create a sacred space,” he said. “And having traveled around the country now for a few years with my show, I can say that our audiences look a lot like the ‘Hamilton’ audience, which means it’s young and old, and black and white, and everything in between.”
And he’s grateful to perform with a symphony, which is uncommon in an era when even the biggest Broadway orchestras only number about 20 players. This will be four times that big.
“Just trust me and know that it’s rare and it’s something you should treat yourself to,” he said. “It is lavish and it is grand, you know what I mean? And it’s an experience that we all deserve as audience members.”
And of the combination of Odom and that orchestra, he promised: “People always leave with a smile on their face –and that’s what’s most important to me.”
John Moore is The Denver Gazette’s senior arts journalist. Email him atjohn.moore@gazette.com
