As Hamilton returns, this Gamilaraay performer is getting ready to play a Blak George Washington

Googerewon Knox is playing a president, but he himself comes from Blak musical royalty.

"Hamilton" Media Call

Googoorewon Knox is continuing the family tradition of musical excellence as he prepares to star in the smash hit 'Hamilton'. Credit: Don Arnold/WireImage

Kamala Harris may soon make history as the first Black female president.

But we'll be seeing a different Blak president before then: Gamilaraay performer Googoorewon Knox will be treading the boards in Sydney next week as George Washington, in the worldwide smash musical 'Hamilton'.

As Knox prepares take on the role of the United State's founding president, he's under no illusions about the role's personal impact.
"This is the biggest step of my career!" he told NITV.

"This is Hamilton! This is the new kid on the block in musical theatre.

"It's the biggest show in the world, and I get to play George Washington."

Knox doesn't mind admitting that he's pinching himself.

After unsuccessfully trying out for the dual role of Hercules Mulligan/James Madison in the show's first Australian run, he auditioned again, this time adding the Washington part to his wish-list.

Unexpectedly, he got a callback for the bigger role.

"That was a huge surprise. A happy surprise: he's got all the ballads! He gets to sing big. So I was like, 'I wanna do that.'"

The young performer is no stranger to the stage: he comes from royalty himself.

His grandfather, Roger Knox, is known as the Blak Elvis, a star of country music.

That tradition was carried on by Googoorewon's father, Roger's son Buddy, a Blues guitarist.
In such a family of musical excellence, Knox says there wasn't any pressure to perform.

"I used to wake up on the weekends when I wasn't at school to my family playing and practicing music in the house," he says.

"So in my eyes, it's not that there was pressure, it's just that it was always going to be the case, and not in a negative [way]; once people found out I could sing, it was like 'Why aren't you singing? Let's get up on stage.'

"And that was it."

Once he was up there, the Gamilaraay boy, who spent summers jumping off bridges with family, found performing came naturally.

"Oh yeah. It was easy."

Some might feel the weight of their parents' successes, but Knox says he receives nothing but support from his family.

"When I call them up, i can hear the pride in their voices. It's nice."
He has his own success now, and no small share of it, the result of years of hard work in the family business.

Nonetheless, the thrill of performing does still come with the sting of nerves, but for Knox, it's all part of the process.

"It's just energy. It's all vibrating, so I just give it to the crowd."

He has spent months physically preparing for the role, a demanding task that he will now fulfil for multiple nights a week, for the next few months.

There's also the weight of expectation; there are few shows that have inspired such a fever pitch of fanatical devotion as Hamilton, the rap-inspired musical brainchild of Lin-Manuel Miranda.

But as a fan himself, Knox feels he's well placed to satisfy those expectations.

"I already knew most of the main parts in the head by the time my first audition came around. I really like the show."

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3 min read
Published 26 July 2024 3:16pm
By Dan Butler
Source: NITV


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