As a former theater kid myself, you can imagine the excitement and nervousness within me when I realized I would be interviewing three-time Tony Award nominee, Joshua Henry, a legend on the Broadway stage. Yet, as soon as he hopped on the zoom, his friendly and outgoing demeanor made me feel as if I was talking to an old friend.
Henry is best known in Chicago for playing Aaron Burr in the cultural phenomenon Hamilton. His resume doesn’t end there though, and he is no stranger to the Broadway stage.
The young boy who once played Harold Hill in his high school production of The Music Man went on to have roles in Hamilton, American Idiot, In the Heights, Scottsboro Boys, The Wiz, and the list goes on and on.
Yet, Henry’s success for theater would not have happened had he not first fallen in love with music. He discusses his humble beginning of picking up his father’s guitar beginning to play music and sing.
Despite the pandemic putting a hold on the theater scene, Henry says he is grateful the pandemic allotted him the time to go back to his musical roots and delve into making his new EP, Guarantee.
We got to talking about his songs Hold Me and Stand Up, the first singles released from Guarantee.
Hold Me explores the struggles of maintaining relationships while also pursuing your dreams. “Hold Me is about expressing the need for friends and community and loved ones while having a need to do what you’re here to do,” Henry said.
Stand Up, on the other hand, is a soulful cover. Originally performed by The O’Jays, Henry puts his own spin using his melodic voice to emphasize the message behind the music. Stand Up explores the idea of having hope and making a difference, despite tragedies happening around the world on a daily basis.
“At some point or another we want to do something to help, to serve, for a greater purpose. And we can. We can do little things here and there. It’s the little actions and the little moments that accumulate to the world changing,” said Henry.
In following the theme of the song, a portion of the proceeds made from Stand Up are being donated to DoSomething.org.
Henry describes Guarantee as a whole saying, “this EP is all of me, and it came at a time that was really hard but that’s where most amazing things come from.” And I couldn’t agree more.
He plans to start touring Guarantee and doing live shows as soon as it is safe to do so, and also mentions that he can’t wait to come back to Chicago. Guarantee is out now on all platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud).