‘A special trip’: Homegrown actress returns to Kansas City with ‘Hamilton’ tour
%20HAMILTON%20National%20TourMiramFarRight%20-%20(c)%20Joan%20Marcus%202024.jpg "Miriam Ali, far right, is an ensemble member for the national tour of “Hamilton,” which will run in Kansas City for two weeks.")
When Miriam Ali was growing up in Lee’s Summit, she had no doubt what she wanted to do with her life — perform on the stage.
“It just was always like that,” she said. “Any school projects that we had to pick a topic about, I was always talking about singing, dancing, acting.”
It didn’t take long to turn her dream into reality.
By the time she was 8, she had appeared at Starlight Theater. She transferred to online classes when she was in eighth grade so she could focus on her passion.
At 17, she moved to New York City — “It was always calling me,” she said of the Big Apple — and enrolled in the Institute for American Musical Theatre.
Within two years, she made her Broadway debut.
Now 23, Ali will return to Kansas City in the cast of “Hamilton,” the blockbuster musical that will run Feb. 19-March 1 at the Music Hall as part of the PNC Broadway in Kansas City series.
“This is going to be a special trip back home, performing at the Music Hall,” she said. “I grew up performing there and being in the area, so once again it’s going to be a full-circle moment.
“I’ll get to visit home and visit the family and enjoy the time that I’m not onstage.”
With her parents, other family members and friends living in the Kansas City area, Ali should have plenty of support during the two-week run of “Hamilton.” But she will stay with the rest of the company in housing near the theater.
The “Hamilton” touring company has been Ali’s home base for the past year and a half. When she landed a job as an ensemble member and Peggy Maria understudy, she got rid of her place in Manhattan, where she had lived for five years, and has lived on the road since.
“When I went on tour, I was thinking I’m going to fully embrace that, the traveling,” she said. “Then, after that, whenever the time is right after tour … I’ll go back to the city or explore another city.”
Before “Hamilton,” she made her Broadway debut in a revival of “Funny Girl,” landing the part while she was still attending the Institute for American Musical Theatre. She had a month left before graduating from the two-year conservatory, but she couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
Ali was with “Funny Girl” for its entire 599-performance run in 2022-2023.
“I kind of just flew right into that,” she said. “But that’s what I was working for. That is the goal. It’s why I went to school.
“It was a really cool experience. I kind of grew into being an actual adult. … It taught me a lot about who do I want to be when I show up in a space, because you know when you’re out in the real world there’s so much more to it. I experienced a lot of things with that show.”
Her lasting childhood memory was performing on the Starlight stage in a 2011 production of “The King and I” starring Lou Diamond Phillips and Rachel Bay Jones. After having appeared in dance programs at the Music Hall and elsewhere, she was among several local children selected for dancing roles in the musical.
“I grew up singing and dancing, taking piano lessons, but that was the first moment where I got to be onstage, especially with that outdoor venue,” Ali said. “… I grew up going to see shows there when I was younger, and then finally being on the stage was very surreal.
“Sometimes at that age, memories fade and whatnot, but that summer was so different, so special. And now I can look back on it and see how wonderful a learning experience it was for me at that age.”
Ali also developed a love for writing music during her days in Lee’s Summit, composing “fun little songs” with her younger sister. She now has expanded to writing and recording music, having released three songs with another one on the way.
“My music would be more of the pop, singer/songwriter route, and it’s a dream to go on my own tour with that,” she said. “That is another really, really big, big dream of mine.”
Given her success thus far, it might only be a matter of time before that dream becomes reality, too.
‘Hamilton’
When: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 18, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 19, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20, 2 and 8 p.m. Feb. 21, 1 and 7 p.m. Feb. 22, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 24-27, 2 and 8 p.m. Feb. 28, 1 and 7 p.m. March 1.
Where: Music Hall, 301 W. 13th St.
Ticket prices: $88-$605; limited availability at all shows.
What: It has been 10 years since Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical took Broadway by storm, winning 11 Tony Awards, and it’s safe to say “Hamilton” already is a classic. It received an unprecedented special citation from the Kennedy Center Honors in 2018.
Information: broadwayinkc.com
