OU alum returns to Oklahoma with Broadway musical ‘Hamilton,’ solo show ‘Tomorrow, Tonight’

OU alum Elvie Ellis has returned to Oklahoma in the touring production of the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton” at the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City 

The Tony-, Grammy- and Pulitzer Prize-winning hip-hop musical “Hamilton” follows the life of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.

Ellis went to Classen School of Advanced Studies High School as a vocal major. He knew he was meant for the stage and wanted to attend OU, but didn’t know what the future would hold.

“When I graduated from high school, I was like ‘Okay, I'm gonna be a Broadway star because I've done four musicals, … ’” Ellis said. “I had auditioned for OU Musical Theatre and I auditioned for the School of Music, and didn't really know which one I was gonna do. And then they made a decision for me.”

Ellis was not accepted into OU Musical Theatre. Instead, he majored in vocal music education, planning to follow in his parents’ footsteps and become a teacher.

“Both my parents were teachers, so it's kind of in my blood to be a teacher,” Ellis said. “I just kind of thought, ‘Okay, I'll be a choir teacher, and that's what it's gonna be,’ but I still kept performing.”

Ellis was part of many organizations, including University Sing and Scandals, as well as a student group production of “Rent” his freshman year.

In the spring semester of his sophomore year, the College of Fine Arts did a production called “The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber,” directed by one of Webber's personal friends and a director on West End, Hugh Wooldridge.

According to Ellis, the audition process for the production was the most intense he’s ever gone through.

“They would post the callback list at like 10 p.m., so then we're all running to Catlett Music (Center) to see if we had a callback, … ” Ellis said. “Crazy, and so I think that still as far as my career now, like one of the most professional experiences I had at OU that still kind of sticks with me.”

Ellis said that the production set a high bar and prepared him to go to work professionally.

Ellis is still connected with Wooldridge — once being invited to perform in London a few years ago — and said he always tells Hugh that it was the most professional experience he’s ever had.

In an email to the OU Daily, Wooldridge wrote that Ellis has an “it” factor.

"One of the great things about teaching is that you meet many different talents with many differing abilities … It is very special when you work with someone who you know just has…’it’. Elvie has ‘it,’” Wooldridge wrote. “We have worked on several productions together in the US and in the UK and I am already planning something for us to work on together in 2027. I hope Elvie has a great season back in Oklahoma, and I look forward to welcoming him back to the other side of the pond.”

Ellis stayed at OU to complete his master's in adult and higher education with a student affairs emphasis, where he thought he was done performing. After graduating, he was part of a cruise ship show for six weeks before coming back to Oklahoma to work at the Health Science Center planning Camp Blue Hawk, a summer camp for kids with Type 1 diabetes. He did this for three years before moving to New York on March 15, 2020.

According to Ellis, theaters were still holding auditions since no one knew how long the COVID-19 shutdown would last. However, many shows were postponed to the following year or filmed.

Ellis’ first show in the pandemic was a filmed version of “Songs For A New World” in DC where he played one of his dream roles as Man 1.

“That was supposed to be on stage, and they were like ‘Well, things are opening back up, but (COVID-19 is) still happening. So we’re gonna do a filmed version and quarantine everyone,’ … ” Ellis said. “That’s how (performing) started to come back for me.”

Since then, Ellis has been part of multiple productions including the second national tour of “Waitress,” “Smokey Joe's Cafe” in Connecticut, Judas in the 50th anniversary North American Tour of “Jesus Christ Superstar” and has now been a principal standby in “Hamilton” for two years.

As a standby, Ellis is responsible for knowing four roles – Aaron Burr, Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson, King George III and Hercules Mulligan/James Madison – and is in the process of learning George Washington. However, he doesn’t always know when he’ll get to perform.

“I don't perform every night, but I do perform when somebody needs a day of rest, or they have to go on vacation (or) need a break, … ” Ellis said, " Then that's when I would go on and perform the show.”

Because he can be called on stage at any moment for any of these roles, Ellis and the other standbys always need to be prepared and often rehearse backstage during a performance.

“There's lots of information in my brain, and I often feel like that meme of the lady who looks confused and there's like all the equations flying around her head,” Ellis said. “That is sometimes how I feel when I'm on stage and I'm like, ‘Okay, where am I supposed to be, and whose words am I supposed to be saying, and whose words am I not supposed to be saying.’”

When the soundtrack was released in 2015, while Ellis was still attending OU, he said people on campus would stop him to tell him he sounded like the dual role Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson.

“To be able to come back to Oklahoma and perform that role and be in with the people who saw me in the show honestly before I even saw myself in the show, is really cool,” Ellis said.

On opening night Aug. 11, Ellis performed as Burr at the Civic Center Music Hall with nearly 200 people in the audience being family, friends and OU support.

“Getting to perform your dream show and do your dream role in the place where you fell in love with theater, that’s a story that I feel can only be written in the stars,” Ellis said. 

Not only is Ellis returning to his home state, but he’s getting to revisit a stage he knows very well, Sooner Theatre. 

“I love Sooner Theater. I've performed there multiple times, and you know, it's like a part of my performance history,” Ellis said. “To get to go back to that venue and do my own thing, it’s just like a little bit of a pinch me moment.”

Ellis’ one-man show “Tomorrow, Tonight: An Evening with Elvie Ellis” follows his life from his Oklahoma upbringing to the COVID-19 pandemic and being on tour the past five years.

“You can lose track of where you are tomorrow and where you're going to be tonight, and so that's kind of where the name of it comes from,” Ellis said. “It’s me singing a bunch of my favorite musical theater tunes and kind of telling my story of how I got to where I am today.”

Ellis has three pieces of advice for performing arts students: know that rejection is part of the process and doesn’t define you or your worth, the habits you build now follow you into your career and won’t change, and you have to enjoy what you do.

“Enjoy doing it while you get to just do it, and it's just for fun, … ” Ellis said. “When it becomes a part of your job, and there's other things tied to it, it loses just a tiny, tiny, tiny little bit of its sparkle. So … really soak it up while they get to just do it. The stakes are low, and there's no strings attached to it because it's never going to get better than doing it in that kind of setting.”

Ellis’ solo show “Tomorrow, Tonight: An Evening with Elvie Ellis” is at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Sooner Theatre. Tickets are available online.

“Hamilton” closes Sunday at Civic Center Music Hall, with performances at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and 1:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Saturday is an ASL interpreted performance. Tickets are available online and at the box office.

Ellis is scheduled to perform again at 7:30 p.m. Saturday as Hercules Mulligan/James Madison and 7:30 p.m. Sunday as King George III. 

“Regardless of where I'm doing whatever, I'm probably always going to end up coming back to Oklahoma for some reason,” Ellis said. “My whole family's here, and I just love performing in Oklahoma, so I'm always gonna find a reason to be back here.”

This story was edited by Audrey McClour.