Juli Thanki

jthanki@tennessean.com

This fall, a young, scrappy and hungry student at the Belmont University School of Music will perform in one of the hottest musicals in recent memory.

Chris Lee, a rising senior who is pursuing his BFA in Musical Theatre, has been cast in the Chicago production of Lin-Manuel Miranda's wildly successful Broadway musical and pop culture phenomenon "Hamilton."

"Hamilton," a stellar hip-hop musical about Founding Father and first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, debuted in 2015. It dominated last month's Tony Awards and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The soundtrack topped Billboard's Rap Albums Chart, won a Grammy Award and has been certified platinum.

Lee, 21, will portray the Marquis de Lafayette in the first act of the musical and Thomas Jefferson in the second act. He'll star alongside Tony-winner Karen Olivo (who is portraying Angelica Schuyler) and Miguel Cervantes, who has been cast as Hamilton.

"I'm nothing but excited to tackle this role. It'll be very interesting building up anticipation because I'm no Daveed Diggs (who played Lafayette and Jefferson in the original Broadway cast)," Lee wrote in an email. "I am, however, fully confident that I'll do my best in bringing a new iconic character to life in a new fashion that hopefully everyone can appreciate."

This isn't Lee's first encounter with Miranda's work: he's played the character of Benny in two different stagings of Miranda's "In the Heights," most recently in the Street Theatre Company's March production.

"It goes without saying that Miranda is brilliant, but it must be noted that he's created such a lane for young aspiring artists like me who want to do so much and have the perfect example of how to get started," Lee wrote.

"We are so proud of Chris," said Nancy Allen, coordinator of Belmont's Musical Theatre program. She noted that Lee — who she describes as sweet, grounded, well-rounded and well-liked — came into the program "very green," but while studying under instructor Jo Lynn Burks, the young performer learned classical voice techniques that would help him "manage what he already did well in addition to what was coming down the pike."

"He's always been a very enthusiastic learner," Allen added. "We're very excited for him."

The Chicago production of "Hamilton" will open Sept. 27 at the PrivateBank Theatre.