During the winter of 2013, we were running 'Comet' up in midtown - as opposed to downtown - and across the street in the Standard, and that was, like, our third time going at it, from Ars Nova to downtown to near Broadway. We weren't on Broadway. We were near Broadway, as we said.

Phillipa Soo

Categorized in : Street Time Winter Said

There's no map for you to follow and take your journey. You are Lewis and Clark. You are the mapmaker.

Phillipa Soo

follow your you journey

I've prioritized taking care of my mind, having fun, and doing things that make me laugh. And eating well - as in, really good food, like steak or pasta or fresh vegetables or an amazing dessert. You know, 'treat yo'self.'

Phillipa Soo

good me you food

There was a saying going around the theatre: It's a train, and you can jump on at any point whether you're a lover of musical theatre or a lover of theatre or a lover of hip-hop or a lover of history - there was a way to jump on the train.

Phillipa Soo

saying you history way

I feel more like an American citizen now than I ever had, and it's artistically fulfilling.

Phillipa Soo

american more feel like

I find it's nice when I can be a listener and absorb things coming at me. It's important, especially for me, when so much of my job is about putting things out into the world. So those quiet moments are rejuvenating.

Phillipa Soo

job me moments world

Exposing yourself to many kinds of art can only lead to amazing things. It helps you learn about your own art, your own taste, what kind of art you want to create for yourself.

Phillipa Soo

amazing yourself you art

I eat a light but sustaining dinner before the show: a bunch of greens and some non-gluten quinoa or rice. I'll have a snack at intermission. I'm trying so hard not to have meals after the show because it's so late, but sometimes I just want a big bowl of pasta.

Phillipa Soo

dinner late light sometimes

On long car rides, we would always listen to the 'Blues Brothers' soundtrack and try to emulate everything that Aretha Franklin was doing. There was soul and grit in it that I think a kid from the suburbs really needed.

Phillipa Soo

think car soul long

It doesn't matter where you are: theater brings people together.

Phillipa Soo

you matter together people

It wasn't until 'Hamilton' that I began to be considered an actor of color, and I really don't know what to make of it.

Phillipa Soo

actor make know color

I learn something new about love every day. For example, loving yourself is just as important as loving other people.

Phillipa Soo

yourself day love people

There's a huge shift in the way we connect with people as humans in the technology age versus right before that, when we still had a little bit of mystery.

Phillipa Soo

mystery technology age people

I didn't know anything about Eliza when I first got the call about 'Hamilton.' Tommy Kail, the director, asked me if I wanted to be a part of it. I knew what he was talking about because I'd seen the video of Lin performing it at the White House for Barack and Michelle Obama.

Phillipa Soo

know me white house

I think I've learned, really, just how to let go - if an idea doesn't work, or it's not perfect, that's O.K.

Phillipa Soo

think not-perfect perfect work

I hope they're reminded that joy is very easy to access if you just put down your phone, look at another person, and make a human connection. You'll find a new experience that you wouldn't have had otherwise.

Phillipa Soo

look you experience hope

I'm half-Chinese and half-Caucasian. My grandparents came here from China. My father was born in New Jersey.

Phillipa Soo

grandparents new born father

Beyond just the respect that you want to have, people just miss out on being in the moment when they have a screen in front of their face. I just don't know to tell people. I feel it's like, you know, 'Turn off your phone and go to the theater.'

Phillipa Soo

moment you respect people

I took dance from a very early age, although my first recital, I remember refusing to go onstage. I think I was three. It's funny because that stage was also my high school theater stage.

Phillipa Soo

dance age funny school

My mother took my brother and I to a production of 'The Tempest', and it was in this very small - it could have been the basement of a church or a black box. The space was vast, but there were maybe 15 seats in the middle. Ariel came out wearing a nude sparkly thong and spike heels, and the muses had these gossamer see-through gowns on.

Phillipa Soo

black space brother mother

We did a student-initiated project of 'A Little Night Music', which was the first time that all of the divisions - music, dance, drama, opera - came together and put on a piece. It was a black box kind of feel. We had to get costumes that were pieced together. We had our own lighting that we finagled.

Phillipa Soo

music dance together time