If Googoorewon (Goori) Knox had followed in family footsteps, we might be talking to a rising country music star. Instead, the Gamilaroi singer is making his musical theatre debut in one of the biggest shows in recent history – performing the lead role of George Washington in Hamilton when it returns to Sydney in July.
Knox has deep roots in country music. His grandfather is Roger Knox, the “Koori King of Country” and Australia’s “Black Elvis”. His grandmother, on the other side of the family, was Auriel Andrew, a country singer who was the first Aboriginal woman to perform on television “way back in the day”, in the early 1970s on Reg Lindsay’s Country and Western Hour.
Knox, who is soon turning 31, grew up in Tamworth, but country music “just wasn’t my jam”, he laughs. “Dad [Buddy] is into blues and Mum [Sarina] was into rock. She loved Audioslave, Skunk Anansie, that kind of stuff. I was more into Linkin Park and Blink 182. I always wished I could have had a band of my own but I never quite got there.”
Hamilton, which returns to Sydney in July after premiering there in 2021, is an altogether different groove, but it’s one Knox is confident he’ll slot into. “The first time I heard of Hamilton, I was like, this is the coolest thing ever. I love rapping and I also love musicals. When someone told me it was musical done with rap, I was like no way!”
Knox tried out for the role of James Madison when the musical was first staged in Sydney in 2021. “I got close,” he says. “But the other guy [Shaka Cook] got it.”
But from then on, Knox knew he was a contender. It was just a matter of when. “I started doing more workshops for more experience, knowing the show would come back around again. Then I saw they were trying out for a new George Washington and I was like, ‘I think I can do that.’ I was super keen!”
Hamilton was always designed to be played by an all Black/Latino cast by its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Knox will be the first Indigenous Australian to play George Washington; Māori actor Matu Ngaropo played the president in 2021.
“I think it’s important to see a First Nations fella doing such a big thing,” says Knox. “I want to be that inspiration for people. I’m not just doing it for me – it’s for everyone who thinks they’ve got what it takes and is willing to give it a shot.”
Other cast members in the new production of Hamilton include Jason Arrow, returning to the titular role of Hamilton, and Callan Purcell back as his antagonist Aaron Burr (Purcell played the role in Auckland and Brisbane). Other notable cast members include Gerard-Luke Malgas’ debut as Lafayette/Jefferson; Etuate Lutui joining as Hercules Mulligan and James Madison; and Akina Edmonds returning as Angelica Schuyler.
Washington is a major role in the show, and this will be Knox’s first musical theatre performance – although he starred as George Rrurrambu in Big Name No Blankets, a “rock and roll theatre show” about the Warumpi Band, in a short run at this year’s Sydney festival. Most of his acting experience has been in screen roles like Stan’s Black Snow and SBS’s While the Men are Away. But he isn’t worried.
“It’s a big step but I’ve always been comfortable on stage,” Knox says. “I learned it singing in my dad’s blues band. He always encouraged me to bung it on a bit, and have a good time up there, dance around, make people laugh, not just stand behind the mic. I learned how to work the crowd doing that and now it feels natural for me.”
Playing in an eight-shows-a-week behemoth like Hamilton also requires a certain level of fitness, and Knox has been jogging: “I’ve started working out more and sorting my fitness. They even have fitness and physio programs for us, to make sure we don’t get worn out. But I’m not stressed. I know I’m a good singer. That’s the one thing in my life that I’m very sure about.”
Right now, Knox is enjoying the learning curve. “You get so much help from the creative team. I’m just taking the direction they give me because they know what works. If they give me advice or give me a bit of direction, I take it and give them the best I’ve got. And I’m super excited to be the president of the United States. It’s been a long time coming!”
