Receiving immediate acclaim from event participants were the creators of Off the Kuff, Ephraim Sykes, Sasha Hutchings (Hamilton, Rocky), and Shaun Derik. Other honorable mentions include Stage Manager, Anthony Dunning; Door Operations Manager, Nathan Appleby; and Sound Engineer, Taylor Williams (Hamilton).

Shaun Derik is a nationally recognized Motivational Speaker and Engagement Expert and Ephraim Sykes is a television and film actor with  Broadway credits with the casts of Vinyl,  Leave It On the Floor, and Hamilton. The two dazzled a 300 attendee audience of the community’s finest; the tastemakers, writers, and poets, those who educated others in the arts. Revelers were treated to memory making performances from the delectable wordsmith Daniel J. Watts (Vinyl, Hamilton, Whorl Inside A Loop), not to  mention:

Marcus Paul James (Motown, Rent), Crystal Joy (Motown), Alysha Deslorieux (Hamilton, Beautiful), Anthony Ramos (Hamilton), Derrick Baskin (Difficult People, Memphis), Daveed Diggs (Hamilton) Crystal Thomas, Jasmine Cephas Jones (Hamilton), and an unparalleled midnight wrap-up performance with soiree headliner, Morgan James (Motown, Godspell).

The party goers jammed through the night with music courtesy of the one and only Preston “DJ DUGGZ” Duggers (Motown) and special treat Lucianna Padmore’s 4-piece band.

Sighted mingling about were television, film and Broadway actor, the amazing Leslie Odom Jr. (“Smash”, Hamilton), the very beautiful Teyonah Parris  of “Chi-Raq” and “Dear White People”, “Straight Outta Compton’s” Corey Hawkins and other celebrities like Kelly McCreary of “Grey’s Anatomy”, J Bernard Calloway of “Blue Bloods” and Memphis Jonathan Groff (“Glee”, Hamilton) and Hair Vlog Celebrity, Taren Guy. What a magnificent way to bring in the New Year!

The post Solomon And Kuff’s Host An ‘Off The Kuff’ New Year’s Eve Affair! appeared first on Broadway Black.

It takes a real Queen to reduce a King to a quivering mass of shock and adulation. Beyoncé did just that when she approached Groff after the show to inquire about his phenomenally cocky royal walk during the scene where he bids a cheeky adieu to the colonies. Hamilton creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda chronicled the exchange on Twitter.

Groff got embarrassed. But he said I could tell you. Next three tweets.

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) October 28, 2015

https://twitter.com/Lin_Manuel/status/659355089056976896https://twitter.com/Lin_Manuel/status/659355357521817600

2) Beyonce: When you turned away still facing the audience?
*BEYONCE DEMONSTRATES FLAWLESSLY*
Beyonce: You were your OWN turntable. Love it.

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) October 28, 2015

3) And then, in Groffsauce's own words
"Then the ground swallowed me up and I died happy."
Thus endeth the meeting of Beyonce & Groffsauce.

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) October 28, 2015

There is no straight-male equivalent for the ecstasy of Beyonce telling you
"I love your walk."
ESPECIALLY for Groffsauce, walk enthusiast.

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) October 28, 2015

Bruce Lee: "Can you teach me that cool kick?"
That's the closest I can approximate to what happened to Groffsauce.

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) October 28, 2015

We can’t even blame Groff for being floored by the compliment. How many people can actually say Beyoncé is stealing your sashay? Checkout a clip of Groff channeling his inner diva as he and fellow Hamilton actors Brian d’Arcy James, and Andrew Rannells lip-synch during Hamilton’s daily “Ham 4 Ham”,  an innovative mini show that gives fans a chance to enter a ‘day of the show’ lottery where winners receive Hamilton tickets for $10 .

They say imitation is the most powerful compliment and the love didn’t begin with Beyonce’s endorsement of Groff’s saucy promenade. Lin-Manuel Miranda had previously cited the other half of the power couple, Hip Hop phenom Jay-Z as one of his influences for the sound and flavor of the genre blending musical. Said Miranda,

In crafting the battles, I listened a lot to the Jay Z–Nas beefs. “Takeover” is such a systematic takedown of Nas; it’s “Here’s how many albums you put out. One of them is good.” It’s so clinical that it’s kind of devastating. And Nas’s response to Jay Z was no less brutal or enthusiastic. I listened to those a lot when it came to the battle raps; taking each other down but in an intelligent way. And there’s a little ode to 8 Mile in the way those scenes are structured.

This is the way good art is built. By the open acknowledgement of the talent of another. Taking a bit of this and a splash of that and reworking it into an updated remixed masterpiece. It speaks volumes when egos can be set aside to simply say, “I am impressed by the work you do.” Congratulations on the compliment to Jonathan Groff. It was well deserved. Now all we need to see is how Beyoncé spins that walk into a slaying saunter that is sure to set the Beyhive abuzz.

BONUS: The Queen recently let her powers show towards an assistant during a red carpet walk. It was so smooth and direct you probably don’t even notice her telling her to “stop it!”. The assistant was making more of a fuss over Beyonce’e clothes than she was! Also, it makes us so happy to hear the photographer in the back use the proper terminology when referring to her. For she is a Queen.

The post Beyoncé Plans to Steal & #Werk Groff’s Hamilton Walk appeared first on Broadway Black.