NH Native Helps 'Hamilton' Shine Bright On Broadway
NEW YORK (CBS) - A New Hampshire native is playing a big part in the hottest show on Broadway.
Sandy Paradise of Merrimack is the Production Front Light Operator on Hamilton. How did she find herself dropped in the middle of the hottest show on Broadway?
"I never said no - I just kept going!" Paradise said.
This former physics and theater major found that math and art meet - in lighting.
"I've worked on shows like Producers, Phantom, Les Mis, Wicked, Pippin, now Hamilton."
Hamilton - the hip hop musical about the founding father is the Grammy-nominated creation of star Lin Manuel Miranda who plays Alexander Hamilton.
Related: New England Native Lights The Way
Paradise says she had no idea the show would get this big. "Every day it brings us new surprises," she says.
Like the parade of celebrities at every performance.
From Sandy's perch high above the stage of the Richard Rodgers theater, she sees the show every night - while lighting Hamilton himself.
"It's a show for everyone - Lin has managed to pack in so much information in so many lyrics in to this show its amazing," she says.
Sandy's role is part of what makes team Hamilton so successful - just ask George Washington.
"It's Imperative," said Chris Jackson, who plays Washington. "The second they can't hear you they can't see you the audience loses interest and they're not able to follow the story so it's imperative."
How will it be different to perform live at the Grammys?
"This is what we do - Lin's going to come out on that Grammy Awards and there we are - my light on Lin," she says. "You want those lights to be right on the money - it's choreographed to a tee - the dancers land in those lights and without them they won't be seen."
And this New England girl's inspiration to stay focused? Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
"You have to have that stern face all the time - it is what it is - do your job!"
It is impossible to get a ticket to Hamilton so the only way to see the performers live and Sandy's work is to watch the Grammys.
