Known for her performances as Eliza in the Chicago run of Hamilton and her 2019 album Somewhere I Thought I’d Be, Ari Afsar has now written the music for a musical of her own. She also stars in this new musical, titled Jeanette.
Afsar’s production treats the subject of the first female congresswoman, Jeannette Rankin. It additionally draws historical parallels between life in 1916 and contemporary society, especially for women. The play will have a special performance on March 12 at the Feinstein’s at Vitello’s in Los Angeles, featuring Broadway and musical stars like Keala Settle and fellow Hamilton alum Candace Quarrels.
From Starring in Chicago to Writing Jeanette
Afsar observes, “I dream to have a small part in changing culture, i.e. making the world a better place and I dream that my art and storytelling will do just that.”
The daughter of a Bangladeshi father and a mother of German origin, Asfar early on delved into the entertainment industry. In 2005, she won the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen title for California. At age 16, she made it onto American Idol.
Pursuing her career in singing and performance, Asfar later earned the role of the original Eliza in Chicago’s Hamilton production. Early on she felt compelled to combine her artist career with social activism. “It just felt wrong to do this beautiful piece [Hamilton] and then go back to my 44th floor high-rise apartment, and I needed to get involved,” she explains.
Asfar has recently done significant humanitarian work with the ACLU, founded an organization that brings teens to perform at senior centers, and even opened for Michelle Obama at Shrine Auditorium.
Ari Afsar Draws on Hamilton for Jeanette
Her budding passion for activism, especially Women’s Rights, led Afsar to a simple Google search. There, she discovered Jeanette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress in 1916, three years before women received the right to vote in the United States. Afsar notes that she had not learned about Rankin in school, nor heard of her in politics or history discourses.
“How has she literally been written out of history?” Asfar wondered. Taking a leaf out of Hamilton creator Lin Manuel-Miranda’s book, she set out to create a musical that could raise awareness of one of history’s most compelling political figures.
Ari Afsar Highlights Lessons from History
Jeanette doubles as a historical musical, and a concept album. Afsar’s work soon brought her into a collaboration with prolific playwright Lauren M. Gunderson. In addition, many of Jeanette’s cast members have shared the stage with Afsar in Hamilton.
“The music is very contemporary, the dialogue is very contemporary, and the reality is the issues are very similar,” says Afsar. “There are moments which are uncomfortable because the similarities are quite baffling.” This is one of Afsar and Gunderson’s intentions, to “blur the lines” between past and present. In doing so, they highlight issues that remain relevant today.
Check out more about Afsar’s debut musical here. Purchase tickets for the March 12 performance in LA here.
