Vincent Jamal Hooper, left, Trey Curtis, center, and J. Quinton Johnson became friends in Austin, Texas, and have hyped up one another on the way to Broadway stardom. Credit...Amir Hamja/The New York Times
How 3 Texas Teenagers Grew Up to Be Broadway Stars (and Stayed Friends)
Trey Curtis and J. Quinton Johnson are performing in “Hamilton.” Their friend Vincent Jamal Hooper is Simba in “The Lion King.”
By Katherine Rosman
- Published May 31, 2024Updated June 1, 2024
A block away, and nearly simultaneously, Vincent Jamal Hooper, who stars as Simba in “The Lion King,” was absorbing the cheers of the 1,700 theatergoers at the Minskoff Theater.
It had been about a decade since the three men, now 29, had spent aimless nights in Austin, Texas, riding around in Mr. Johnson’s 2007 Jeep blasting show tunes — dreaming of plays they were still to perform in and music they were yet to write.
Today, they are musical theater stars, appearing in some of the most commercially and critically acclaimed productions on Broadway.
It is difficult enough for any single person to realize a dream of Broadway success. Consider the odds of three best friends from Texas moving to New York and triumphing all at once.
Their collective success has been the result of indisputable talent, individual effort and also a rare friendship built not on competition but collaboration. They have offered one another couches to sleep on and airfare for auditions. They write and produce music and musicals together. They hype up one another before callback auditions, promote the others’ gigs on social media and cheer wildly from the mezzanine during performances.
Even they have a hard time believing how it has all worked out.
“You try to take small moments to zoom out a bit,” Mr. Hooper said, “and we used to be — and in some ways still are — three young Black dudes from Texas who used to wonder, ‘How do people even get Broadway auditions?’ So many questions that swirled, and then to transition from that to 45th and 46th Streets in New York. …”
His friend quickly finished his thought. “It’s just ridiculous,” Mr. Johnson said.
Usnavi and Benny
The men met as teenagers in Austin, where each had come to focus on acting, singing and writing music.
Mr. Johnson grew up in Athens, Texas, population 13,000, about two hours outside of Dallas. He taught himself to perform by watching Michael Jackson videos and got an opportunity to study musical theater at the University of Texas at Austin after a director spotted him at a high school talent showcase and that very day began to prepare a scholarship offer.
Mr. Hooper, who grew up in nearby Round Rock, Texas, was performing at a professional theater in Austin while still in high school, having quit football to focus on performing.
Mr. Curtis came to the University of Texas as an acting major from Houston. His freshman year, he and Mr. Johnson were cast together in a production of “In the Heights,” the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical. Mr. Curtis was Usnavi, the protagonist. Mr. Johnson played his best friend, Benny.
And over the past decade — in careers that would take the men from stages in Texas and Chicago to Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Australia, finally landing them all on Broadway — each has served offstage as the Benny to another’s Usnavi.
The men were “Hamilton” fans long before any of them were cast in the show. Credit...via Vincent Jamal Hooper
“These three gents from Texas clearly grew up together — they shared something, whether by going to the same school together, by hanging out together, by supporting each other,” said Alex Lacamoire, the musical supervisor of “Hamilton,” who won a Tony Award for the show’s orchestrations.
“You are more likely to find people bonding over their favorite movie or their favorite sports player than their favorite Broadway show,” he added, “so it’s no surprise that they clicked once they found out they shared a love for this niche art form.”
Swagger, grace and command
When you see them hurrying down a Midtown street, they look like average busy New Yorkers.
But when you see them onstage — Mr. Curtis’s swagger, Mr. Hooper’s grace, Mr. Johnson’s command — you know they are stars.
It was this way when they were teenagers, said Lyn Koenning, who worked with them at a theater program in Austin and as the director of the now defunct musical theater program at the University of Texas.
“No one could have predicted this because it is so difficult to get to the highest professional level of our field,” she said. “But I will also say I’m not surprised at all.”
Mr. Johnson had long been the center of gravity for the friend group. He met the others individually and longed for them to become a team. Today, he takes every chance to boost his friends’ confidence and serves as an unofficial social media manager when one has a new project to promote.
Mr. Hooper is quieter and more reflective. When he travels home to Texas, he visits his old high school, and encourages young theater students there.
Mr. Curtis is funny and projects an aura of cool. When he reflects on his current success, he is quick to credit his mother, a high school theater teacher who exposed him to theater from a young age.
Their friendship cannot be disconnected from their theatrical resumes and ambitions.
Mr. Johnson first saw Mr. Hooper perform in 2012, when he acted in professional productions of “Ragtime” and “Passing Strange” while still a senior in high school. Mr. Johnson, then a freshman at U.T., watched, agog.
“I was like, ‘That bro is doing something,’” Mr. Johnson said.
Later that year, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Hooper were cast together in a professional production of “Les Misérables.” By the time rehearsals concluded, they were best friends.
“It was the first time that I had found another like-minded individual,” Mr. Hooper said. “I was like, ‘Oh, this is another young Black man in theater who is really trying to go for it.’”
Enter Mr. Curtis, stage left. He became aware of Mr. Johnson when — at his freshman orientation — Mr. Johnson and his fellow musical theater students performed “The Eyes of Texas,” the school song.
“This man right here,” he said, gesturing to Mr. Johnson, “I honestly never heard a voice like that come out of a teenager.”
How 3 Texas Teenagers Grew Up to Be Broadway Stars (and Stayed Friends)
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