Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is the hottest thing on Broadway right now, drawing sold-out crowds, and luring in everyone from high school kids scrounging for tickets to the Hollywood elite. But cast member Leslie Odom Jr. told a story on The Tonight Show last night that proves that big-name musical celebrities can be just as annoying to sit by in the theater as the rowdy teens at your local megaplex.
Talking to Jimmy Fallon, the Tony-nominated actor—who plays Aaron Burr in the hip-hop-filled story of America’s first Secretary of Treasury—recounted his own experience watching the show, after scoring tickets to see it during a vacation from his run. Sitting in the V.I.P. section of the audience, Odom was seated near Art Garfunkel, who proceeded to make a nuisance of himself, singing along with the show, talking, and apparently in a state of some intoxication.
Luckily for Odom, though, there was another celebrity on hand to put Garfunkel in his place: one-woman ABC content factory Shonda Rhimes, who had no patience whatsoever for the only living boy in New York, telling him, “Stop talking. It’s not that difficult, you don’t talk during a show!” (There’s no word on whether she also requested he shut up and stick to the sounds of silence, although one can only hope.) According to Odom, the confrontation never escalated from angry conversation to actual violence, but let it be known: if you talk during Hamilton, Shonda Rhimes will “whoop your ass,” Graduate soundtrack on your resume or not.