How does an Austrian go out to star in the German production of Lin-Manuel Miranda's HAMILTON and now in the first German production of & JULIET at the same theatre HAMILTON took place? And to top it all off, raise over 48.000€, bringing the Broadway Cares charity tradition to Hamburg, Germany? First things first, Oliver Edward, born and raised in Vienna, one of the most liveable cities in the world, graduated from Arts Educational School London, joined the first HAMILTON production in a foreign language in 2022 to portray John Laurens/Philip Hamilton and to cover the leading man A.HAM. Since October 2024, Oliver is starring as Francois in the critically acclaimed German production of & Juliet, which just extended its run into 2026. After the opening night buzz, we got the chance to chat with Oliver about the importance of the queer story he is telling in the current show and his &Juliet audition story that almost took him to Broadway. 

Oliver Edward: Life is fantastic! Everything leading up to opening night was so exciting, but I do now enjoy having found my routine with the show. Working on my own music during the day and singing  and at night.

OE: It definitely feels like a space I have a special connection to. Being part of was such an incredible experience and shaped me a lot as a performer. But I’m currently so invested in &Juliet and the iconic Francois DuBois that I sometimes forget how I used to die twice a show on this very stage as Laurens/Philip in .

OE: Oh my good, yes! The queer love storyline of May and Francois in this huge commercial musical is absolutely groundbreaking! I think especially queer intimacy live on stage is something musical theatre audiences haven’t been exposed to a lot. It’s funny how we sometimes hear people fully gasp when we kiss for the first time. Not even because they disapprove, but because they are so caught off guard. If anything, I feel like, the loud reactions are always an expression of excitement. The other night someone in the audience went “Ohhhh Wooooow!” really loudly, and it made me giggle inside. *laughs* But the impact of our roles, bringing queer humanity and love into this show, is undeniable! We get so many beautiful and emotional messages from people expressing their gratitude for May & Francois. It’s a gift for me to see how this musical and its characters are resonating with our audiences.

OE: We are really spoiled, our audiences are so hyped during the show. The energy exchange between them and us is just wild. So, to any of our audience members that are reading this, thank you for all your love, we appreciate it a lot!

OE: How sweet of you! Yeah, my audition story for this show was a little crazy. Towards the end of Hamilton I was asked to audition for the Broadway company of , and I actually made it all the way to the finals, but for the first cover of Shakespeare. After I didn’t get it, I was asked back in for Francois and Romeo for the transfer to Germany and the US national tour and then ended up being offered Francois in Hamburg, which is the role I’ve been wanting to play since 2020, when I first saw the show in the West End. I’m really happy to be part of this cast and to have originated Francois in Germany!

OE: The day after I signed my contract, I reached out to, saying that I’d love to make this happen. And together with our 2 company managers I planned everything, which was more challenging than I thought, but I am immensely proud that we made it work. For 5 weeks I stepped forward after every single show and introduced the audience to the organization we were supporting that week and why. Before my first bow speech, I was more nervous than before opening night! *laughs* But the way that our audiences were so supportive of this charity was deeply moving. 48.000€ is a huge amount of money, and I’m so happy that we used our platform to help others.

theatre and get to know the magical West End. London is, like Vienna, a very vibrant city for art; how does it feel when surrounded by the world's finest musical theatre artists?

OE: Oh, I loved drama school! It was a very intense time, and I was usually at school between 8am and 10pm. Most of the time, me and my 2 best friends would stay behind in a studio and belt at the top of our lungs until we were literally kicked out. Reminiscing on that time gets me a little emotional. But I’m incredibly grateful to have trained among many talented people that I could get inspired by and learn from. Our school also provided such fantastic opportunities! In 2019, we got to open the Olivier Awards with the cast of Disney's The Lion King, in 2020 a few of us joined the West End cast of The Pirate Queen at the London Coliseum and since Andrew Lloyd Webber is the president of our school, we had the rights for the original version of Cats as our 3rd year show. I was cast as Rum Tum Tugger, we were open for 3 weeks and got to work with Chrissi Cartwright, who had directed the show on Broadway.

BWW: &Juliet is filled with songs by Max Martin, which are well-known hits but something you might not expect in a musical. What makes them such a perfect fit for the stage, because it feels like they have been written for the show.

OE: The way that David West Read has woven these mega hits into the story is simply genius. His talent to use them in order to support the character’s narratives is what makes them perfect for the stage. &Juliet has set the bar quite high for jukebox musicals, I my opinion. And similar to Lin- Manuel Miranda, is Max Martin just a mastermind when it comes to writing catchy and unique music. One of my favorite moments in the show is after Francois proposes to Juliet, and she then turns to the audience to sing “Oops, I did it again.”. How brilliant is that? Sometimes when audience members howl and scream, it’s a challenge to stay serious. *laughs*

BWW: You mentioned your own music! What have you been working on?

OE: Bram and I just released an EP called “2AM” .We wrote, recorded and produced all the songs ourselves. It is slow nostalgic pop, and I feel really proud that within 8 days after the release we had already surpassed 10.000 Streams on Spotify. I am very happy with what we created and very motivated to work on new projects.

BWW: This is your second show at Stage Operettenhaus; you enjoy it a lot. Are there any plans in the making, or are there any other cities on your bucket list, such as Vienna, e.g.?

OE: Performing in Vienna at some point is definitely on my bucket list. There are some really beautiful theatres and Vienna will forever be home for me. I would like to do another show in London. And I’ve done 2 charity concerts in New York City, but Broadway is also a little dream, especially now that I’ve made it to the finals before. At the end of the day, I’m open to many things. I love working in the entertainment industry, and I just hope to be able to tell stories that mean something to people.

BWW: Thanks for your time. Enjoy your run with & Juliet, and we're excited to see what the future holds for you.

OE: Thank you for having me! I’m glad you enjoyed the show. See you next time!

Headshot ©Calvin Falk

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