“Pardon me. Are you Aaron Burr, sir?,” said Alexander Hamilton, played by Dickinson College President John E. Jones III ’77 P’11 in last Saturday’s performance of “Hamilton.” Then came an awkward pause in the music of the song “Aaron Burr, Sir,” as Jones shuffled across the stage, quickly leaving his brown coat at his feet as he donned a maroon one. “That depends. Who’s asking?,” said the maroon-coat-wearing Aaron Burr, also played by Jones.

The college’s unique take on the 2015 musical “Hamilton” came at request of the President’s Office in preparation for an upcoming campus appearance by Christopher Jackson, the Tony Award-nominated actor who played George Washington in the musical’s original cast on Broadway. However, the President’s Office specifically requested that there be a slight change to the casting – it must only be Jones in the musical.

When asked why he wanted to be the main part, and all of the parts, of this performance, Jones reflected on his time as a federal judge. “I took an oath to administer justice under the Constitution, so what better way to sharpen up my constitutional knowledge than getting into ALL of the minds of our founding fathers,” he said.

Students from the Theatre & Dance Department were taken away from their rehearsals for the upcoming “The Crucible” production so they can assist Jones in his endeavor. One student was ordered to modify all of the songs from “Hamilton” to give Jones adequate time between lines to change characters. “It was horrendous,” said the student, who asked to not be named for the sake of their dignity. They went on to say that “Even just “My Shot” was too much, it went from a five minute song to 12 minutes, or more like a five minute song with seven minutes of silence and Jones running across the stage.”

The performance was largely received with reviews of pure confusion and frustration. “It’s so stupid I have to come to this for extra credit,” one student was heard complaining to themselves. “He can’t even remember half of his lines,” the student went on to comment. The worst instance of this the student noted was that Jones would often mix-up character names with “John,” in reference to himself. For instance, during “The Schuyler Sisters,” he sang “Angelica,” changed his wig, sang “Eliza,” changed the wig again and then sang “and John.” This came after he got the name Peggy correct as Aaron Burr just moments before.

Not all viewers of the musical held this sentiment, however. “That was the most beautiful performance I have ever seen,” said the tearful statue of Benjamin Rush, which arose from its slumber for the occasion. The statue went on to say “John did such an incredible job portraying Alexander and Aaron and George…” and named every single character that Jones played in the performance.

Jones noted this is not the last Dickinson students can expect to see him on stage. “I will also be playing the lead role in the theatre department’s spring performance, and I may be headlining the spring concert with MOB, but organizing for that is still in the works,” Jones told The Trickinsonian. When asked about his future theatrical ambitions, he said “I’ve always been a theatre kid at heart – it’s great to finally show it to the world. I hope we can do “Monty Python’s Spamalot” for next fall’s show.”