>> rose: welcome to the program. we begin this evening with sir ian mckellen, his new film is called mr. holmes. >> does anyone need any more. this is the real sherlock so maybe we've got an edge on the others. and it's been a huge success for an independent movie. wonderfully so. there's a big draw but once people see the movie they realize it's about things they can actually relate to. it's not just a puzzle, it's not just a parody of the story. >> rose: from the musical hamilton, jonathan groff who plays king george the third. >> before i joined the third i knew it was 9 minutes before show time and i thought it was fun. i'm sort of there for him and because i heard so many great

things about the show. but i have not gotten sick. i've done it over a hundred time. and it's 9 minutes. but it is so, it is so naughty and wonderful. and the audience is always so receptive to it again because of all the reasons we described. it's like a drug coming out there every night. it's so amazing to be just breathing in the air of the hamilton experience. >> ian mckellen and jonathan groff when we continue. >> rose: funding for "charlie rose" has been provided by the following: >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. captioning sponsored by rose communications

from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> rose: ian mckellen is here. he is among the most celebrated. known for epic roles that span english literature and popular culture. from king lear to lord of the rings. the recent mr. holmes, in director bill calledden's word mckellen is an icon playing an icon. here is the trailer for the film. >> his name is sherlock holmes. >> any mother -- >> i never wore one. >> hold a pipe. >> i prefer a cigar. >> did you do your thing.

the marks of a dog's teeth. an island southwest. >> that was an embellishment of dr. watson's. if i ever write a story myself it will be to correct the million conceptions created by his imaginative license. >> murder. murder. >>yz2í you were -- you're not gg to die. i had a great uncle who lived to be 102. >> two men who would go back. >> why. didn't actually know him. >> a man comes to visit. your wife, how could you tell. >> when a man comes --

>> has changed. >> it's highly important. a block will more than suffice. >> an escape of the mystery ma. >> you produce her. >> he wants to know if you are this man's wife. voila. >> he's always been -- >> convince him of the circumstances. show him your intention to murder your husband. >> mr. holmes. >> rose: i am pleased to have ian mckellen back at this table. welcome, sir. >> thank you very much. >> rose: i haven't interviewed for a number of years.

you look fantastic. whatever you're doing continue to do it. if acting is the secret, continue to act. >> thank you. we both work and we both like working. >> rose: and it's good for you, don't you think? >> i think you can do too much but if you get it, just start thinking about something new and getting excited about it and meeting new people. meeting old friends and that's fun too. >> rose: like sherlock holmes. >> in particular because he's my favorite director. it did so well. sherlock holmes i didn't know much about it. i can't remember a time when i didn't know who sherlock holmes was. it's like santa claus. i feel like i know about him as much as everybody does. >> rose: how many people want to do variations of sherlock holmes. >> many actors played him. the american actor started it.

a silent movie. then a multitude of others on film and on stage. >> rose: so what is it about sherlock holmes that makes actors want to play him. >> well probably because audiences can't get enough of him. >> rose: what is that, then. >> well i know. well what is it, i suppose, he seems to be the first, yes, the first fictional detective. the end of the sherlock÷" holmes story, the puzzle is solved and it sounds like life. the puzzle of life until the end. but i suppose that's why we like it so much. but this film is that sherlock holmes wasn't a fictional character but a real one. >> rose: yes. >> and the last puzzle that he's trying to solve which has been nothing around in 30 years of

his retirement is one which concerns himself. and the puzzles is himself and he discovers himself with a happy ending. >> rose: is it a film about aging. >> well it's about a 93 year old man whose look back on his life. so inevitably, yes. >> rose: loneliness. >> he's lonely. he's sociopath, really. the people in his life he doesn't get on with very well, his house keeper. >> rose: played by laura. >> beautifully. and his life went by and he didn't notice it until he regrets it. he's declining, he can't remember, he can't remember. so yes, anyone of our age knows about oh that thing i can't remember. and that's a big thing this in his case. >> rose: but downey played

holmes. >> yes. >> rose: nick cumberback. they're all big actors. >> i worried, does anyone need any more sherlock holmes. this is the real sherlock so maybe we've got an edge on the others. and it's been a huge success. for an independent movie, wonderfully so. it's a big draw but then once people see the movie they realize it's about things they can actually relate to. it's not just a puzzle, it's not just a parody of the story. >> rose: take a look at this. this is you, this iswalking witt memory. here it is. >> what possible motive could that german woman have had to kill ann. i search for something to jog my memory of the actual case.

a picture. i could tell you everything about the woman. certainly i recall what had become of her but was she victim or culprit. >> rose: who was your young 12 year old co-star. >> that's milo playing roger. >> rose: milo parker. >> he's never been in front of the camera before. there's no worries about that. >> rose: a natural. >> i'm afraid he is. damn him. i'm a product. i had to learn how to act and he just seems to be able to do it. with a considerable help from the director of course and the camera. >> rose: can you imagine

doing anything else? >> i could imagine doing your job. i could do your job. i wanted to be a journal else and talk to people, find out the truth. >> rose: another friend of ours said i used to want to be a force stop now i would like to be charlie rose to talktp about having the kind of life as possible. so that you are talking to people, trying to find out what makes them tick, trying to explore their world. trying to somehow figure out where their work and their person and their love all comes. >> yes. well, i can see that in the persons you ask of me and other people. it's always in the presence. you're alive and kicking. you're not trying to imagine the past. you've got it. if i weren't doing that, and i'm not, i would like to teach. and i don't think i'm, i don't

know if i could teach but i like the idea of encouraging young people. i go around schools, not as a teacher but just encouraging people to be nice to each other with their friends. >> rose: let's come up. first of all in commencement speeches, a couple people, the theme had been kindness, and both of those are speeches got attention. especially george saunders. >> well, we can all relate to it. wouldn't we rather be treated kindly than not. and that reminds me you should be kind to other people and understanding of course and critical when necessary. you can be kind and critical. but sympathetic, it'stz what its all about. and if i learned anything from acting, it is don't judge. >> rose: don't judge.

>> don't judge. discover. try to understand, empathize. don't just say evil. why, why, why. >> rose: anything in acting that you wanted you didn't get? i don't mean a specific role but ... >> i always admired older actors longevity and the career. >> rose: -- richardson. >> and sir laurence olivier. and looking back as i was constantly doing, old photographs of them seeing how they changed, seeing what they've done and why they did it. and to go on being successful, up to as long as your body allows you to be, it was always something i was allowed to do.

but regrets, no. two productions that i wish i hadn't been because i've already forgotten them. everything else i've thoroughly enjoyed and got better. unsuccessful productions. >> i just wasn't doing very well. but getting better at the job. i'm feeling if i am a professional, that's very gratifying. >> rose: talking about your own, this is from the guardian peter bradshaw talking about homes. quote, this holmes is as ancient as a galapagos tortoise and relishes every glare, each wrinkle and liver spots speaks volume of disapproval. his movementsor great even with the slightest muscular effort and clearly agony. when the ailing holmes falls out

of bed wearing old fashion pajamas2q it's like an extended mini disaster spectacular of the sort james cameron could have choreographed. that's well written, isn't it. >> i know critics who can write. >> rose: there you go. but does he have a point? >> i think the points i recognize is that because i started on the stage and have remained a stage actor despite the films, i am aware of the whole body. now in the cinema in the whole of the face is what we're most interested in. and very very sense of heat. on stage of course the first thing the audience sees is a pair of shoes and then they got to the face. so acting with the whole body is the way, the only way i can do it. and so moving as the cats would move and speaking as the cats

would speak and walking differently than the previous is part of the fun. >> rose: any part you wanted to play that you didn't play. any role. >> i still hold up hopes for romeo's best friend. he falls in love with a girl. i thought it would be impossible to play an old queen frankly mixing with the lambs . >> rose: you can say that. >>ev he got there before me. but there's another gay character, a definitely gay character, antonio who is venice who begins to play. he's so sad because his boyfriend is going to get married and he wanted to woo the bride to be.

it's perfectly clear and very rarely been done playing it that way. so i'm maybe not too old to play that. but i think the rest passed me by no doubts and i'm certainlyv. >> rose: don't get it. >> i don't see why -- >> rose: looking back at your life as a gay man, do you wish you had made it public earlier in your life? or did you think the timing was about right based on when you chose? >> i wish i felt able to come out earlier. >> rose: able. >> yes, people was against it in my generation because it was against the law to make love. so any time you have sex, you're reminded you're a criminal. that's not necessarily something you want to talk about unless

you're a really really strong and brave person which i wasn't. i got along comfortably in my life as a gay man without ever talking about it. most people don't have it. when you're in the public eye there becomes a time when it's appropriate. and i've always been pass the truth of it which disadvantages gay people and that's when i came out. it was the right time for me because 49 i was confident as an actor, as a person. and i could organize a sentence and make a case and feel passionate about it. and i was in the public eye. so there was a part for me to play within the gay rights movements in the uk. and i went, i loved it. i relished it. acting was involved of course but acting the truth. then i felt about it personally all the way around. >> rose: here's something they handed to me when i came in here to talk to you.

out magazine 11, 30, 15 written dennis hinman. ian mckellen tops the list of forgiven gays at a violent attempt of attention that actors, authors and historic figures are respected despite their sexual orientation. it's been far too long since something authentically anti-gay came out of russia. the russianq: version of the ms magazine maxim titles gays we respect heavily implying unless you entertain the masses you aren't really a person. guess who is on the list. you, bill condon, alan, patrick harris. >> oscar wilde. >> rose: oscar wilde for sure. what do you think about that. >> it was throughout russia it

would be illegal to talk positively about homosexually and appearing anyone under the age of 18. so that anyone growing up gay or knowing people who were gay or wondering about their own sexuality could not discuss it with anybody. that would be against the law. because why. homosexuality was something you decided upon i suppose. you could not promote home #heart of the law which got me out of the closet and lately attacked our government when we brought in something. this, i don't read russian and i certainly don't read the russian version of maxim. it could be this is a parody that they are trying to criticize their own government saying here's gays regardless of their sexuality there must be millions more. but the american maxim magazine

has denounced it, said no. that seems to be taken at face value and it's absolutely appalling. it is. i met some of the league of gay actors in russia, young men and women over to siberia and to moscow where they can't communicate with each other. they can't have meetings. they can't tackle this law. they can't criticize it. they can't in fact be themselves except in secrecy. it was back to the back old days when gays were second class citizens. when i was invited by gay film festival, i had asked the state department if i could go. they say we can't protect you. you would be breaking the law. it's a horrible situation. what do you do. well i try and help these activists. it's difficult to help them with

money because that's not allowed. is this show seen in russia? >> rose: yes. >> well then, we've done some good perhaps. and really i should go to russia and wave the flag and make a fuss. but you can't really do that unless you've talked to the people on the ground. will that be of use. will that seem to be my foreign interference in russian affairs.>> rose: willr life easier or hard. >> that's true in high fashion london. >> rose: could go a long way in this country. >> oh yes. >> rose: it's hard for me to imagine when you see the movie imitation game. in the 50's, what happened to alan in the 50's. >> the school he went to,

private school, he called me one day and said i've got two -- tell me they're gay. could you help me. this is six or seven years ago. so i went down. he never he thought had any gay students at his school. didn't know that he had any gay members of staff. i identified gay members of his staff pretty quickly and i talked to the boy in question who said that's why they felt as they were leaving they would make public disapproval of what had been done. when i left the teacher said any suggestions. i said one thing, alan -- was at your school, you know. >> yes, yes, we're very proud. >> why don't you put a statute up and then say you're proud and then say you're sorry.

i don't think they've done that. he's now on our staff. >> rose: you know alan tenor, a gay man during the war break the german code. and doing thatuand then becausey man who was coerced into taking chemicals because of that, chemical castration. >> poisoned. somemú people think that the bye after the apple and -- >> rose: he said no, although he recognized and said what a great man. i think he said that before he died. but we have made significant progress. you saw it happen right before your eyes in terms of american political opinion. you saw it state by state and

you saw historic. >> it's so much more difficult in your continent to make it happen. in the uk, probably about a hundred people whose opinion you have to change. they will be running newspapers, they'll be in the media, they'll be in parliament. and they all live in london and they sort of all know each other. i could get into those circles. and they passed a law and that's the end of that. but here my goodness me, state by state, the supreme court. that doesn't seem to solve matters. so i have great sympathy but it's taken me a little bit longer. but it's inevitable, the time is coming and going out. but it happens by degrees and it happens to be because of individuals and groups and eventually it's a whole movement

going. >> rose: what does it mean to be knighted and be sir ian mckellen? what does that do for you, other than your own$÷ honoring. >> that's good questions. well, you join. if you're an actor of sir lawrence, sir ralph and sir alex, i say goodness me, do i have that responsibility now. that's one reason to accept it. a good reason not to accept it is you don't want to be separated out from your colleagues with a medal or that sort. >> rose: who is the most famous person we know is an accomplice in that degree of fame who turned it down. >> paul scald -- vanessa redgrave. others. if we all refused it, then it would stop.

yes. they have to knight. >> rose: you're editing yourself. >> i'll tell you. you'll see why i was hesitant. they have to include in these non-rest of civil medals some famous people to draw attention to the fact medals are being given out anyway. why are the medals being given out, well for information but who is it that gives them out? the queen. it bolsters her security, you know. 23 if there were no metals to give out, why do you need a queen. so that's another reason. >> rose: are you an anti--- >> i suppose i'm indifferent, really. i'm about those prime ministers in the old eñ colony who still e the queen as their queen.

we've got so much more important things to worry about. >> rose: if you were a sir, you can't serve in the house of lords. you have to giver up something. you can still be a sir and still be in the house of lords. >> yes. but then your periods would#pre- >> rose: they call you lord something. >> yes, you drop the sir and you become lord, yes. but that's not something i look for. but the other reason for me to relish being sir was that i was in the midst of all this gay rights stuff and talking publicly. and to be having already talked about those and then the government feeling it necessary to give me a title for my work as an actor meant that they would accept the sort of person they were revialing in some of the legislation.

it was nice, one i could constantly point out. i wasn't the first, i was the second of the gay person to be knighted. the first i guess was a novelist. >> rose: oh really. >> sir angus. >> rose: who is following you. >> many. sir anthony -- sir jeffrey. >> rose: i asked you this before and i'm continued to be fascinated by. is there something about england and actors? are you different? >> well, the english perhaps more than the british, the english do seem to like a show. they're very good at public shows. >> rose: i thought you might say thy like language. >> well, some of thecinvolve la.

marching soldiers through the streets. we do it terribly well. public display when it comes to the theatre, actor and that part of the display. yes, language. it will be crucial. it's the language of shakespeare. whenever you do a check off a play. why don't i speak, i can't really understand it but you can really get shakespeare. >> rose: i want to show one more seen. this is you and your housekeeper played by the great laura linni. here it is. >> walter's been help to you. he's a good boy. y always been clever. his dad and i know those are things he takes interest in. >> children are the subject of

laughable parents. >> i've got a sister. she was important. a couple of her -- said they were willing to take roger. >> you have a sister? >> rose: how good is she, laura? >> meryl streep -- judy dench, and the youngest, laura. arrives absolutely knowing everything she needs to know. >> rose: do you? >> i try, yes. and then why i'm mad at her is she lives absolutely in the moment. so wonderfully secure for actors. there's the woman in front of

you who you're going to respond to. if you respond in the way she's÷ not quite expecting, she went -- doing something she hadn't prepared. she's a wonderful friend. >> rose: she's a wonderful friend. >> now, yes, absolutely. she had a baby able 49 three months before. i was going to say she dropped the baby. no she didn't drop the baby she brought the baby. in between takes she's laura breast feeding her baby. and the effect on the set and everybody working that we have a little life to attend to and care about. it was a wonderful thing. i think we should have a baby. every office should have a baby in the corner. >> rose: you wish you had a larger family. >> a family of my own? >> rose: yes. >> well i just watched my family

getting older and dying off and i don't have a younger generation from my loins. i thought about the possibility early on. the good thing about being gay is you didn't have to have children. that could be selfish. >> rose: do you -- >> i have nieces and nephews. it's very touching. a lot of gandolf's fans are very young. they come overm32zx and want te you a hug or something. >> rose: it introduced you to a whole new audienceár didn't i. >> yes, absolutely. and it's wonderful. >> rose: that's what you said to the shakespearean quarterly in 1982. now i think as an actor what i admire most is not the characters but the way the characters are presented on the page. i now appreciate shakespeare as

a writer than a humanitarian. i appreciate him as a craftersman and not a man of the world. the man of the theatre i respond to the person who puzzled at home and wrote his words down and yet understood the words themselves are not enough and that you need actors to presented them. >> very good. i agree with that. >> rose: kind of impressed with the way i read that weren't you. >> i did a whole show about this called acting shakespeare and that was the thesis of it. yeah. and i'm convinced he was himself an actor because the writing seems to me and others is all about how the actor did the part. that's why it's written in verse and that's why it rhymes on occasion and where the stress should come, shakespeare 400 years ago is telling you how to speak the lines and make it all work. >> rose: once again a pleasure to see you.

>> thank you. >> rose: we'll be right back. stay with us. >> rose: jonathan groff is here. he plays king george iii in manuel miranda's hit hamilton. he's the jilted king of england. looking to wrap up the comma. at the table for the first time, welcome. >> i love this table. >> rose: you do. the table loves having you here. >> it's the original table. >> rose: you turned to hamilton. why, why, why does it have such a hold on all of us. every who comes to watch3s it wants to go. every who lives in new york is wanting took and waiting to go. you know i did a six minute tease and part of the genius when manuel miranda is all there. but what is it for you?

>> for me it's so magical. it's unlike anything i've ever been a part of or ever seen before. i got to see the show before i joined the cast off broadway. and i said yes to doing the show before i had seen or heard anything. the actor that was playing king george off broadway had to leave to fulfill another commitment. a week after they opened in the public i stepped in. and i'm friends with lynn and lynn as you know because you've met him is the most energetic positive intoxicating human being and we've met years before when i was doing; is that correct awakening and he was doing spring in the heights. he asked me to come in and step in for a actor playing king george off broadway. i said yes without having seen or heard anything because of lynn. because lynn is just that, as a person you say yes to. and i've seen the heights and love the heights. i sat in the audience of the

public theatre and you could feel the energy in the theatre before the show began. and the show began and i just wept from start to finish. i was so moved like everyone who comes to see it. by the ingenuity of writing and the freshness and the direction. the choreography and the cast and the whole like idea was just so incredible. let alone the story itself. it's just such an emotional movying inspiring piece. so then i got to go into it off broadway and then i got to join the cast for the move to broadway. and it's just been one of the most extraordinary things. >> rose: you saw bryan. >> yes, i saw him do it. >> rose: oh, i didn't know that. >> i saw him. i flew into newñ% york on a friday. i saw the show every the weekend knife times in a -- five times

in a row and i went in on tuesday. >> rose: you saw it five times in a row. >> yes. i felt like i was going to need therapy if i see the show one more time and weep for three hours i'll have a mental break down i i can't watch it again. >> rose: you seem to have shaped it that way. >> i have this theory, i do that for two years and we had a lot of actors come there and replace. so i have this like sometimes people come in, when people come into a show they try to make it their own right away. i find that really annoying. so my take on it is you go in, respect what's been in there before and you try not to mess anybody up when you first go in. you're there to like come in stand there and do a thing. that's what i did, i sort of came in, did the job that was there, did what bryan did. and then as time wore on and i became more familiar with the part and more familiar with the company and more familiar with the audience and the piece and the show, i started to shape it and make it my own.

and i put in, i decided to do like an accent just like i decided to do a british accent which i started like an rp sort of standard thing and morphed into a character accent. the up ray run for me was kind of like two months of a rehearsal in front of an audience. and it was amazing and it was exploratory and i learned a lot from it. >> how many appearances did you make during the two and-a-half hours of the6ç production. >> oh. i do like three. i have three numbers. >> rose: how do you fill in the time in between. >> it's nine minutes of stage time. when we were off broadway, i watched the show every day. because the way the public theatre's set up, there are like, it's a column where you can start from the audience. and i can stand there and perfectly watch the stage. every night when we were off

broadway, i would leave it. i was like leave the stay and go stand and watch. it was amazing particularly off broadway because the show was still evolving and finding its power and the performers were still were like still discovering some big things. and so like it happens. it's almost like i watched through the course of the two months of off broadway when it opened i pretty much joined after it owned and ran for two months. i watched that number become a production number. it's like suddenly the performances get bigger by the end of the public theatre run, it was like the show wanted to e plode out of the theatre. it was like between the audience's anticipation growing and growing and then the actors on stage filling the space. it was like it got, i could not watch it. i could not leave the stage and watch the show because it had that explosive energy of the public. >> rose: what happens,000 when you come out. it's almost like you king george

says to america or to the colony or to the revolution. we have a love affair. and you'veyou really will come . you don't come back, i'll have to kill you and your family. that's what he says, you know. but he says it with the way you say it, it's a show state your name. that's what show stopper, that's what it is and you know that. >> in the show, it's the first song that isn't really rap and it's also the first character from history that we see walk out that is completely recognizable as we know. granted, i'm 30 years old so it's a little different than we're used to seeing in history books. >> rose: but the costume. >> yes, the costumes. the minute king george walks out, everybody knows who this person is. everybody knows his perspective. everybody knows i'm sure their projecting already the minute he walk out, his feelings.

and so it's this brilliant moment in the show writing wise that lynn has written where everything is sort of, and tommy who is the amazing director and andy who choreographed it. there's a revolving stage and the show kind of stops. the show itself stops and king george walks out. and the audience, he knows who it is and then tommy, our director said to me, this is more stillness. that was his big thing of direction to me when i started with the show. it's a moment of stillness. the one moment the audience gets of stillness. so whatever that means to you, embrace it how you may but being as still as possible is the most powerful thing for this moment. >> rose: what's your first word. >> you say the price of my love is not a price you're willing to pay. you cry in your tea which you hurl in the sea when you see me go by. >> rose: why so sad.

>> it is delicious writing. >> you say it every night. >> i love saying it every night. before i joined the show i knew it was nine minutes of show time and i thought that would be fun. it's lynn and i'm sort of there for him because i heardxu so may great things about the show. but i have not gotten sick. i've done it over a hundred times and it's nine minutes. but it is so, it is so naughty and wonderful and the audience is always so receptive to it again because of all the reasons we described. it's like a drug coming out there every night. it's so amazing to be just breathing in the air of the hamilton experience and that alone is incredibly special and something i'll never forget. >> rose: broadway seen anything like this for a while? >> no. this is one, what was really

interesting is that after we opened the album had not come out yet and the "60 minutes" piece has not come out yet and they had not released really clips from the show. so for about two and-a-half months we were sold out, no one knew anything about the show and the lights would go down and people would start screaming. like they knew what was going to happen. like, it was like a show. it was like rent in its tenth year when people have the words memorized and the lights go down and people are excited. this is the lights going down with people excited about an original piece of theatre with no celebrities in it. even an historical -- >> rose: all people, hispanics and blacks. >> yes. >> rose: playing the founding fathers. >> chris jackson played george

washington. >> rose: and lafayette. >> yes. it's such a brilliant piece. it's brilliant. and that people are embracing it and when president obama came to see. >> rose: for the first time. >> he saw the sixth preview. it was a saturday matinee. he came back stage at intermission to meet everyone. he couldn't come back after because they9o close down 46th street. so les mis is next door. he couldn't come back after so he came back during intermission and he said, it was really meaningful what he said. he said people make great things and often times it never gets recognized or it takes a long time for it to get recognized. and you guys have just really taken and enjoyed the fact that you've created something great and from the beginning, it's been embraced more than it should be. >> rose: george lucas saw it and said it's shakespeare.

>> yes. >> rose: the others saw it and walked, goes back stage and says i'm going to take that walk. i'm going to on put that walk in my house. your walk. you do a good beyonce. >> the world is in love with beyonce. her and jay-z came. it's a loud rowdy sort of energetic group. and people and politicians and everybody come on stage and it feels like a party. everyone's talking. there were two times when the entire company's been on stage and you could hear a pin drop. it was president obama, beyonce and jay-z. those werevu the two times waitg

to hear what they were going to say to everyone. jay-z and beyonce were so generous and kind to everyone. >> rose: the person who created the characters in terms of the lines and the songs and the lyrics, looks out to the audience and he sees today's leaders. there is the vice president, there's the president and there's dick cheney. you saw all the conflicts at the time of the founding of the republic. there is george washington and thomas jefferson and thomas jefferson i'm gauged in a war of words with hamilton. extraordinary things, if you told someone this is going to happen, they would say show me. >> yes. >> rose: so how would it change you?

professionally and personally. >> the great thing about theatre i think is you do it eight times a week. it's almost a religious experience when you're doing theatre because you're repeating the same words every night and you're listening to the same words every night. and it can't help but have an indelible print on your soul after you're done with a theatre piece. and it's as an actor i've tried to really pick my theatre pieces carefully because of that very thing. you end up getting infected by whatever sort of message the show is because you're singing every night. it's like a prayer almost every night. in front of an odd yurnls, you're sharing this thing and it becomes a part of you. so surrounded by lynn's energy alone. lynn and i share a dressing room space. we're calling it the year we shared a studio apartment in midtown. the two of us, we share a bathroom and it's hilarious.

i watch him play nintendo. so that alone.being that being y him is like you just want to like take in that air. >> rose: he said to me in that piece i will know it's great when kids are learning it in high school. that will be the real test. >> won't that be great. imagine high school kids performing hamilton is like, i know that's a big dream for him and i know it's a dream that he's trying to expedite so it doesn't take as long to get to schools as shows normally do. you have to wai usually. he's trying to expedite. >> rose: having young people come in, the production has. high schools and things like that. >> totally. there's a whole thing happening this spring. we had the public, we had schools coming in, student matinees. >> rose: your experience, were you sad to see that go on hbo. >> so sad, yes.

cried. we did this like wrap up film. directed it and we were just i think i cried every day. which was great. >> rose: you did the film. >> we got to do the film. it was great. it was sort of like a beautiful good-bye and having that sense of closure was so wonderful. it's maybe the most personal thing i worked on and it was for the people that worked on it as well. the opportunity to say good-bye was incredibly special and moving. and san francisco is such a magical special city. i bike everywhere in san francisco. biking every day and being embraced by&% that city. >> rose: up those hills. >> sometimes you have to walk, sometimes. >> rose: frozen. what did you do in frozen. >> i was the voice of chris. i love that. it macs me laugh. >> rose: it does. how do you get a role like

thatment are they in love with your voice. >> they already cast christen bell as the young princess. so you go to an audition, you read some lines, they record it and i got down to like the finally. and then they asked like they do like this big blind addition with like groups of people to see whose voice sounds best with kristin bell's choice. so that's how i ended up getting the job because i sounded good with kristin. >> rose: where do you go from here. this is the best of times. >> it is, yes. >> rose: broadway, movies. >> yes. lucky to be alive. >> rose: television. >> yes. i think, you know. >> rose: when the window closes another opens, all of that. >> yeah yeah yeah. i think for me it's justacontine that inspire me. that's what it is. i love theatre. i love film, i love television. i love doing the animated thing

with frozen but the thing i loved more than the medium has been working with people who are inspiring. and people that change you. and that was the case, has been the case with looking and certainly the experience with frozen and the opportunity of getting to be a hamilton is going to the theatre eight times a week and feeling changed. >> rose: do you know what's great about it too because i see people go there every night. you were gone for a month and were sick for a little bit. people don't complain. they're so caught up. i don't think they do. >> no. >> rose: i don't hear about it. in fact, this stand in for lynn got a "new york times" story. >> yes. i just read that. >> rose: it's like the thing rries whoever's there, with the creator. it is so finely tuned and whole thing has such together so that if one person steps away for a moment, there's somebody that can come in and it is so

strong and powerful, it doesn't miss a step. >> i completely agree. that i feel is the true testament of a great piece of theatre. it's like when you think of hamlet. i don't relate him to any actor or gypsy. these are shows that are so phenomenal. when you have people who don't know how to sell a moment when it really is just you read the material and you could sit down around a table and sing through these songs and read this material and it can wreck everyone and that i feel, or inspire everyone or make everyone scream and awe laud. that is the real tempts of a great piece and hamilton is that. that's why i think hamilton will

run forever and past everyone who is in this current cast. >> rose: i'll never forget the opening night when lynn came out. >> oh my god. >> rose: it was unbelieve. he just stood there. >> didn't you feel like, and this is the thing about lynn. lynn is a genesis. he's a certified genius. and yet he's so celebratory of everybody ofxthat opening nightn stage. you were there. it felt like a high school pep real y. it didn't feel like a high brow new york i'm a genius welcome to my amazing piece. there's nothing sophisticated. everything is sophisticated the writing spaks for itself. but when he came on at the end of that night he called everyone out like a high school pep rally and everyone was like just pick this up. >> rose: this is something actors don't like to do. i will fight the fight and win the war for your love, for your

praise. i love you until the dying days. >> when you're gone i'll go mad. so don't throw away the scene we had cuz when push comes to shove, i will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love. da da da da. it is great. >> rose: thank you so much. >> thank you. >> rose: great to have you. >> so great to be here. thanks for having me. >> rose: go see hamilton, if you can. captioning sponsored by rose communications

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>> rose: funding for "charlie rose" has been provided by the following: >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide.

>> announcer: this is "nightly business report," with tyler mathisen and sue herera. fed fixation. wall street is laser focused on the federal reserve this week as the central bank could raise interest rates for the first time since 2006. we'll look at what it all means. fund safety. the company that blocked investor withdrawals from its junk bond fund and rattled the markets last week fires its ceo. so how can you tell if your fund is safe? and force fed. how companies are lining up to get a piece of the multimillion-dollar pie the new "star wars" movie is expected to reap. all that and more tonight on "nightly business report" for monday december 14th. good evening, everyone, and welcome. i'm sharon epperson in tonight for sue