‘Hamilton’s’ Aaron Burr, out of Temple University and Upper Dublin High, will sing the national anthem at the Eagles-Bears game
Josh Tower hopes he'll bring the team good luck. We'd be good with that, too.
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All that singing in the shower will pay off for Josh Tower when the Eagles meet the Chicago Bears for their home game at the Linc on Sunday.
Tower, the Temple grad who plays Aaron Burr in the national touring production of Hamilton, now on stage at the Forrest Theatre, will realize a lifelong dream of singing the national anthem at an Eagles game.
“It’s going to be a momentous, lifetime moment,” he said. “The ante has been upped.”
Tower grew up near Ambler and came to Temple out of Upper Dublin High School and Montgomery County Community College. For years, he’s been putting his own soapy spin on the notoriously difficult-to-sing “Star-Spangled Banner.”
When Tower told The Inquirer about his dream to sing at a game while here for the Hamilton run through Nov. 17, someone at the Eagles reached out.
» READ MORE: ‘Hamilton’s’ Aaron Burr wants to sing the national anthem at an Eagles game
“He’s a huge Eagles fan, and he’s so excited about it,” said Brian Papson, vice president of marketing for the Birds.
Like anyone else who wants to perform at a game, Tower had to submit a video. “We have to make sure they can actually do what they say they can do,” Papson said. “A lot of singers wouldn’t have the range.”
Timing is crucial, too. Because of television broadcast times, the singer must complete the anthem in about one minute and 45 seconds, with a few seconds’ wiggle room on either side.
“I made mine under two minutes,” Tower said, “but with some of the liberties singers take, it can take 10 minutes.”
When Tower warms up for his theater roles, he spends a few minutes stage-right, near the curtain, “to thank the theater,” he said. He’s not sure what his Eagles pregame ritual will be, but he’s required to report to the Linc at 9:30 a.m. game day for a sound check and to practice the anthem from the 50-yard line.
Tower will start singing at 12:48:45, ahead of a 1:03:30 kickoff. (That’s how precise it gets.) “I hope I bring good luck to the team,” he said, echoing every Eagles fan there is.
Tower will miss both the Sunday matinee and evening Nov. 3 Hamilton performances at the Forrest Theatre — the matinee because he’s joining his family to watch the whole game, and the evening because he wants to soak in the moment.
» READ MORE: Bathrooms at ‘Hamilton’: Can 200 women make it through 16 stalls in a 20-minute intermission?
“We give up a lot of our lives — we miss weddings, funerals, everything, but the theater goes on,” Tower said. “We create a lot of memories, but this is one I want to keep for my family and me. I don’t want to miss it.”
Papson said Tower was a true pro. “Obviously, with the theater, his performance was excellent.” Tower will sing for 70,000 in the stadium. The Forrest seats 1,850.