How 3 Texas Teenagers Grew Up to Be Broadway Stars (and Stayed Friends)

After a curtain call at a recent performance of “Hamilton,” Trey Curtis, who stars as Alexander Hamilton, put his arm around J. Quinton Johnson, who had played George Washington. They basked in the applause, shared a laugh and walked together offstage at the Richard Rodgers Theater.

A block away, and nearly simultaneously, Vincent Jamal Hooper, who stars as Simba in “The Lion King,” was absorbing the cheers of the 1,700 theatergoers at the Minskoff Theater.

It had been about a decade since the three men, now 29, had spent aimless nights in Austin, Texas, riding around in Mr. Johnson’s 2007 Jeep blasting show tunes — dreaming of plays they were still to perform in and music they were yet to write.

Today, they are musical theater stars, appearing in some of the most commercially and critically acclaimed productions on Broadway.

It is difficult enough for any single person to realize a dream of Broadway success. Consider the odds of three best friends from Texas moving to New York and triumphing all at once.

Their collective success has been the result of indisputable talent, individual effort and also a rare friendship built not on competition but collaboration. They have offered one another couches to sleep on and airfare for auditions. They write and produce music and musicals together. They hype up one another before callback auditions, promote the others’ gigs on social media and cheer wildly from the mezzanine during performances.