Hamilton

[Geminijust]

DD18 says she would like to see Hamilton for a birthday treat. Doesn't seem to know much about it but has heard a couple of songs she likes and said "I feel I ought to see it".

I've tried listening to the soundtrack and it seems OK, with a couple of decent tracks ( I know it can take a while to learn songs so will perservere). I googled the plot and I have to say it sounds a bit dull. I told DD if she really wants to see it I'll book it but we must learn the songs beforehand. Did that with SIX and loved it but this has many many more songs.

Reviews seem mixed, people seem to love it or hate it.

Well, it seems she's keen to go so it looks like I will be booking.

I generally like musicals. Loved Les Mis, Jamie, Evita, Billy Elliot for example. Hated Phantom, King & I.

Any tips on how to get the best out of it?

Surely this is a wind up? Why do you have to memorise the songs beforehand I have seen it and it's good

I’ve seen it twice live, it’s incredible and well worth going.

I think that people who go in expecting an over the top musical with showy sets where you know the songs and can singalong don’t enjoy it.

It’s more like a play but with rapping rather than speaking. It’s like watching a Shakespeare play with the clever wordplay, the inferences, the humour and sadness. All against a play type backdrop (so not showy with helicopters landing like Ms Saigon).

i don’t enjoy musicals at all but loves plays and I was blown away by Hamilton.

I tried watching it on Disney Plus. Only made it half way through because I really wasn’t enjoying it (King George aside). The soundtrack isn’t my cup of tea.

I do see that others felt similarly but then loved it in person, though.

Really don’t understand why you’d learn the songs to any musical before going to see it though, sounds as though you’re spoiling it.

Sorry to say DH and I hated it. So much so we left half way thru. But I think if you like it, you love it. Unfortunately it was definitely not for us, tho we could appreciate the cast were very good.

I wouldn’t want to learn the songs first. Maybe have heard some of them once or twice so there’s a bit of familiarity. But I’d want it to still feel new and fresh.

i loved it. My DH didn’t like it at all. I lightheartedly considered whether I could still be with him if he didn’t enjoy it.

it’s currently on a UK tour if that makes it easier for you to see than in
London.

It's so good my DD and I have seen it twice. You do need to have a basic idea of the plot though and it is a love or hate musical. I'd definitely recommend it though!

Six on the other hand was just amazing, we both said it was one of the best we'd seen.

DD went to see Moulin Rouge a few weeks ago, she said it was exceptional.

My advice is - GO!!!! My teens loved it. And if your 18 year old is asking to go - GO! It's brilliant imo.

It's brilliant.
We watched on Disney+ a couple of years ago....my kids are obsessed with the soundtrack so in fairness since then I have learnt a lot of the songs....we then saw it live this year.
It's fantastic live, with extra bits that aren't on disney.
I don't think watching the recorded version ruined the live version at all.....maybe I would have been slightly more awestruck had I seen it for first time on stage in person?

That was me😱

Plot-wise it's a sweeping historical epic, with lots of politics but also war, romance, betrayal and death - a bit like Les Mis in that regard. Because it's all rapped it fits in a lot of words and a lot of detail. Maybe better to get to know the plot and the era a bit rather than focusing on knowing all the words?

I absolutely loved it when I saw it 5 years ago, and I definitely didn't know all of the words but I could have hummed a few of the tunes. It already felt a bit "of its time" (ie the Obama era) then, though. Still, I'd definitely see it again if I had the chance. Definitely go.

I was given tickets at the last minute . I knew one song and had no idea of the story but I really enjoyed it . After the show I had to read up who Alexander Hamilton was! Is it really necessary to do so much work before you see a show ?

Why on earth would you need to learn the songs 🤣 please god don’t be that person singing along.

Lafayette - that is reason enough Indeed, Daveed Diggs is seriously great, as is Leslie Odom Jnr's voice.

LMM once commented that Hamilton spends a lot of time in "park and bark" mode, that is he just stands and sings. No, he's not a great singer or wonderful dancer, but he's got masses of stage presence.

I have only seen the original cast on Disney+ and am spoilt by that. It's a fine piece of art, absolutely worth seeing, as if not you may always wonder what did I miss, what did I miss.

I loved the colour blind casting. From what i gather previous to this, black actors could get lead parts in the lion king and that was pretty much it. So many talented actors got so much exposure from this show that they wouldn't have got in the white dominated theatre scene.

And the Disney plus one introduced me to renee elise goldsberry who has one of the most incredible voices I've ever heard. Her version of "quiet uptown" is a masterpiece.

If not for the colour blind casting, do you think a black woman would have ever got anywhere near that role, even though there was arguably nobody better for the role?

There weren’t as many racing cars as I’d expected

spoilers - scroll on by if you don’t want to read them.

I really don’t understand those saying the history is dull. It’s the war of independence, America becoming its own separate country, free from British rule, and it follows some key characters from that time.

It centres Hamilton, the man on the $10 bill, and this is important because the average American knows (knew?) far less about him than the other founding fathers, even though he was instrumental in winning the war of independence as one of Washington’s trusted advisors, he then established the fiscal system of the USA which actually bound the states and made them impossible to separate.

He is also just quite an interesting character, a prolific writer so there is a lot of material to work with, I mean he wrote and distributed a pamphlet detailing an affair he had (and was extorted over). He was an orphan born in the Caribbean who came to America with nothing and later married into society, which enabled him to be there at the founding of the country. He had a lifelong frenemy situation going on with Burr (which eventually causes his early death). It is quite incredible that it’s a true story, or at the very least based on the life of a person who actually lived (the Hamilton/Angelica angle may not be true as she was already married when they met)

And the lyrics are on the whole great (some are cheesy but not that many). The rap battles as a way of communicating some of the key political debates of the era are so clever. Some of the rap sequences are ridiculously fast (Angelica, Lafayette) that it’s incredible just to watch.

I had very little knowledge of or interest in the founding of the USA, and now my kids (and millions of other people) have a pretty neat understanding of it from a rap musical - that’s mind blowing.

you have no control/ who lives, who dies, who tells your story.

Seen it live twice and loved it.

I took my then 14yo DD to see it as she was really keen, had no real introduction to it beyond 1 listen to the soundtrack on Spotify. I was blown away. So funny, heartbreaking and clever. I'm a sucker for an intelligent lyric and although I'm not the world's biggest fan of rap I loved it. Besides, with You'll be Back and Helpless amongst others it's really not all rap throughout! And yes, Lafayette... <swoons>

The staging is clever but minimal and there's a fair amount of doubling, but I enjoy that kind of theatre far more than the lavish, constantly changing sets/fabulous costumes variety.

I last saw it just before lockdown and can still hum/sing most of the songs. I saw Sister Act on Wednesday, and I couldn't tell you a thing about any of the songs in that if you held me at gunpoint...

Please don’t learn it before you go, and don't make it conditional. That'll suck all the joy out of it. Immersion and being carried along by it is far more enjoyable.

Btw, if you sat next to me and started singing along, I would have had you thrown out.

And when asked in a 1:1 by our CEO what I wanted from my career, I actually answered with a Hamilton lyric: I want to he in the room where it happens … because that is actually what I want, to get to the C suite.

I also used the same line in a big bid qualification meeting, as justification for why our org would want to participate in something and a colleague really surprised me by responding quick as a flash ‘you got skin in the game, you stay in the game’ - it wasn’t someone who I thought would be mega into Hamilton either. Its blockbuster status is deserved.

Why would you learn songs before you go?

No-one is paying to hear you sing?

I have to say I became slightly obsessed after seeing Hamilton with LMM and how talented he is (Moana, Encanto), and found out Hugh Laurie inspired the lyric "You'll be back".

DD and I just seen it in Edinburgh last week. If you have the opportunity then I 100% recommend it. It is a masterpiece.

I watched the Disney+ recording of the Broadway one first and was not overly impressed but seeing it live was breathtaking.

I loved it and didn't know anything about it when I saw it. Other than it being a big hit.

It's sooo much better than six (and I quite liked six!). It made me laugh, cry and gape. Please go and see it!

I didn't literally mean word for word but I've always enjoyed shows far more when I'm familiar with the songs and understand the story, especially something like Hamilton. I think I would've hated Les Mis for example if I hadn't done that.