Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton has, for the past few years, been inescapable as a ‘must see’ piece of musical theatre but, due to the fact that I don’t live anywhere near anywhere that stages big productions and that tickets for those I could get to have been like hen’s teeth, I hadn’t yet had a chance to see it.
When it was announced then that it would be coming to Disney+ in its theatrical form (potentially ahead of a full on cinematic version in the near future, though Miranda seems sceptical on that subject) I was certainly excited but also rather curious.
For clarities sake the curiosity stemmed from the fact that, other than it being a hip hop influenced take on the story of the birth of the USA and it’s titular one of the founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, I knew very little of what Hamilton was about.
Added to that, it’s an area of history I’m not hugely knowledgable on – something I put down to how it was, or more accurately wasn’t, taught at school and how America’s foundation is generally absent from general discussion in the UK – for probably obvious reasons.
With that in mind then I really had no idea what to expect but by about half way through the opening number, Alexander Hamilton, I was hooked and, as the show went on in terrifically ‘sung through’ style, I became genuinely enraptured by it.
Story-wise it is fascinating, no doubt only added to by my ignorance, and it paints a terrific picture of the (I’m sure infinitely more complex) issues surrounding the American war of independence from the British (including a hilarious pastiche of King George III from Jonathan Groff, a monarch rarely favourably shown in any context) and the creation of America as a country and focussing on Hamilton’s involvement in this, along with a few aspects of his personal life.
While I’m not sure of the specific historical accuracy of any of this it all flows together brilliantly for the purposes of the show and has enough of a ring of truth to at least work as a jumping off point to find out more with some level of context.
What really makes the show though is in its production, and I’m sure this is much discussed elsewhere.
It would have been simple to tell this story with a historically accurate cast of white actors and in a traditional but staid musical style.
What Miranda has clearly intended from the off though and director Thomas Kail has built on is to stand this on his head by creating the music with a sound based largely in hip hop, R&B and pop, sounds a world away from the music of the time or the music of a historical ‘white’ story in mainstream musical theatre.
Along with this the casting of largely non-white actors for the American characters, and white actors for the British (and King George), to deliver this music instantly makes a point and, while I thought this might be something of a blunt tool, as the show and story builds this develops in intriguing ways that work with the story to reveal depth and layers not often credited with existing in mainstream musical theatre.
What this does is take a story from 250 years ago and make it entirely relevant to the modern world to such a degree that, at one point for example, where a line references immigrants the audience let out a genuine cheer at the message being conveyed which, in Trump’s America, is arguably as revolutionary as the ideas of those fighting for independence in the show’s first act.
In terms of performance the production is flawless but even in this Miranda as Hamilton is a stand out and the chosen musical style makes the whole thing all the more challenging both in terms of vocal delivery and the styles of dance employed which all serves to add to over all package.
Other performers who particularly struck me are Daveed Diggs, particularly in the second act as Thomas Jefferson who owns the stage whenever he’s on it, Renée Elise Goldsberry as Angelica Schuyler and Phillipa Soo as Eliza Hamilton who almost steals the whole thing in the closing number and though the female characters may not have as much sway in the main story the revelations as it goes on about their actions behind the scenes really do make them the equal of the men which is great to see.
Filming stage musicals is a notoriously challenging affair, often resulting in something that only appeals to those who’ve seen the show live already and following the debacle of Cats any musical adaptation for the screen feels like a dangerous proposition.
This though is entirely the opposite of that managing to capture the energy and vibrancy of the stage production, including audience responses to the songs and the actors’ responses to that, while adding enough cinematic tricks in the editing and with judicious use of close ups filmed separately to the live performances, to properly create a true film of the stage show in a way I’ve never seen done quite so successfully.
This then all means Hamilton more than lives up to the hype (to a point where it exceeds it) while being a genuinely enrapturing and satisfying experience to watch at home and has left me both wanting to explore the actual history more and see the stage show live as soon as such things are allowed again.
I’m including this video as well as it is just frankly a terrific performance:
Tommy Girard 