I saw Hamilton in London two weeks ago. I thought it was very good and very clever, although I wouldn’t say it’s one of my all-time favourites.
If you have any questions relating to the venue, feel free to post them.
There is a documentary, shown by our PBS station during pledge tune, that has clips from the White House performance. Fantastic.
It’s youtube.
My wife and I finally got to see it on Broadway a few weeks ago. Really great, and mostly worth the second mortgage.
Anya opened her Hamilton tickets: She didn’t scream, but it made her cry.
Nicely done.
Yes, indeed.
After more than 70 years, a stolen Alexander Hamilton letter may soon return home to Massachusetts: After more than 70 years, a stolen Alexander Hamilton letter may soon return home to Massachusetts | CNN
Bumping this thread. I’m going to see Hamilton on Thursday for the fourth time. I won the lottery. My wife has won the lottery twice, the last time on September 11 (her birthday, in fact.)
So if you haven’t seen it, or want to see it again, I suggest you download the Hamilton app and start entering. They assign you seats, but tickets are $10 each (you can get two.)
In her first win we got seats on the center aisle in Row B, just behind the conductor. Sound wasn’t great but you were really close to the action. Next set was in row Y, where you could see the choreography better. Don’t know where the third set of seats is.
So enter. You can win.
I took my wife and daughter to see it last month (in London) for my wife’s birthday. The seats were incredibly cramped, and I didn’t care because dayum, that’s one enthralling musical. I laughed, I cried, I goggled. My daughter loved it too (although some of the Mrs Reynolds stuff is a bit risqué for an 11-year-old).
BTW, I haven’t seen this mentioned elsewhere so either it’s incredibly obvious, incredibly subtle or I just haven’t been paying attention (always likely), but I found this a particularly clever point:
The show opens with Hamilton declaring “I’m not going to waste my shot!” and ends with him firing into the air during his duel - literally wasting his shot.Very nicely done, Mr. Miranda.
I’m now listening to an audiobook of Hamilton: The Revolution by LMM and Jeremy McCarter. Lots of good behind-the-scenes stuff about the show’s development. The hardcover edition is extensively illustrated, so I’m gonna have to check that out, too.
Another very subtle and clever bit which I didn’t notice until I heard the actor who plays King George interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air: All the other characters sing in a hip-hop style, but King George’s songs are all in the style of a 1960s British Invasion band. And King George of course ordered a quite literal British invasion of America.
Finished it. and liked it, although it’s a bit Broadway-insider-smug at times. Dopey me, I hadn’t realized that the same actors perform both Lafayette and Jefferson, and Hercules Mulligan and James Madison, and Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds. My favorite quotation: George Washington was “someone bullets knew better than to mess with.”
It includes LMM’s annotated libretto.
Check it out!
There’s tons of stuff like that. Lafayette raps much faster at the Battle of Yorktown than he does in the beginning. “What Did I Miss” sung by Jefferson is of a style kind of out of date, reflecting his time away. Angelica raps faster than Eliza, because she is smarter.
And I’m sure I’m missing tons.
There’s quite a bit more of that stuff revealed in the book.
“And Peggy!”
The name of the touring company in San Francisco, by the way.
I saw it (well, half of it) last month on Broadway. The seats were SO cramped (and this was in the orchestra) my knees were firmly planted into the back of the seat in front of me, I couldn’t change positions at all except to stick my right leg into the aisle a little bit now and then, and my left knee was killing me. I’m 5’10" and I can’t imagine how anybody taller than that even got into their seat.
I’d listened to the first half of the recording before I went. It was ok. I’m not a rap/hip-hop fan at all but I could understand what was going on, etc. It was sooooooo long though. I think it could have used quite a bit of editing and I didn’t think the staging was very interesting. I suppose Miranda used as many notes and words as he needed though. (Amadeus reference). Towards the end of the first half things started sounding samey and biggish parts of songs were repeating (to my ears). For the last seven songs, I was praying that intermission would come because I planned to leave. (I couldn’t leave before that because I’d brought friends so had to explain.) Anyway, my knee hurt so bad and I wasn’t finding the show that compelling so I left at intermission. Luckily I’d only paid face value for the tickets and my friends (30 years younger than me) who stayed until the end loved it.
Afterwards, I went down to a Village bar and talked to an off-Broadway producer I know and asked him what he thought of it and he said pretty much the same as I did.
I’m seeing American Utopia in November and The Music Man (with Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster) next November. More my speed.
That’s strange. I’m also 5’10" and I had no problem with the seats. I was in the balcony rather than the orchestra, but the seats all looked like they were about the same size.
As for the rest, there’s no accounting for taste. Bummer that you had such a bad experience after it had (I assume) been built up so much.
I’m also 5’10" and was in the Grand Circle (upper balcony) in the West End venue, and as I said my knees were crammed uncomfortably against the seat in front. But we had a great view and the show was excellent, so the sore knees were worth it.
The cast reunited for a tune and to surprise a disappointed little girl. Hamilton Cast Zoom Surprise: Some Good News with John Krasinski (Ep. 2) - YouTube
The whole SGN by John Krasinski podcast is pretty good, but the link goes directly to the relevant section to save time.