I was in NYC recently, traveling to attend an investor relations conference. My 18 year old daughter had one more week of winter break left so I took her along with me. She likes Broadway musicals and I was pretty sure she would want to go to at least one while we were there (I also took her to see a hockey game). I asked her what was the show she wanted to see the most and she told me Hamilton.
Everyone has blind spots. I am not that into musicals and plays, and I had not heard of it before. She explained that it was a hip-hop musical about Hamilton the Founding Father. I don’t get to spend as much time with my kids as I would like to and I could tell that she really wanted to go. She told me that it was sold out for months and that she would understand if we couldn’t go.
I checked with the hotel concierge and she confirmed that the show was truly special and that tickets were available from brokers. They would be expensive but she probably could get me one. (as an aside, they were also available via Stubhub and I am sure on other ticket platforms). The tickets were expensive but I decided that it would be a special birthday present for Sarah and I bought them.
So I went to the show with her and did not spend any time other than a quick read on the creator of the show (Lin-Manual Miranda). I was completely unprepared for what I was about to see.
The stage is plain. Bricks in the background. Simple wood beams making a loft in the background. The staging is simple through the whole show. Nothing more than chairs and tables to suggest the various rooms the musical is set in. There is one battlefield scene and several duels and the simple and open stage is well used to put you into each scene.
The opening number – Alexander Hamilton – introduces you to both the musical style of the show and to some of the main characters. No hiding the ending, Aaron Burr introduces himself as the one who shot Hamilton and there is more than one woman that introduces herself as loving him. The story is also clear – Hamilton rises from nothing and changes the world.
Two other things are also made clear. The first is that calling it a “hip-hop” musical is not really correct. The show starts off with rapping but even the opening number is a mixture of rap and traditional Broadway “big show” singing. There are a variety of musical styles in the show. I am nowhere near an expert and typically not even a huge fan of Broadway musicals, but I have been to enough to easily detect the foundation on which the music is based on. There certainly is a fair amount or rap, in particular “bragging” rap where different founding fathers claim superiority. Even the hip-hop ranges in years and there is older and newer styling for the songs.
The second is that the casting is completely color-blind. With the heavy leaning towards hip-hop, many of the cast are black but it is mixed. It actually helps to breakdown the traditional views of the Founding Fathers and helps immerse you in the musical. Even if you have better than average knowledge of the history of the time, no one looks that any real historical character (except maybe King George) which I found helped me concentrate on and enjoy the show.
The show itself is an unabashed love affair for both America and NYC and the opportunity you get while here. The very first line of the very first song makes it clear.
[Burr]
“How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman,
dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence
impoverished, in squalor
Grow up to be a hero and a scholar?”
There are references to Hamilton’s very humble upbringing throughout the show and that is historically accurate. Not so much was written about him because he died comparably young and his enemies outlived him. I knew the very basics (hard not to know who Hamilton was and what he did if your career is finance) and a little more from the John Adams mini-series, but the musical was actually quite historically informative.
The entire show is singing. I can’t recall that many if any truly spoken lines.
The lyrics for all the songs, with annotations and the creator’s blessing can be found here:
http://genius.com/albums/Lin-manuel-miranda/Hamilton-original-broadway-cast-recording
The songs in the show vary in tone with most characters getting their own special style. Washington sounds very different than Hamilton and Burr. Jefferson also has a distinctive style. Of course, King George has his very own and completely different musical style. As befits the British monarch, British invasion pop and he sings a song as if he is a jilted lover. There is even a few good rap battles between Jefferson and Hamilton in the cabinet meetings.
The musical is both inspirational and absolutely heartbreaking. Hamilton had several tragedies in his life and most were self inflicted. He pushed too hard on people and that comes through in the songs and events in the musical. Hamilton is the most directly insulting to others in his lyrics and his youth and brashness really comes through in the first act.
The choreography and costuming is spot on. The dancing is simple and energetic. The character in focus is the one that stands out in each scene. I have seen other musicals that get very carried away with overly intricate dancing that distracts from the story. Hamilton has good dancing but it blends seamlessly into the story and does not look like it is forced there because someone wanted a big dance number.
The costumes also are straightforward and invoke the period. As Hamilton becomes more successful his dress improves but it is easy to see that he is more brash and unsure of himself when you compare his dress to the older and more experienced characters.
The musical is mainly set in NYC (with a scene in Yorktown and a couple of duels just across the water in New Jersey). Many people forget that NYC was the original capital and Hamilton is a good reminder. There are quite a few nods to NYC being the place where immigrants arrive and make things happen. There is a reminder of how much Revolutionary USA owed to the French and France.
I want to pause a moment here and reflect on the fact that I am writing a review about a smash Broadway hit and I am discussing history in the review. The show is such a genius production that it actually presents a pretty accurate version of important history in a way that you are captivated and drawn in. Many of the basic questions that were argued then are there in the musical. Mercantile North vs. agrarian South. Centralizing credit and currency in a Federal Union vs. every state for themselves. Slavery (Hamilton was opposed to slavery and he calls out Jefferson on his status as a slaver). The fact that writing and getting the Constitution ratified and the USA actually established was not a forgone conclusion after the Revolution.
I was very impressed when they had a song where Washington had Hamilton write his fair well speech. For all that he did as the General that won the war and the early days as the first President, perhaps his greatest legacy is that he gave up power and let someone else get voted into power by the people. There could have been a new line of “Kings” established, but each of the original Presidents followed his lead and let the voters decide (term limits did not actually come into existence for a long time afterwards).
So if you American history is rusty or weak, you can justify going to see a Broadway musical as a history refresher.
I also enjoyed the nods to the banking system and the placement of New York City into the heart of it. Hamilton trades away NYC being the capital in order to get his first and foundation bill passed. In fact, “The Room Where it Happens” is one of my favorite songs in the show.
Again, a song about political deals being cut behind closed doors is one of the show stopper tunes in the musical. It fits right in. It is sophisticated – Burr laments the closed door approach but also shows that he is not just worried about the way it happened but also he does not like not being one of the people in the room making it happen. It also shows Hamilton’s genius. He trades something of small value to him (and probably actually of small value) in order to get what he really thought was important done. By giving up the location of the capital to the leaders of the Southern block that had stalled his Treasury bill out, he gains the actual bill and the power to mold the future economic strength of the country the way he sees fit. All in the form of a very engaging song. The song is even mainly sung by Burr who was not there and the people that were there only have bit parts.
The staging of “The Room Where it Happens” shows how deep and strong the production actually is. The happenings are presented by Burr and the three in question are in the background “behind closed doors”. The other actors are there and sing a few parts of the song, but they are in the background. The words that he is singing make it appear that he is complaining about the lack of openness and transparency but the inflection and timing of the words make it obvious that his real complaint is that he is not in the room.
“BURR
The immigrant emerges with unprecedented financial power
A system he can shape however he wants
The Virginians emerge with the nation’s capital”
My knowledge Broadway musicals is limited (I did catch the reference when Washington was introduced as a Modern Major General) and I like some hip-hop and rap but it certainly was not the music I grew up listening to. If you want to see some of the references and influences for each of the songs, the link I posted is a great source.
I also am not an expert on dancing, but I can tell when the motion is well choreographed. The stage is well used and the characters do not just stand there and sing, they move and the others in the cast also move. The movement is not overdone and distracting, it is movement of focussed energy.
I certainly highly recommend that you see the show. The Richard Rogers theatre is pretty small and as long as you on not on the very sides, even the seats pretty far back are good. It is very hard to get tickets now, so you probably will have to rely on ticket brokers or websites like Stubhub or Ticketmaster resale. I thought it was well worth the exaggerated price.
The stars were also very gracious about signing autographs and posing for pictures despite the huge crowd waiting at the stage door.
