#hamilton report

So, I saw Hamilton yesterday! I didn’t think I’d have a change to see it in NYC, and then I got sent to DC for a week for work and thought “I can get from DC to NYC pretty easily, right? Right.” (I had to start the day canceling a planned meeting with a dear friend, and it was also the 1 yr anniversary of Terry Pratchett’s death, so I was emotionally kind of all over the place. But the day ended magically, with the show I’ve been obsessed with for several months.

Nothing new in my report, but for my own memory and posterity’s sake:

Act I:

-Usher lets me in! My ticket wasn’t a fake! I had told several people I would be paranoid about that until the usher pointed me to my seat. Such relief! I don’t want to have to try to fight my way to the bathroom at intermission so I head there first and decide to wait until later to get a drink.

-There’s a sheet of paper in the program to denote tonight’s performers. I immediately scan it to find out who’s off/sick/etc but to my surprise and delight, all the principal actors are there-substitutes are those like Phillp Schuyler, Sr. and George Eacker.

-“Turn off your phones” message is from King George himself, JGroff.

-Teen in front of me kept leaning over and whispering to (his mom?). I have increasing thoughts of violence towards him for taking me out of total immersion in the show. He seems to be the only one in the whole mezzanine talking/whispering at all. I am somewhat bitter towards him for distracting me during “Wait for It” (my favorite song in the show).

-Still, that moment in “Wait for It” after the soaring middle section when Leslie Odom Jr’s voice drops back down to barely a whisper first killed me and then brought me back to life. I was lost in its beauty but it helped me find my way again.

-During the quiet, delicate songs the audience was totally still, riveted (except the guy in front of me, grrrr. Not as bad as that performance of Les Mis where someone’s phone rang all the way through “Who Am I?” as the ushers fruitlessly searched for the offender. It has been over 10 years and I’m still mad.)

-During solos the singer tended to move relatively little. Part of the time he/she would be alone on the stage, at others the chorus would move around him/her, freezing in place at the perfect moment.

-Someone (usually Eliza) puts a coat onto Hamilton a *lot*-almost as often as Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan dramatically shrugs his cloak off. It’s an effective way to transition to the next scene, but the frequency of the technique made me smile. :)

-I had been dying to know how they staged “Satisfied.” It was amazing. All the trappings of the wedding pulled away and it was Renée Elise Goldsberry standing alone center stage. As she sang, characters moved onto and across the stage to interact during their parts of the song, and slowly the set pieces for the wedding moved into place again.

-I was surprised by how little Jonathan Groff moved during “You’ll Be Back” (though the famed walk was hilarious). It made me wonder how hard it was for him to move in his costume.

-I really appreciated the binoculars my parents let me borrow, so I could get a closer look at their expressions and beautiful faces. 

-I didn’t cry at Laurens’ death but I felt the pain of it the way you do when you realize there will never be time to travel everywhere you want to go, to read every book. The way you feel when you look at someone you love and know there will be a last time you see them. The way you feel the first time you think about how many people have lived and died without ever finding out what they really love or are really good at. Eliza asks Hamilton if he’s OK. And instead of answering directly, he says, “I have so much work to do.” Sidbdlghdbflfgjb;sd

-They made very effective use of ending the song by killing the lights. The song would reach the climactic final note, and as the singer froze into the final pose, the lights would go out, and you’d just be able to see his/her silhouette. [shivers]

-On that note, on the cast album, “Nonstop” seems (to me) like not the most exciting number to close out Act I, but it was much more dramatic and had much more energy on stage. I think there was almost a standing ovation when the lights went on that one.

Intermission:

-Didn’t get near the merchandise table but they have Hamilton-themed drinks, including “Dueling Sangrias.” I purchased a drink (red sangria), mostly for the Hamilton cup.

-During intermission, the asshole sitting in front of me moved a few seats over (and also seemed much quieter in Act II). Either the woman next to him (?his mom?) gave him a talking to, or he just got more engrossed.

-Two rows in front of me, another couple switched seats, and I’m pretty sure the man sitting directly in front of me for Act II was an Ent. His large, tree-like head effectively blocked center stage, so I did a lot of leaning to see around him.

-I told the mom in the nice family sitting next to me how much I was looking forward to “The Room Where It Happens” and she was visibly happy for me during/after that song.

Act II:

-I feel like on twitter or tumblr Lin joked about always screwing up something, some lyrics, during the show because they go so fast. I didn’t notice any mistakes though, and I’ve listened to the cast album approximately 525,600 times. I was actually surprised by how much like the cast album everyone sounded. I did notice that the balance of voices was a little different. The chorus was the most different I thought, not being mic’d (how do you spell that) and synched. It wasn’t bad at all! Just the difference between a live performance and a studio recording.

-Phillipa Soo’s voice was also quieter (in comparison) to the others, but entirely fitting for her delicate, angelic tones. I love singing along with her songs in general. At times during the show, I covered my mouth with my hands- to prevent myself from joining in? To hold in mid-song exclamations of joy? To do something with my hands besides flail them excitedly? Who can say?

-I feel like in other casts, Daveed Diggs will be the hardest to find a match for. I mean, they’re all such geniuses that in a sense they’re all irreplaceable. But the mix of the speed with which he raps, the humor in his performance (I could see his eyes twinkle from the back of the rear mezzanine I swear it) and his buckets and buckets of charisma and charm—there are a lot of amazing singers but that mix just seems really singular. He would beckon and encourage the audience to applaud Jefferson and we were happy to! He was always doing something funny and expressive with his face. I think we were (are) basically all in love with him.  As I texted with my friend afterwards….

-I expected “Say No To This” to have much more suggestive choreography, based on the orgasmic way Lin sings “Yes!” on the cast album. I still have mixed feelings about portraying Maria Reynolds as a sexually confident aggressor/initiator, based on their ages at the time of the affair (23 and 36) and the power differential between them. But I get it from a storytelling perspective.

-Leslie Odom, Jr. is I have decided a glorious phoenix and in “The Room Where It Happens” he gives his life to music in song and fire and is in the fire gloriously reborn. He absolutely owned the stage, his whole body extending his voice, a singular, driving intensity it was impossible to take your eyes off of. It was a show-stopping number and when the lights went out and you could see his outline, frozen for a moment as the applause broke over him, there was again almost a mid-show standing ovation. I know I personally wanted to leap to my feet, fly through the air to the stage, bow to his glory, pledge allegiance, etc.

-I am aware how many times I used “glory” on that last point and stand by every one of them.

-I thought I was prepared for Philip’s death and “It’s Quiet Uptown.” I was not prepared. Eliza’s scream pierced me and drew forth the tears, making me a raccoon-eyed mess for my trip back to my host’s apartment in Brooklyn.

-I thought about lurking around by the stage door in case any of the stars would sign/interact with fans but a) crowds make me anxious and there were a lot of people milling around! And also b) I knew my host was waiting up for me. And c) I would feel flustered and embarrassed to be so close to their glory/majesty/beauty. So I bought a #yayhamlet shirt to go with my program and Hamilton cup and got out of there.

I paid a hideous amount of money for my ticket and it was 1000% worth it. It’ a good thing I don’t live near NYC or I would probably use my rent money to see it again. Image being in Orchestra Row L! Or in the first couple rows and being in range of Lin’s eyefucking the audience which he has admitted is a real thing because he is a deeply unfair and genre-savvy cinnamon roll.