#mimicaptures

Saw part II on opening night so naturally had to go and see the stage show again.

Wicked forever prevails in excellence.

Beautiful, bold, inclusive, immersive, captivating, and endlessly political, it brings a new dimension of meaning to The Wizard of Oz’s storyline and characters.

I seem to have a pattern of favouring the non-canon backstory of the villain - preferring Maleficent significantly over everything about Sleeping Beauty, and coming away from watching Cruella in absolute awe - something 101 Dalmatians never managed to stir within me.*

The Wicked Witch of the West’s life is so much more interesting than a random unlucky girl’s mission to get back to rural Kansas. Her sense of loneliness, her social exile, her righteousness, her spirit, her grit - Elphaba is the definition of misunderstood (and better off for it).

Gaaaahhhhlinda on the other hand… hoo boy. My relationship with her is prickly - despite her faultless aesthetic, her humorous one liners and her flawless operatic numbers, she does not get much praise from me. When push comes to shove, ie - during the important parts of the story, she makes her true colours clear as crystal: she is 100% part of the problem, a cowardly fence-sitter who cannot truly take a stance against a fascist regime because she directly benefits from it.

In today’s word, she would undoubtedly be a Zionist, an “all lives matter” preacher and a “I know Trump can be a little problematic but he’s not allllll bad” Republican. Glinda defenders are just as performative and icky as her spiritually Israeli character.

Yet despite how problematic she is, I do believe she truly loved her friend and the core of their friendship was real. It just goes to show just how realistic and nuanced they all are.

The music has always had such a special place in my heart:

- “No One Mourns The Wicked” is one of the strongest and best opening numbers of a show in theatre history.

- “What Is This Feeling?” is the epitome of the beauty of musical theatre. It’s such a phenomenal piece - full of personality and opportunities to tweak and choreograph into one’s own performance.

- ^ Same with “Dancing Through Life” and “Popular”.

- “I’m Not That Girl” is forever a favourite.

- “As Long As Your Mine” is probably one of the most romantic show-tunes I can name.

- “Defying Gravity” and “For Good” will never fail to make me cry.

Cynthia and Ariana excelled in the movies - so did Jonathan, Jeff, Ethan and everyone else except Michelle.

A few things the movie did better than the show -

- Starkly drawing parallels of ICE and immigration so explicitly on the screen.

- The dance scene - turning a light-hearted, comedic scene into something so heartbreakingly vulnerable added such a strong layer of sentimental tenderness to the story.

- The door scene at the end - just magnificent. Finding out it was unscripted? Simply stellar.

Special thanks to Jon M. Chu for the last shot of the film. Recreating the playbill was genius and so staggeringly heartwarming.

The movie is terrific, the show is timeless and it has been such a pleasure watching people who ordinarily don’t care for MT being so enthralled by the franchise.

Always remember - theatre, music, ART… is always political.

Just make sure to support the right side 🧙💚

I don’t think I’ve ever publicly acknowledged my crippling Hamilton obsession, but after spontaneously booking tickets to see it for the 5th time tonight, take the following word vomit as a metaphorical gesture of me holding a boom-box in the rain outside of Lin Manuel Miranda’s brain’s balcony.

I must confess that I was massively late to the bandwagon. I distinctly remember when it first came to Broadway/West End and the buzz roused its genesis. Honestly speaking, it was the critical acclaim that steered me away from going to see it/taking the time to listen to the soundtrack.

In that specific period, I was too preoccupied with the doomed fates of Sansa and Arya Stark after they left Winterfell to invest in anything else.

It wasn’t until years later that I went to see Hamilton on stage in London - more to tick off the show in order to add to my credentials for the self-certified PhD I have in Theatre Attendance. I went into the show pretty much blind - only having vaguely known the first line of the opening song.

Much to my best friend’s irritation, I came out of the Victoria Palace Theatre absolutely incensed by the magnificent performance I had just been immersed in, repeatedly kicking myself for failing to have fuelled my soul sooner.

The writing is utterly otherworldly. The intricacies, the flows, the endless bars, the incredibly clever wordplay - it all makes my head spin in its excellence even today. I have spent many late nights fighting sleep and pouring obsessively over each detail of lyricism, and it still defeats me in its complexity as I’ve not yet managed to learn it all to performance standard.

I’ve watched pretty much all the interviews and promotions LMM has done for Hamilton and aside from his astounding intelligence and astute mind, what really stands out for me is his passion. The exuberance that captures him when he talks about his musical inspirations will always fill my heart. As a massive rap fan, I am always prepared to pay homage to the lyrical poets that inspire so many genres of music.

His little anecdotes of finding inspiration in the mundane is merely one reflection of his genius.

Eight years of writing to put together an evergreen masterpiece like Hamilton is something I’ll be singing praises of from beyond my grave.

I feel it absolutely paramount to credit just how feminist the musical is. Just from its name alone - titling it just “Hamilton” instead of “Alexander Hamilton” is very deliberate. It’s paying respect to a very simple but overlooked truth - we wouldn’t know about Alexander without Eliza and everything she did for his legacy after his death.

As much as it’s purposely left to interpretation, I will always vehemently argue that her final gasp at the end is undoubtedly Eliza breaking the fourth wall and seeing the crowd, learning that she did in fact “tell his story”.

Despite Alexander’s accolades, it truly is Eliza who is the star of the show.

“Behind every successful man is a woman.”

Or, to unveil all the smoke and mirrors:

“Behind every successful man is a woman, and behind her is his wife.”

Extremely unfortunate but sadly true.

Visiting the Richard Rodgers theatre last year in New York was one of the highlights of my trip, even though i didn’t get to see the show.

Affirmation: it will happen one day.

I adore Hamilton, I adore Lin Manuel Miranda, I cannot wait to see it again soon, and with that being said - I’m off to have a silent, dramatic, angsty solo montage to Satisfied on my commute home.

Mr Miranda, you are so incomprehensibly talented.

Please continue to “blow us all away”.

💛