Can a musical ā even a smash hit Broadway musical that won 11 Tony awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama ā be as good as āHamiltonā is cracked up to be? Itās better. Nearly every moment of the 2Ā½-hour show is absolutely riveting. The hype was not an overstatement. We first heard that āHamiltonā was coming to Minneapolis in Dec. 2016. It was worth the almost two-year wait. [. . .] Other writers have noted that āHamiltonā shows America at its best, an America whose spirit we wish we could recapture, an America that might be sliding from our grasp. One mentioned āthe intense pride you feel on an evening such as this, when Americaās story is retold with such style, verve and imagination.ā Itās easy to feel pride in āHamiltonāsā vision of America, along with sadness at the divided state weāre in today. And joy in the whole colorful, crazy ambitious, breathtaking brilliance of the thing. And the glorious diversity. Thatās something you notice immediately. All of the main characters in āHamiltonā were white in real life: Alexander Hamilton himself; his wife, Eliza, and son, Philip; Aaron Burr; George Washington; the Marquis de Lafayette; King George. Like the original Broadway cast, the touring cast is deeply, matter-of-factly mixed. Itās instantly no big deal that Hamilton is Hispanic (Joseph Morales), Aaron Burr is African-American (Nik Walker), George Washington is Asian-American (Marcus Choi) and Eliza Schuyler Hamilton is Southeast-Asian-American (Shoba Narayan). It just feels right. Like every musical, every play, every everything should be diverse because why not? This casting decision also makes the story of āHamiltonā feel like itās happening today. The men are in breeches and waistcoats; the women wear gowns. The look of the production is 18th century. But the cast is 2018. In the end, that might have been our favorite part of the evening: being there and seeing that. Itās going to be tough for any new performance of any kind to ignore the example set by āHamilton.ā Thereās simply no excuse anymore. You may recall that the āHamiltonā cast had a few words for then Vice President-elect Mike Pence when he attended a performance in November 2016. āHamiltonā is a show, an entertainment, a night out, but it can also be seen as a political statement. The Des Moines Register (the āHamiltonā tour stopped in Iowa earlier this summer) saw an opportunity and ran with it. āRise up, Iowa!ā an editorial exclaims. āWeāre not King Georgeās āsweet, submissive subject(s).ā We can stand up for civil rights, equal opportunity, government by and for the people and freedom of speech and the press. We can stand up for the environment, affordable health care and education for everyone, fair treatment of immigrants, principled relations with other countries and ethical and open government.ā āHamiltonā continues at the Orpheum through Oct. 7, with eight performances each week. There are still tickets available ā not many, and not cheap, but available. Try the digital lottery. Itās free to enter and you might get lucky.Ā [. . .]
āHamiltonā: Itās even better than itās cracked up to beĀ (MinnPost)
