#76
Posted: 7/20/18 at 2:48pm
Haaaaaappy birthday, dmwnc1959!!! Have the best time tonight. Can't wait to read your review!
HAMILTON National Tour — Page 4
#77
Posted: 7/20/18 at 3:05pm
How exciting! I saw it again this week in Chicago. It was my third time (first time in 2015 with OBC and second time last year in Chicago as well). It’s fascinating to see how different actors bring different portrayals to their roles. Looking forward to your review.
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear dmwnc1959,
You’ll finally get your shot
To be in the room where it happens.
I bet the tour was awesome!
Are you going to stage door?
Updated On: 7/20/18 at 03:05 PM
#78
Posted: 7/20/18 at 3:12pm
Thanks for the birthday wishes and song! The song was very cool, finally being “in the room where it happens”!!!
Won’t be Stage Dooring, it’s been raining out, and I’ll probably just head right back to the hotel when done buying up my window card (will buy the other souvenirs before the show or at intermission).
#79
Posted: 7/20/18 at 6:24pm
At the State Theater now: all bags being checked and everyone is getting a once-over with the wand-style metal detectors. And there’s a security service dog here. For some reason.
Updated On: 7/20/18 at 06:24 PM
#81
Posted: 7/20/18 at 7:05pm
^ ^ ^ Way tooo cute. First round at the souvenir stand and $75 later I’m seated. This place is completely sold out. Show starts in 25 minutes and there was a enormous crowd behind me and downstairs. Must have been a thousand people at least. Glad I’m in the seat already.l!
#82
Posted: 7/20/18 at 7:14pm
It appears they sell out every seat practically every performance in Chicago too. I buy merchandise every time I see it. I think I spent more this time than I ever have. I got two different tote bags, a t-shirt, a mug, and a stocking cap. And I think I already know what I want next time. Lol. I know you’ll enjoy your birthday presents to yourself! Enjoy the show!
#83
Posted: 7/20/18 at 8:19pm
dmwnc1959 said: "This place is completely sold out. Show starts in 25 minutes and there was a enormous crowd behind me and downstairs. Must have been a thousand people at least.Glad I’m in the seat already.l!"
According to Wikipedia (if I’m looking correctly), that theatre has seating capacity of 3,193.
Updated On: 7/21/18 at 08:19 PM
#85
Posted: 7/20/18 at 11:08pm
dmwnc1959 said: "At the State Theater now: all bags being checked and everyone is getting a once-over with the wand-style metal detectors. And there’s a security service dog here. For some reason."
I’m dying to hear about your experience tonight. I hope it was the best birthday ever!
#86
Posted: 7/21/18 at 6:37am
This was AMAZING. From start to finish I loved, loved, LOVED this show. Well, most all of it.
Joseph Morales as Alexander Hamilton and Shoba Narayan as Eliza were simply wonderful, the latter by far being the best vocal of the cast, her singing was just beautiful. When she sang “Burn” is was heartbreaking, especially at the end. And her rendition of “Take a Break”, with Ta’rea Campbell as Angelica, was soaring. Morales is very comfortable in his role, and at times you’d have sworn you were watching Lin-Manuel Miranda up there, although he took the part of Alexander Hamilton and made it his own. His singing was also quite good, especially in “Hurricane”.
The hardest cast to warm up to was Nik Walker as Aaron Burr. At first I didn’t care for all the vocal ranges, switching, and higher pitches of his voice, however he was great in songs like “Wait For It”, and “Dear Theodosia” singing along with Joseph Morales, where they were both very touching.
The staged scenes and performances of: “Hopeless”; “Say No To This”; the first “Stay Alive with attack! retreat!; “Blow Us All Away” continuing along with “Stay Alive (reprise)”, and “Its Quiet Uptown”; “What Did I Miss?”; “Yorktown (The Work Turned Upside Down); and “My Shot” with it’s iconic finish, were some of my favorites. All were highlights of the show.
“You’ll Be Back” and “What Comes Next” with Jon Patrick Walker as King George were a wonderful comic relief, and the audience laughed heartily in their approval.
And at the beginning of “Yorktown” where Hamilton and Lafayette met up again and said “Immigrants, we get the job done”, this generated a nice round of applause from the audience.
As far as the audience around me they were all quite well behaved for the most part. The man and woman sitting to my left departed after the first act, where she had been basically bouncing and dancing in her seat for a few songs and pointing out some of the lyrics here and there to him. The lady to my right, and be gentleman in the row in front of me, couldn’t keep from checking there phones every few minutes during the first several songs.
Other than that, and the guy who kept kneeing the back of my chair toward the end of Act 1 because the rows are like six inches apart (not reall, but it felt like it), it was a good audience.
So many great songs, so many great ensemble and cast scenes, such great choreography.
The ending was dramatic, heartbreaking, and brilliantly played. I was quite emotional and teared up quite a bit, even though I knew it was coming.
As for as exterior posters or decor like what had been posted earlier in the thread that was in San Francisco, there really wasn’t anything like that in Cleveland except for large electronic billboards around the Playhouse Square area that occasionally flashed the Hamilton poster, along with ads from various sponsors and other upcoming musical arts performances.
Overall this was an impressive and superb show, and the BEST birthday in a very, very long time.
Can’t wait to see the Angelica cast in January.
Updated On: 7/21/18 at 06:37 AM
#87
Posted: 7/21/18 at 9:57am
Thanks for the review! It sounds like your experience was pretty similar to my experience this week on Chicago.
The “Immigrants, we get the job done” also got huge applause in Chicago. We had the standby for King George and he was hilarious. And I immensely enjoy Cervantes’s take on Hamilton. The lady playing Eliza had some slight vocal issues on some of her songs, especially the early ones, but acted beautifully. I still ugly cried (I always do) at the end. In fact, the young girl who was on my right with her mom was a big fan of the cast recording but I think it was her first time to see it. At merchandise booth before the show, she was just just full of excited body movements. During the show, she was the perfect seatmate. But at the end when I was ugly crying, I looked over and she was leaned over to her mom. I’m not sure if it was to be comforted by her mom or because my crying scared her. Lol
As far as audience, only annoyance was man behind me who was pontificating on the show before it started (to impress his date?). That was fine, but he also felt the need to explain things during the show. I turned and looked behind me the first time he did it. Not sure if it helped as he did it one or two more times as well as singing/rapping along to a line occasionally. I get it. You are enjoying the show, you’re into it, you want to impress your date with your knowledge of the lyrics and your rapping skills. But you’re a middle aged white guy and unless you’re Eminem, you probably shouldn’t be rapping. And even so, the only ones who should be singing/rapping is the cast on stage. Also, spoiler alert: most of us in the audience know those same lyrics you are rapping along to. Still didn’t diminish my experience. I’ve dealt with worse at the theatre. Speaking of people checking their phones, I of course had turned mine off, but realized I had forgotten to put my Apple Watch on Theater Mode and Do Not Disturb and it would light up when I turned my wrist or applauded. I just took it off and then threw it in tote bag under my legs. I figured that was less distracting than trying to put in right modes during Act 1. During intermission, I put it back on and put it appropriate modes.
Glad you had an awesome birthday!!!
Updated On: 7/21/18 at 09:57 AM
#90
Posted: 7/21/18 at 4:31pm
And a few more..........
Grand lobby of the State Theater - Cleveland
This was about 30 minutes before they opened the doors to the theater, and before it got really crowded...
#91
Posted: 7/21/18 at 4:32pm
Why does the national tour musical numbers list omit several songs?
#92
Posted: 7/21/18 at 4:49pm
BroadwayConcierge said: "Why does the national tour musical numbers list omit several songs?"
I went over the Original Broadway Cast Recording and compared it to the list of musical numbers posted in the show booklet. The ones missing WERE indeed sung in the show last night, every single one of them. The only reason I can guess they emitted them from that list was to save room on the page?
Updated On: 7/21/18 at 04:49 PM
#93
Posted: 7/21/18 at 4:55pm
Miles2Go2 said: "Thanks for the pics! "
You’re welcome! And I enjoyed reading your experience in Chicago as well. I also had one of those “sing along with the lyrics” people, and someone using their knee as a drum, but it didn’t last long thank goodness. And I’m still not sure why the couple to my left departed at the end of Act 1. I’m sure they knew there was more, maybe his female companion was driving him crazy.
#94
Posted: 7/21/18 at 5:15pm
You’d be surprised. There is a whole thread on here about posters who have sat next to people or actually known people who left at intermission because they thought the show was over.
#95
Posted: 7/21/18 at 5:22pm
dmwnc1959 said: "BroadwayConcierge said: "Why does the national tour musical numbers list omit several songs?"
I went over the Original Broadway Cast Recording andcompared it to the list of musical numbers posted in the show booklet. The ones missing WERE indeed sung in the show last night, every single one of them. The only reason I can guess theyemitted them from that list was to save room on the page?"
I hadn’t noticed this when I saw Hamilton in Chicago last November, but I noticed it Wednesday night. They indeed perform the entire score, but, for instance, instead of “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story”, the playbill just lists “Finale”. It also doesn’t list which characters are performing each song as they do on Broadway.
#96
Posted: 7/21/18 at 5:25pm
Just curious. Did you buy two different programs (National Tour and Broadway)? Also, what is that item on the right that looks like another playbill?
#97
Posted: 7/21/18 at 5:50pm
Since you shared, here are pics from Hamilton in Chicago: 
Updated On: 7/21/18 at 05:50 PM
#98
Posted: 7/21/18 at 6:07pm
Miles2Go2 said: "Just curious. Did you buy two different programs (National Tour and Broadway)? Also, what is that item on the right that looks like another playbill? "
I did by the two different programs: one is a little thicker than the other and deals with the original Broadway cast, design, and artistic aspects of the show, whereas the other one deals with the tour and is about one-half as thin. The item next to the button set is a 6-pc postcard set. I’ll buy more (like your wool cap and mug, as well as fridge magnet and key chain, etc.) in Pittsburgh when the tour comes though in January 2019.
#99
Posted: 7/21/18 at 6:28pm
Awesome. When I saw the OBC In November 2015, they either didn’t have programs yet or they were out. I believe it was the former. I was tempted to buy the Broadway program (I already have the Chicago program) last week, but I was already spending enough $$$. Lol. Plus, I have it in my head that I want to wait to buy a window card (I have a small, cheap framed version of one that my friend bought off a Times Square street corner vendor after we saw the OBC) and the Broadway program until I see it again on Broadway. But now you have me wanting the NYC program. Lol. Next time I want the Wait For It mug (not sure I saw it last week at Merch booth) and the t-shirt (they were sold out last week) that matches my black tote
Updated On: 7/21/18 at 06:28 PM
#100
Posted: 7/21/18 at 6:39pm
Saw the mantinee here in Chicago today. First time seeing it. Been a fan since the beginning but funds were always an issue. I live in Boston. It was incredible. Worth the wait and it deserves all the hype. So happy that i finally got to see it
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