Hamilton in Chicago — Page 8

I went on Saturday so these are a few of my thoughts...



Miguel... love Miguel. I caught his 2nd performance here in NYC and he's just grown so much in the role. He's a bit more humorous in the role than say Lin or Javi. Also, he's tiny compared to everyone else, especially Jonathan, which kinda makes him more of an impact when he's trying to show that he can do more, that he has more to prove. Also, thank goodness they changed his wig as having it all down during Act 2 wasn't working in NYC. It's still in a ponytail but it looks better.



Josh... His Burr is very eager and actually wants people to like him. I actually felt like he and Hamilton could have actually been friends and slowly you see the wedge drive between them. His "Wait for It" was thoughtful but precise. His "Room"... guh... the explosion at the end is much different than was Leslie did and it worked went with Josh's voice. In the duel, you can tell his frustration and his anger, but also his remorse afterwards.



BTW, Miguel's and Josh's "Dear Theodosia" is probably the most gorgeous version of that song because they both can sing really well and their voice blend together smoothly, kinda making the point that no matter the differences between them, they have a same goal: a better world for their children.



Karen. As many others have said, she's more emotional than Renee. I was in Side Orch, Row F, and she honestly had tears streaming down her face during "Satisfied". There was just a sense of desperation during that song that I never felt when I saw Renee. I really liked her as Angelica.



Ari. Her acting is so sweet and innocent... and a little naive, but her voice sometimes doesn't match that. It sometimes comes out a little pop-ish or too R&B. However, her "Burn"... man, it's not just disappointment which I mostly got whenever I saw Pippa, but there was anger and fire in there. To note, she doesn't full-out scream when Philip dies, just a couple "noo, noo..." She and Miguel have a lovely chemistry.



Jonathan. I've only seen Chris as Washington so I'm a little biased. Jonathan is good, but I felt that he was holding back.



Alexander. Definitely more like Brian than the other kings. He definitely brought the laughs as well as the spitting. Heh. If you thought Groff was bad, oof. Avoid the first two rows.



Chris. I'm actually the few who liked his Jefferson compared to his Lafayette. His French accent needs some work as it kinda went away when he had to rap really fast. I also don't know if it was his mic or just how he spoke but it seemed a little low compared to others on the stage. He really went for it during the rap battles.



Wallace. I do like Wallace. I've seen him in many other shows (Hair, Godspell, Idiot, Rocky, Les Mis) but he really didn't do it for me for this in either role. To me, I didn't have a distinction between the two which didn't help. Oak's been the only person I've seen as Mulligan/Madison and he makes that distinction between the two so different than it's kinda hard to see someone not make as much distinction. Wallace plays off well with Chris.



Samantha and Jose. They're fine. They honestly just reminded me of Jasmine and Anthony in any extent. They sing and act well but nothing really stood out to me.



Ensemble... Very sharp and it's actually quite funny because you can kinda tell who's their OBC counterpart. Not necessarily because you know the track but just how the ensemble looks & carries themselves. It's hard to explain but they're great.

Updated On: 10/31/16 at 01:58 PM

Jorge... Can you talk about the lottery seat locations?

Thanks!

Call_me_jorge said: "does anyone know how well the show is doing gross wise? I'd expect it to make some box office record in Chicago,"



The last thing I read about box office record in Chicago was went Newsies broke it last year... $2,012,723 in a week. But based on the article, it seems like grosses aren't really reported in Chicago...



http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/chi-newsies-claims-biggest-box-office-chicago-column.html

Yes, exactly the same.

Gotcha. Figured it was a dumb question on my part, but had to ask! Thank you

WOW velevele what an amazing review! Thank you!

I am someone who tried VERY hard to see the OBC and while we are very much looking forward to seeing it in Chicago, I've thought of it as a bit of a consolation prize. With the exception of Lin, looks like Chicago may be even better in some ways. Really encouraging!!

Looking forward to your part 2!

Following up my Part 1 Chicago vs. NYC comparison with Part 2, and repeating the warnings: Warning, this post is only for “Hamilton” geeks, and it’s really long. If that doesn’t interest you, now’s the time to stop reading! Also if you don’t want spoilers for Chicago, don’t read this. Also it’s so long, I’m breaking it into parts. And again - obviously, these are only my opinions, and YMMV. Part 2 here:

Washington. In NYC, I saw Austin Smith and Christopher Jackson, in Chicago, Jonathan Kirkland. I have to admit that Smith’s performance left little impact on me - he was competent, but for me, not emotionally moving. Then I saw Jackson, and for the first time during “One Last Time”, I burst into tears. It was like a clinic on how differently performers could handle the exact same material. I didn’t think Kirkland could possibly live up to Jackson, and he didn’t, but he wasn’t too far off either. He plays it a little less powerfully in terms of his song delivery, but he uses his physical size (quite tall) to great effect. For example, at the end of “Meet Me Inside”, when Hamilton and Washington have their big fight, and Hamilton finally snaps at the line “Call me son one more time--“, there is just a beat or two of silence, and then Kirkland slowly straightens to his full height and simply looks DOWN at Cervantes (who is quite short). Most of us, as kids, were probably on the receiving end of looks like that from our parents! Because of the height difference between the two actors, that moment was overall considerably more effective for me than the same moment between Jackson and Miranda. Kirkland does a fine job, and I expect his performance will evolve for the better with time, but for now, edge to Jackson.

Lafayette/Jefferson. I saw Daveed Diggs twice in NYC, and Chris De’Sean Lee in Chicago. There’s no one else quite like Diggs, I think, but Lee did well. He’s very young (22, I think), which for me, worked a lot better for Lafayette (who was indeed very young during the Revolution) than it did for the much older Jefferson. His performance of Jefferson was considerably broader than Diggs’ - more nudge nudge wink wink, more hamming it up. The audience ate this up, but I felt Diggs’ portrayal was more chronologically apt. Lee isn’t a disappointment at all, but edge to Diggs here as well.

Mulligan/Madison. I saw Okieriete Onaodowan twice in NYC, and Wallace Smith in Chicago. Oak is a tremendous audience-favorite Mulligan (and I loved him as Mulligan also), but I was never too enamored of his Madison, whom I felt he played as a kind of a non-entity, a rather bland foil to the charismatic Jefferson. I’ve read a couple of biographies of Madison, and he’s so much more than that, so Oak’s Madison had left me fairly underwhelmed. Smith, on the other hand, plays Madison much more strongly, and much more of an equal to Jefferson, a decision I preferred. He also made a fine Mulligan, but Madison was where he shone for me. Slight edge to Oak for Mulligan, big edge to Smith for Madison.

Laurens/Philip Hamilton. Anthony Ramos twice in NYC, Jose Ramos in Chicago. I loved AR as Laurens, but didn’t like his Philip much at all - I felt he was playing the 9-year-old Philip with a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek quality that didn’t really work for me, and I especially didn’t care for the way he bellowed his lines in “Take a Break”. JR, on the other hand, was a brilliant Philip - he played it very sincerely, I thought, and somehow actually made himself look like a child. His Laurens was more low-key and less visible than AR’s, but he did the Laurens interlude (the one not on the CD) stunningly, which calls for a more low-key presentation. Overall edge to JR for me.

Eliza. Philippa Soo twice in NYC, Ari Afsar in Chicago. I thought Afsar bore a striking physical and vocal resemblance to Soo, so much so that I had to remind myself at times that I was watching a different performer. She doesn’t do the wrenching scream at Philip’s death that Soo does, which I think is a mistake. Otherwise, for me Eliza is a fairly bland character, so I didn’t see much else to differentiate Soo and Afsar.

I’ll spare everyone the more minor characters!

So overall: for me, nothing will ever top the OBC performance I saw with Miranda, but the Chicago cast can be very proud of what they’ve accomplished. In the end, it’s a matter of personal preference, of course, but IMO, the Chicago version is just as good as the NYC version, and in some places it’s better. Kudos to all involved.

So far I'm in agreement with you velevele! I saw the show on Sunday so I didn't see Miguel(I will February), but I thought joseph was extremely talented and his performance made me cry a few times. As did josh and Karen. I'm still hoping Joshua records a single of room where it happens. I need to listen to him again!!

I saw it on Sunday and have been itching to see it again as soon as possible. I was soooo wired and pretty weepy so it just felt like such a whirlwind. It was still a perfect experience by all means, but I'd love to see it once more soon to kind of cement it in haha.

I often wonder how much the portrayal of Madison is affected by his Jefferson pairing. I admire Oak's Madison greatly, but I remember noticing him and enjoying him more when Daveed was out. Someone here mentioned that that Smith's Madison seemed like he was more of an equal and a guide to Jefferson, rather than a lackey, while Oak seemed like more of a sidekick. It makes sense when one describes Chris Lee's Jefferson as hammier and younger - he needs guidance. Daveed's Jefferson stands so much on its own that Madison coming off on a sidekick makes more sense to me. I enjoy both portrayal's but they are different. This is why I love seeing shows multiple times :).

Chemistry in a duo is key.

pupscotch, I was a big fan of Jasmine Cephas Jones's interpretation (I saw her twice in NYC) and, especially, her gorgeous voice, so I was a little nervous about what I'd think of Samantha Marie Ware, but she was fantastic. She was a tad more forceful as Peggy (came across as a bit more of a spoiled brat), which I really liked. For Maria Reynolds, she was exquisite. I thought her interpretation of Maria was noticeably different than Jones's. Jones begins by playing Maria as a distressed victim, as does Ware, but in Ware's interpretation, underneath the damsel in distress, you can see a hint of slyness and even anger, which wasn't visible to me in how Jones played it. I LOVED this. It made the subsequent entrapment of Hamilton follow naturally, and really drove home that when he wanted a story to be a certain way, that's how he saw it - he wanted to see a damsel in distress who fell for him, and not a blackmailer, so that's what he saw. But from the start, Ware shows that other side of Maria - buried, but still visible. I thought it was exquisitely done.

I sat in the front row of the balcony and did not have to lean except for about 3 times. The view was much better than I had expected. You'll be very happy.

pc1145N said: "I sat in the front row of the balcony and did not have to lean except for about 3 times. The view was much better than I had expected. You'll be very happy."

When I saw the show from the fifth row in the orchestra, the person in charge of lighting sat next to me taking notes. He usually sat in the balcony. He said the front of the balcony was the perfect place to the see the show. Not that he didn't like the orchestra seats - he said it was a different show from the orchestra. But, if you want to take in the whole effect of the show, he recommended the balcony for view and value.