Happy 7th Anniversary, HAMILTON!
Happy 7th Anniversary, HAMILTON!
#1Happy 7th Anniversary, HAMILTON!
Posted: 8/5/22 at 1:29pm
Tomorrow marks 7 years since the smash hit officially opened at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.
The current cast appeared on Good Morning America this morning to perform “The Schuyler Sisters” and “Wait For It.” Links are below.
https://www.broadwayworld.com/videoplay/VIDEO-Watch-the-Cast-of-HAMILTON-Perform-The-Schuyler-Sisters-on-GOOD-MORNING-AMERICA-20220805
https://www.broadwayworld.com/videoplay/VIDEO-Watch-Nik-Walker-the-HAMILTON-Cast-Perform-Wait-For-It-on-GMA-20220805
Oh look, a bibu!
#2Happy 7th Anniversary, HAMILTON!
Posted: 8/5/22 at 1:50pm
A rare example of a show that seemed to tick every box - revolutionary material, critical success, audience and box office success, resonates with the wider non-theatre culture AND all primarily in my opinion due to the writing and acting not any staging gimmicks (I really think the show is just as powerful on CD as it is in person). Shocking it is already so ‘old’. Would be curious to know if anyone think it has aged at all by any measure (eg musical style, subject matter, social themes/context etc) or if it’s still considered ‘perfect’.
I also initially found Lin’s fame off the back of it a little off-putting (and who made him the spokesperson of Broadway such as Sondheim’s death). However, I also recognise that he may end up being one of the most important forces for keeping our important history alive and respected in a wider population. I hope Tick Tick Boom! was only the beginning. And musicals have such an awful reputation in the general population we need shows like Hamilton to keep us relevant.
Overall, thank you thank you Lin and Hamilton.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
Updated On: 8/5/22 at 01:50 PM
#3Happy 7th Anniversary, HAMILTON!
Posted: 8/5/22 at 2:06pm
Wow! Time sure does fly. Feels like just yesterday that it took everyone by storm. I have fond memories of seeing it in previews at the Public, and attending the live “Ham4Ham shows” that they would do on Saturday evenings.
It’s strange to watch a show become one of the “long-runners” right before your eyes. When I first started getting into theatre as a tween, Wicked had only been running for like 4 or 5 years. And yet, in my young mind, it had already cemented itself as one of the mega-long-runners like Phantom, Chicago, etc. Now here we are with Hamilton running 7 years, and in some ways I still think of it as the “hot new show.”
#4Happy 7th Anniversary, HAMILTON!
Posted: 8/5/22 at 2:43pm
Time flies! I saw the show three times on Broadway (once with the original cast), and caught the tour earlier this year. It really is just a landmark and revolutionary piece of theatre in every aspect.
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "
#5Happy 7th Anniversary, HAMILTON!
Posted: 8/5/22 at 2:49pm
JBroadway said: "Wow! Time sure does fly. Feels like just yesterday that it took everyone by storm. I have fond memories of seeing it in previews at the Public, and attending the live “Ham4Ham shows” that they would do on Saturday evenings.
It’s strange to watch a show become one of the “long-runners” right before your eyes. When I first started getting into theatre as a tween, Wicked had only been running for like 4 or 5 years. And yet, in my young mind, it had already cemented itself as one of the mega-long-runners like Phantom, Chicago, etc. Now here we are with Hamilton running 7 years, and in some ways I still think of it as the “hot new show.” "
I agree and have the same experience!
Also, does anyone ever listen to Lin in the Encores! merrily recording and specifically ‘Our Time’? Always find it a little chilling that many of those lines basically became reality
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#6Happy 7th Anniversary, HAMILTON!
Posted: 8/5/22 at 3:37pm
I remember the hype for this show when it first came to Broadway. This is the show that introduced me to the theatre community. It took me until 2018 and flying to London to finally see this show LIVE. I still have not seen it in NYC and probably won't for a while. I honestly think before hamilton that there hadn't been a huge cult musical since Book Of Mormon. Correct me if I am wrong on that one. Either way, Happy 7th Anniversary Hamilton! Here's to MANY more anniversaries to come!
The idea is to work and to experiment. Some things will be creatively successful, some things will succeed at the box office, and some things will only - which is the biggest only - teach you things that see the future. And they're probably as valuable as any of your successes. -Harold Prince
JasonC3
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/21
#7Happy 7th Anniversary, HAMILTON!
Posted: 8/5/22 at 5:21pm
Grateful I first saw it at The Public, right before Hamilton mayhem began.
#8Happy 7th Anniversary, HAMILTON!
Posted: 8/5/22 at 5:31pm
binau said: "Would be curious to know if anyone think it has aged at all by any measure (eg musical style, subject matter, social themes/context etc) or if it’s still considered ‘perfect’."
Didn't it get some backlash relatively recently because of the way it glossed over the issue of slavery? I'm not saying it was right or wrong (surprisingly, I don't know the show well enough to make that decision); I just remember hearing about it, to the point that I believe Lin-Manuel had to Tweet about it in his show's defense.
#9Happy 7th Anniversary, HAMILTON!
Posted: 8/5/22 at 5:32pm
I was also lucky enough to see the original cast of Book of Mormon, and was generally aware of the hype around it at the time. Although I wasn't living in NY, and I wasn't as tuned into the theatre community as I am now. So I might be wrong about this, but my impression is:
Yes, at the time, the closest point of recent comparison was Book of Mormon. But in retrospect, I think the Hamilton hype was notably greater. The BoM hype was exceptional, yes. But Hamilton-mania, to me, felt different. It was like a frenzy, a mad obsession that broke out into the mainstream in a totally different way.
To illustrate just one piece of anecdotal data:
--I did SRO for Book of Mormon a couple months after the Tonys. I got to the SRO line around 9am on a 2-show day, and just missed the cut for the matinee. We kept our place in line, so we'd be right in the front for the evening SRO, and we got it. Both lotteries that day had several hundred people there. As far as I could tell, there was no cancellation line. We were there for about 11 hours.
--At the height of Hamilton's popularity, there were people waiting in line for full-price cancellation tickets for as long as FOUR DAYS. Especially right before the original cast left. On one of the in-person Ham4Ham Show days, the lottery attendant announced that there were something like 1,200 lottery entries.
#10Happy 7th Anniversary, HAMILTON!
Posted: 8/5/22 at 5:45pm
DooWahDiddy said: "binau said: "Would be curious to know if anyone think it has aged at all by any measure (eg musical style, subject matter, social themes/context etc) or if it’s still considered ‘perfect’."
Didn't it get some backlash relatively recently because of the way it glossed over the issue of slavery? I'm not saying it was right or wrong (surprisingly, I don't know the show well enough to make that decision); I just remember hearing about it, to the point that I believe Lin-Manuel had to Tweet about it in his show's defense."
Some people might consider the show perfect.. But as far as its broader cultural imprint, it's definitely not considered perfect still. In the past 7 years, there have been a wide range of criticisms applied to it. Some regarding its portrayal of history/historical figures, some regarding its artistic merit, some pointing out that it feels like an Obama-era show in many ways, and times have changed...etc.
For my money, I've always thought that Act 1 is vastly superior to Act 2. And there are lots of lyrics I think are kinda forced and cringe-y. The show is well-rewarded for its ambition, but that same ambition also means there's more room for error. So naturally, it's not perfect.
EDIT: This is a really interesting article by Helen Shaw, where she looked back critically on both Hamilton and Book of Mormon after seeing them both again in 2019
https://www.vulture.com/2019/12/re-reviewing-the-book-of-mormon-and-hamilton-in-2019.html
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