I saw HAMILTON tonight - wow, was it wonderful! Having not seen Brian D'arcy James play King George, I don't have any point of comparison, but Jonathan Groff was fabulous. His singing was gorgeous and very in keeping with the role - his British dialect was spot on - and he hit the falsetto notes beautifully. He had great comic timing and was absolutely hilarious - the audience roared with laughter every time he came on. It's truthfully hard for me to imagine that anyone could possibly play that gem of a role any more perfectly than Groff did. I hope he will still be with the show when I see it again on Broadway in September.
That's great to hear, and I'm glad someone finally posted about his performance! I had been wondering how Jonathan would handle the falsetto part, which is so funny. Also, as wonderful as Brian was in the part, I don't think he sounded particularly British. Am I misremembering that?
When I saw the show Brian sounded (to me) like an Elton John impersonator, which made it about 5x funnier. I hope I get to see Jonathan in the role (although it is not clear if he is transferring or not) because I can not imagine him being better than Brian.
I saw the show last week and Groff, was really fantastic and had the comedic timing perfectly. I have an audio of Brian, who sounds a lithe better singing the songs, but not by much. Groff just weirdly backed off the high notes on "ocean's rise, empires fall" instead of just nailing them like Brian did. Not a huge deal and didn't really affect his performance, but I wanted to hear him really belt those instead of just sliding up to them and sliding back down.
Otherwise, wow, this show is incredible. I had so much hype built in my head for it and had already listened to the entire audio, and was thinking that because of those 2 things, I may not enjoy it as much as others, but boy, was I wrong. It's just so smooth and seamless and deserves every award its going to win Off-Broadway this year and on Broadway next year.
My father (AIDS)
My sister (AIDS)
My uncle and my cousin and her best friend (AIDS, AIDS, AIDS)
The gays and the straights
And the white and the spades
For fans of Jonathan's work in 'Hamilton,' here's a GoldDerby.com interview where he reveals how he landed the role. This ran 2 weeks ago ... before the 'Looking' finale and its cancellation. Plus, he talks about singing showtunes with 'Looking' co-star Russell Tovey, and 'Frozen' and 'Glee.' GoldDerby.com: Jonathan Groff teases 'Looking' finale & much more
After I heard the announcement that Groff was taking over for James I didn't see how that was possible.
Obviously both of them are more than capable of singing the part. At first I didn't think Groff was doing as good a job but now I think he's better in the role than James. He plays the part with humor and an underlying whiff of menace. James played it more straight comedy.
"Pardon my prior Mcfee slip. I know how to spell her name. I just don't know how to type it." -Talulah
Just saw the show for the 2nd time today (and it's as amazing as ever). Having now seen both BDJ and Jonathan Groff, I have to say I prefer BDJ, but not by a huge margin. Jonathan Groff was very good, but I preferred BDJ's over-the-top take on the role. For me, it was weird seeing someone who looks so much younger than BDJ play the role, but I suppose if it had been my first time, it probably wouldn't have bothered me. I also prefer BDJ in the role vocally, but Groff is also sings it well.